188 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 
ever, and the moment the queen became quiet 
the upset mechanics clambered back. They 
crawled beneath her, scraped her feet and an- 
tenn, licked her eyes and jaws, and went over 
every shred of wing tissue. Then again she 
buzzed, this time sending only a single Minim 
sprawling. Again she stopped after lifting her- 
self an inch, but immediately started up, and 
now rose rather unsteadily, but without pause, 
and slowly ascended above the nest and the prim- 
roses. Circling once, she passed through green 
leaves and glowing balls of fruit, into the blue 
sky. 
Thus I followed the passing of one queen Atta 
into the jungle world, as far as human eyes 
would permit, and my mind returned to the mote 
which I had detected at an equally great height 
—the queen descending after her marriage—as 
isolated as she had started. 
We have seen how the little blind roaches oc- 
casionally cling to an emerging queen and so 
are transplanted to a new nest. But the queen 
bears something far more valuable. More faith- 
fully than ever virgin tended temple fires, each 
departing queen fills a little pouch in the lower 
part of her mouth with a pellet of the precious 
