XXVI 



JNSECTA : HYMENOPTERA 



407 



to a dark chamber where they are all kept in a little heap, 

 and are daily licked over by their nurses, whose saliva 

 is probably antiseptic and thus prevents the growth of 

 fungi on the eggs ; it also causes the eggs to stick together, 

 and consequently they can be more quickly removed from 

 one spot to another when necessary. 



Fig. 312. — Stages in the Life of the Yellow Meadow Ant (much enlarged). 



.E, egg ; L, larva ; C, cocoon ; P, pupa removed from cocoon ; pi, pupa seen 



from in front. 



The eggs may vary a little in size and shape, but no 

 distinction has yet been demonstrated between those that 

 will develop into the different kinds of individuals in the 

 nest. 



The lanae which hatch out from the eggs are soft, blind, 

 legless gi'ubs, narrowest at the head end, which is curved 

 over (Fig. 312, L). The soft body behind the head is divided 

 into thirteen segments, and is covered with very fine white 

 hairs. The larvae have mouth-parts corresponding with those 

 of the adult ant, but as they have no legs and cannot move, 

 they are entirely dependent for their food on their nurses, 

 who feed them on regurgitated liquid. As the larvae grow, 

 and new larvae are hatched out, they are sorted by the nurse- 

 ants according to size, and the different groups are placed in 

 different chambers of the nest. All are kept clean by being 

 licked over regularly, and occasionally they are moved from 

 one part of the nest to another; probably being brought 

 nearer the surface for warmth, or taken to a deeper chamber 

 for more moisture and less light. The workers carry the 

 larvae in their mandibles, picking them up very carefully, 

 and shifting them until they have got them just into the right 

 position. 



