328 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



using their silk-secreting larvae (they have no silk them- 

 selves) as needle and thread when they are binding leaves 

 together to make a nest. We have here an anticipation 

 of the child labour of the early part of the industrial age ! 



The story reads like a burlesque, and it surely makes 

 it difficult to accept the opinion of some naturalists 

 that instinctive behaviour is unaccompanied by any 

 awareness of meaning or feeling of the end. Whenever this 

 difficulty is obvious, it is customary to say that intelligence 

 has for the time being taken the reins. In any case, the 

 facts are wonderful enough. 



An eye-witness, Mr. L. G. Gilpin-Brown, writes from 

 Ceylon : 



' Sometimes one will see an ant, with a larva in its man- 

 dibles, stalking aimlessly about on the outside of the nest. 

 It stumbles on a small hole. It proceeds to study that 

 hole, walks all round it, walks over it, and eventually 

 decides that it really is a hole, whereupon it proceeds 

 to business. Feeling round the edge with its antennae 

 it dumps the head of the larva on one side so as to fasten 

 the thread of silk there, moves over and fastens it down 

 on the other side, comes back again, and so on ; each 

 trip leaving a thread of silk behind, until the hole is com- 

 pletely sealed up.' 



The tailor ants nest in trees and they sometimes find it 

 difficult to bring two rather distant leaves close enough 

 together to be sown. Then, as Bugnion relates, they have 

 recourse to a perfectly extraordinary co-operation. Five 

 or six will form a living chain to bridge the gap. The 

 waist of A is gripped in the mandibles of B, who is in turn 

 gripped by C, and so on a notable gymnastic feat. Time 

 does not appear to be of much account, but they work 



