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horns, each tufted with a brush of fine hairs, from the upper surface of the tail segments* 

 Between [on the next segment, anteriorly] these tentacles is a small slit, from which they 

 exude a small drop of a juice of some sort eagerly sought by the ants, and which they can 

 generally procure by stroking the larvae gently with their antennae. The ants set up what 

 appears to be merely a temporary nest at the foot of the tree, the better to carry on their 

 operations. Just before the rains set in, about the middle of June, great activity among 

 the inhabitants of a Zizyphus tree may be observed. The ants are busy all day long, 

 running along the branches and leaves in search of the larvae, and without fail an ant 

 will come on one full-grown and meditating on the choice of a snug retreat [in which to 

 turn to a pupa]. A friend or two turning up, the ants set to work to guide and drive 

 their caterpillar in the direction they wish him to go, i.e., down the stem of the tree 

 towards their nest. This is not always an easy business if the prisoner is refractory 

 and would prefer going somewhere else. But as a rule they are docile and easily led. 

 Having kept guard over him until they get him safely into his proper berth in the row, 

 and he has accepted their ultimatum as final, he drops off into a preliminary doze, and 

 undergoes his transformation into a pupa. If you gently scrape away the loose earth 

 piled up at the base of the tree, you will see some hundreds of larvae and pupae in all 

 stages of development arranged in a broad even band all around the trunk, and lightly 

 covered with earth. The ants object to their being uncovered, and will immediately set 

 to work to re-cover them, and, if you persist, they will remove all the chrysalids, and bury 

 them lower down. When the butterfly is ready to emerge, which is in about six or 

 seven days, it is tenderly assisted to disengage itself from its shell, and should it be 

 strong and healthy, it is left undisturbed to spread and strengthen its wings and fly away. 

 But if by any mischance it emerges deformed and too crippled to use its wings, a catas- 

 trophe occurs. In one case a butterfly had fallen to the ground before its opening wings 

 had dried, and one of the soldier-ants tried to rescue it. He carried it back to the tree 

 with the utmost care, and made several attempts to assist the butterfly to hold on again. 

 Finding his efforts unavailing, he left the cripple for a short time to recover itself. On 

 his return, seeing no improvement, he appeared to lose patience, and, rushing in, bit off 

 both the deformed wings at the base, and carried off the wingless body into the nest 

 below, whether as food for the community, or for what other purpose, I was unable to 

 ascertain. That was the only occasion on which I ever saw any high-handedness on the 

 part of the ants, though their usual ill-temper requires no very close observation to detect. 

 It is a curious sight to watcli the fragile and delicate new-born butterflies wandering 

 about, all feeble and helpless, amongst the busy crowd of coarse black ants, and rubbing 

 shoulders in perfect safety with the ordinary fierce, big-headed soldiers ; as odd a contrast 

 as the fresh, creamy whiteness of the opening wing, the flash of purple and blue, and the 

 sparkle of green and silver eyes is to the darkness and dinginess of their queer home. 

 For some time after the butterflies have gained strength to fly away they remain hover- 

 ing over the nest. A larva of a species of Catopsilia [one of the Pierinae or " Whites " 

 1 threw down as an experiment was immediately set upon and torn to pieces in a second 

 by the ants. 



1 took a T. theophrastus larva from a tree, and introduced it on the pathway of 

 another company of the same species of ants who lived in our verandah, but kept no 

 " farm," and it was odd to see the ants come tumbling out headlong to fight the intruder, 

 and the sudden way they cooled down on investigation of the foe. None attempted to 

 harm him, and he was politely escorted across their boundary, the ants running along- 

 side and feeling him all over with their antennae. This must have been instinct, as they 

 could have had no former knowledge of him as a " milk-giver." The dead chrysalids in an 

 ants'nest are carefully removed and thrown away outside'; the ants also distinguish between. 

 the dead and the living. 



