GREEN-ANT CORDIAL 229 



examining the leaf and communicating with each other 

 whensoever they meet. Imperceptibly the leaf begins to 

 curl. The ants continue to make mesmeric passes over 

 the nerves with ever-waving antennae. 



In accordance with the will and the design of the 

 architects, who merely stand by and gesticulate, the 

 opposite margins approach, or the apex curls towards the 

 base, or towards one of the sides to form a miniature funnel. 

 When the extremities are so close that the intervening 

 space may be spanned, threads of white gossamer are laced 

 across, and the slack being taken up by degrees, in a few 

 days a cosy pocket with closely-fitting seams is completed. 



How is this folding of the leaf accomplished ? A theory 

 which presents itself is that the ants eject some active 

 chemical principle into certain of the cells of the leaf tissue, 

 and that the stimulus is transmitted by excitation from cell 

 to cell, bringing about a general and uniform contraction 

 without destroying the vitality of the leaf Further, by the 

 application of the injection to specific cells the ants convey 

 impulses to specific nerves, causing the leaf to curl longitudi- 

 nally or laterally, or at any angle they design. The poison 

 that a single ant injects into the neck of a brawny man so 

 affects his nervous system that he twists and writhes and 

 stamps his feet with energy sufficient to destroy millions 

 of the species. Maybe a slightly different compound is 

 reserved for vegetable substances, which can offer only a 

 flabby sort of remonstrance. If this theory be supported on 

 investigation, surely the green tree-ant will deserve to be 

 catalogued among creatures who have solved labour-saving 

 problems — who employ consciousness, if not rational 

 thought, to compensate for physical frailty. This theory is 

 applicable to the manipulation of a single leaf only, and of 

 a leaf of considerable size. Yet these feeble folk more fre- 

 quently take up their quarters in trees bearing small leaves, 

 of which scores are embodied in a mansion. Immense and 

 concentrated exertion is necessary to draw far-flung branch- 

 lets and leaves together, and the feverish host accomplishes 

 a seemingly impossible feat by an organised combination 



