THE ATTAS AT HOME 183 
place to the next caste, Attaphila 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- 
