were clinging to her body and
wings, all scrubbing and cleaning as hard as they could. She chose a
clear space, spread her wings, wide and flat, stood high upon her six
legs and waited. I fairly shouted at this change, for slight though it
was, it worked magic, and the queen Atta was a queen no more, but a
miniature, straddle-legged aeroplane, pushed into position, and
overrun by a crowd of mechanics, putting the finishing touches,
tightening the wires, oiling every pliable crevice. A Medium came
along, tugged at a leg and the obliging little plane lifted it for
inspection. For three minutes this kept up, and then the plane became
a queen and moved restlessly. Without warning, as if some
irresponsible mechanic had turned the primed propellers, the four
mighty wings whirred--and four Minims were hurled head over heels a
foot away, snapped from their positions. The sound of the wings was
almost too exact an imitation of the snarl of a starting plane--the
comparison was absurd in its exactness of timbre and resonance. It was
only a test, however, and the moment the queen became quiet the upset
mechanics clambered back. They crawled beneath her, scraped her feet
and antennae, licked her eyes and jaws, and went over every shred of
wing tissue. Then again she buzzed, this time sending only a single
Minim sprawling. Again she stopped after lifting herself an inch, but
immediately started up, and now rose rather unsteadily, but without
pause, and slowly ascended above the nest and the primroses. Circling
once, she passed through green leaves and glowing balls of fruit, into
the blue sky.

Thus I followed the passing of one queen Atta into the jungle world,
as far as human eyes would permit, and my mind returned to the mote
which I had detected at an equally great height--the queen descending
after her marriage--as isolated as she had started.

We have seen how the little blind roaches occasionally cling to an
emerging queen and so are transplanted to a new nest. But the queen
bears something far more valuable. More faithfully than ever virgin
tended temple fires, each departing queen fills a little pouch in the
lower part of her mouth with a pellet of the precious fungus, and
here it is carefully guarded until the time comes for its propagation
in the new nest.

When she has descended to earth and excavated a little chamber, she
closes the entrance, and for forty days and nights labors at the
founding of a new colony. She p