210 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR 
hollowed out in the earth or in wood, or sometimes built with 
a paper-like material, or formed of rolled leaves. It is said 
that a common ant in Eastern Asia (Qeophylla smaragdina) 
“forms shelters on the leaves of trees, by curling the edges of 
leaves and joining them together. . . . The perfect ant has 
no material with which to fasten together the edges it curls ; 
its larva, however, possesses glands that secrete a supply of 
material for it to form a cocoon with, and the ants utilize the 
larvee to effect their purpose.” * This has recently been con- 
firmed by Mr. E. G. Green, Government entomologist, at the 
Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon. “He has seen ants 
actually holding larve in their mouths and utilizing them as 
spinning machines. To find out what would be done, some leaves 
were purposely separated by Mr. Green. The edges of the leaves 
were quickly drawn together by the ants, and, about an hour 
later, small white grubs were seen being passed backwards and 
forwards across the gaps made in the walls of the shelter. A 
continuous thread of silk proceeded from the mouth of the 
larva, and was used to repair the damage.” + This is a re- 
markable act of apparently intelligent behaviour. But when 
we remember how much of the time of ants is occupied in 
carrying about their larvae, it is hardly an act of which it 
can be affirmed that it could not arise as the result of chance 
experience. 
In some cases two different genera are found in the same 
nest, with separate chambers and passages, as in the case of 
the robber-ant (S»/enopsis) and the slave-ant (Mormica fusca). 
The orifices by which the former enter are too small to allow 
of the entrance of the latter, “hence the robber obtains an 
easy living at the expense of the larger species,” for “they 
make incursions into the nurseries, and carry off the larve 
as food.” é 
In a few cases the foundation of a new colony has been 
carefully watched. Blockmann was successful in observing 
the formation of new nests by Componotus ligniperdus at 
* Sharp, “ Insects,” part ii., p. 147. 
t Nature, vol. 1xii., p. 253 (July 12, 1900). 
