METAMORPHOSIS 71 



quantity of the eggs into it with the others, and 

 was about to close it, when it occurred to me to 

 wait and see what the ants would do. For a few 

 seconds they appeared to be running aimlessly 

 to and fro, as if bewildered, as was hardly to be 

 wondered at, by a disaster of such magnitude. 

 In a very short time, however, ants began to 

 catch up such of the eggs as were lying about on 

 the exposed surface of the tree and run with them 

 to the nearest shelter. There they deposited 

 them and ran back for more, while other ants, 

 appearing from below, removed the eggs from the 

 place the last had put them, and hurried them 

 below. 



Meantime, in the tin were two kinds of ants, and 

 each of these was running to and fro with an egg 

 of its own species in its jaws. In a very little 

 while the black ants opened up a line of communi- 

 cation with their adjacent nest, while the others, 

 being hopelessly out of their reckoning, ran to and 

 fro. Some climbed over the tin and disappeared, 

 probably to perish. Others continued to run 

 backwards and forwards, while, they being few in 

 number, most of their eggs lay in the tin. 



By this time, the black ants, having removed all 

 the eggs which lay on the trunk of the tree, began 

 to pour in a well- organised line into the tin. Each 

 removed one of the eggs of its own species, pushing 

 the others aside, until they were all gone. Having 

 quite satisfied themselves that all their own 



