18 
FINDING NATURE’S TREASURES 
“Why does she fill the doorway?” Buddy asked. 
“She does this so that no enemy can come in to kill her,” 
Uncle Jack replied. 
“If she fills the doorway with earth, how can she get 
out again?” asked Fred. 
“She doesn’t come out again,” Uncle Jack explained. 
“She stays in that nest as long as she lives. She never 
comes outside even for a walk.” 
“What does she do down in that hole all by herself?” 
Bess wanted to know. 
“The first thing she does is to lay some tiny round 
eggs,” answered Uncle Jack. “They stick together in a 
bunch, so that she can pick them up and carry them in 
her jaws when she wishes. After the eggs hatch, she 
feeds and cares for the babies.” 
“What does she feed them and what does she, herself, 
eat?” demanded Fred. “You did not say that she made 
a fungus garden.” 
“She eats nothing while her first babies are growing,” 
replied Uncle Jack. “She feeds them food from her 
mouth, which is almost like water. But it is good enough 
to keep the babies alive until they become real worker 
ants. These young workers dig open the doorway and 
start a fungus garden. The queen then has nothing to 
worry about. She will have plenty to eat for herself 
and her babies, because her children are all good workers. 
That is the way the queen of the parasol ants starts her 
new nest.” 
“What a wonderful story, Uncle Jack!” said Bess. 
