THE ATTAS AT HOME 183 



place to the next caste, AttapMla will, all un- 

 consciously, bear a name. 



Attaphilas have staked their whole gamble of 

 existence on the continued possibility of guest- 

 ship with the Attas. Although they lived near 

 the fungus gardens they did not feed upon them, 

 but gathered secretions from the armored skin 

 of the giant soldiers, who apparently did not ob- 

 ject, and showed no hostility to their diminutive 

 masseurs. A summer boarder may be quite at 

 home on a farm, and safe from all ordinary dan- 

 gers, but he must keep out of the way of scythes 

 and sickles if he chooses to haunt the hay-fields. 

 And so Attaphila, snug and safe, deep in the 

 heart of the nest, had to keep on the qui vive 

 when the ant harvesters came to glean in the 

 fungus gardens. Snip, snip, snip, on all sides 

 in the musty darkness, the keen mandibles 

 sheared the edible heads, and though the little 

 Attaphilas dodged and ran, yet most of them, 

 in course of time, lost part of an antenna or even 

 a whole one. 



Thus the Little Friend of the Leaf -cutters 

 lives easily through his term of weeks or months, 

 or perhaps even a year, and has nothing to fear 

 for food or mate, or from enemies. But Atta- 



