THE ATTAS AT HOME 189 
fungus, and here it is carefully guarded until 
the time comes for its propagation in the new 
nest. 
When she has descended to earth and exca- 
vated a little chamber, she closes the entrance, 
and for forty days and nights labors at the found- 
ing of a new colony. She plants the little fun- 
gus cutting and tends it with the utmost solici- 
tude. The care and feeding in her past life have 
stored within her the substance for vast numbers 
of eggs. Nine out of ten which she lays she eats 
to give her the strength to go on with her labors, 
and when the first larve emerge, they, too, are 
fed with surplus eggs. In time they pupate and 
at the end of six weeks the first workers—all tiny 
Minims—hatch. Small as they are, born in dark- 
ness, yet no education is needed. The Spirit of 
the Attas infuses them. Play and rest are the 
only things incomprehensible to them, and they 
take charge at once, of fungus, of excavation, 
of the care of the queen and eggs, the feeding 
of the larve, and as soon as the huskier Mediums 
appear, they break through into the upper world 
and one day the first bit of green leaf is carried 
down into the nest. 
