The Lubbock Ant Nest Invertebrates 
depending so much on her antennz for impressions, 
should be very particular to keep them clean. She 
has a little natural brush on her wrist, which she uses 
to clean them with, and we may watch this process 
any day. She lifts her leg over one antenna, brushes 
it downward, then licks the brush clean, as a cat 
washes its face. As she runs about in the nest she 
keeps her antennz always moving, to discover the 
nature of her path. If she meets a sister ant their 
antenne cross and pat each other, and occasionally we 
see them thus holding quite lengthy conversations. 
The ant is a good sister, and is always willing to feed 
another member of her colony if there is need; she 
will also help a sister at her toilet, and lick her with 
her tongue, as one cow licks another. Sometimes we 
will see an ant spend a half hour or more making her 
own toilet. 
But of all the interesting things to watch in an 
ant’s nest is the care given to the young. The queen 
ant, which is a mother of the colony, lays tiny eggs, 
not larger than pin points, and these eggs have sticky 
shells so that they cling together in bundles, and are 
thus carried by the nurses. Also the tiny larve, 
when they first hatch thus cling together. The 
larve are odd looking little creatures, shaped like 
crooked-necked gourds, the small end being the head 
and neck. The ant nurses classify the youngsters in 
groups of about the same size and age, so when we 
look into an ant hill we find that the larve of different 
ages are placed in different chambers, like a graded 
school. When the larve are young, the nurse ant 
feeds them on food which she has partially digested; 
but as they grow older the food is brought to them, 
or they are carried to the food, and they do their own 
eating. In one of my nests I placed a bit of hard- 
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