66 ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 



by flight. If, for instance, we break a hole in an ant-hill, 

 we at first see the larvae and pupae in the upper floors rolling 

 in heaps over each other. The workers who are in the 

 neighborhood at once rush to help. Each seizes a larva or 

 nympha and carries it away. A moment later, in answer 

 to a signal of alarm, hundreds of the sterile ants come up 

 from the depths of the nest, and throw themselves upon the 

 remaining larvae and pupae in order to hide them in the lower 

 rooms of the dwelling. As soon as this first and chief duty 

 is accomplished, they at once turn to the repair of the mis- 

 chief which has been done, and this with such speed and 

 ability that generally in about an hour there is no sign of 

 the destruction left. 



Although the pupae want no food, they yet seem unable 

 to exist without the tendance of the ants ; at least Forel 

 was unable to keep them alive without this help. The aid 

 of the workers is quite indispensable, Avhen the great mo- 

 ment draws nigh, in which they are to break from the 

 cocoon, their envelope, to enter upon the life of the true 

 ant. The pupae are generally unable to free themselves 

 from their covering although some observers deriy this 

 and would perish if left unassisted.* They do, indeed 

 try to release themselves, but do not generally succeed, and 

 are only able to set free a part of their bodies. The 

 workers, therefore, open the cocoon, or case of the pupa, 

 with their sharp jaws, and draw the young animal out care- 

 fully. At other times they only help to free the legs and 

 wings. The workers do not keep to any exact time for the 

 ripening of the nymphae, but free them sometimes earlier, 

 sometimes later, " as is most convenient," as Forel expresses 

 it when mentioning this observation a fact which does not 

 suggest that the workers are here guided by never- erring 

 instinct. The pupae would of course perish, if they were 

 freed either too early or too late. 



The little animal when freed from its chrysalis is still 

 covered with a thin skin, like a little shirt, which has to be 

 pulled off. When we see how neatly and gently this is 

 done, and how the young creature is then washed, brushed, 



* Mr. McCook found that pupae which he kept away from the 

 workers always perished, whence he concluded that the assistance of 

 the latter is necessary. " Transactions of the Am. Entom. Soc.," 

 Dec., 1876. 



