BUTTERFLIES AND ANTS. 167 
before the rains set in, about the middle of June, great activity 
among the inhabitants of a Zizyphus tree may be observed. The 
ants are busy all day long running along the branches and leaves 
in search of the larve, and without fail an ant will come on one 
full-grown, and meditating on the choice of a snug retreat; 
{in which to turn to a pupa]. A friend or two turning up, the ants 
set to work to guide and drive their caterpillar in the direction they 
wish him to go, i.¢., down the stem of the tree towards their nest. 
This is not always an easy business if the prisoner is refractory ard 
would prefer going somewhere else. But asa rule they are docile 
and easily led. Having kept guard over him until they get him 
safely into his proper berth in the row, and he has accepted their 
ultimatum as final, he drops off into the preliminary doze, and 
undergoes his transformation into a pupa. If yougently scrape away 
the loose earth piled up at the base of the tree, you will see some 
hundreds of larvae and pupe in all stages of development arranged 
in a broad even band all round the trunk, and lightly covered with 
earth. The ants object to their being uncovered, and will imme- 
‘diately set to work to recover them, and if you persist, they will 
remove all the chrysalids, and bury them lower down. When the 
butterfly is ready to emerge, which is in about six or seven days, it 
is tenderly assisted to disengage itself from its shell, and should it be 
strong and healthy, it is left undisturbed to spread and strengthen 
its wings and fly away. But if by any mischance, it emerges 
deformed and too crippled to use its wings, a catastrophe occurs. In 
one case a butterfly had fallen to the ground before its opening wings 
had dried, and one of the .soldier-ants tried to rescue it. He 
carried it back to the tree with the utmost care, and made several 
attempts to assist the butterfly to holdon again. Finding his efforts 
unavailing, he left the cripple for a short time to recover itself. On 
his return, seeing no improvement, he appeared to lose patience, 
and rushing in bit off both the deformed wings at the base, and 
carried off the wingless body into the nest below, whether as food 
for the community, or for what other purpose, I was unable to 
ascertain. That was the ouly occasion on which I ever saw any 
high-handedness on the part of the ants, though their usual ill-temper 
requires no very close observation to detect. Tt is curious sight to 
watch the fragile and delicate newborn butterflies wandering about, 
all feeble and helpless, amongst the busy crowd of coarse black 
ants, and rubbing shoulders in perfect safety with the ordinary 
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