Ants 



nurses lend their aid. The grub cannot spin its cocoon 

 without some points of attachment for its silk, so what 

 do the nurses do ? They embed the grubs in the earth 

 till they have spun their silken cocoons ; then, the 

 operation complete, they dig them up and store them in 

 their different piles, according to age, as they did with 

 the grub. These cocoons are sold under the misleading 

 name of ants' eggs, and used, amongst other things, for 

 feeding gold-fish. In the cocoon wonderful changes take 

 place as the ant grub transforms into the adult insect. 

 When these changes are almost complete the nurses once 

 more come to the rescue. Splitting up the silken envelope, 

 they remove the helpless half-formed ant from within. 



In this stage the creature is known as a callow, and it 

 is in very fact unfledged. The callow is helpless, its legs, 

 feelers and wings, if it be a winged form, are closely folded 

 to its body ; all these organs are carefully cleaned, licked 

 dry and unfolded by the diligent nurses. In short, they 

 literally set the callow on its feet. When the time arrives 

 for the formation of a new colony, and the consequent 

 mating of the queens, a curious thing happens. 



It is well known that mating with near relatives is bad 

 for any animals. How is this prevented by the ants ? 

 By a remarkable dispensation, the nuptial flights of the 

 members of all the adjoining nests take place at precisely 

 the same moment, so that there is every chance of a queen 

 mating with a male from another nest. Just before the 

 flight the workers may often be observed holding back 

 the impatient males and queens till the proper time 

 arrives. In these nuptial flights there are always hundreds 

 of queens, and in this respect they differ widely from a 

 swarm of bees, where one queen only is concerned. This, 

 in short, is the life story of a typical ant community. 



The structure of the nests, the number of castes that 

 is to say, individuals modified in some special manner for 

 the accomplishment of definite duties the habits of the 

 workers differ widely in the various species. The nests 



47 



