Papery Bags

Inside Meredith saw hundreds of small oval-shaped chambers, connected by an intricate network of tunnels leading from top to bottom and branching off at many levels. Some of the chambers appeared empty, while others contained worm-like larvae and white egg-shaped cocoons. Each chamber was filled with larvae of a particular size and age, as though in a children's kindergarten. Tiny pellucid larvae lay nearly inert at the lower levels of the nest, while larger opaque larvae squirmed vigorously in chambers above them. On the highest level, motionless pupae, the largest yet, lay wrapped in papery white silken bags.

Queen

Where is the queen? thought Meredith, examining the lower chambers where the queen would be found. Peering closely she discovered mounds of glistening gelatinous white eggs, so minuscule they were practically invisible. She must be near.

Behind another chamber, in the lowest level of the ants' nest , Meredith found the queen. Decked out in all her dignity, the huge matriarch spread her limbs and delivered a torrent of eggs into the waiting arms of her worker midwives. As if in payment for her labors, or perhaps in worshipful adoration for the unending miracle of birth, the queen was pampered with offerings of food and constant ablutions of workers who licked her clean from the discharges of her toil.

Further search revealed other queens nestled in remote chambers of the nest.

There are ten colonies here, maybe more, she marveled. Millions of eggs. Trillions.

Kisses

She noticed the workers were everywhere, throughout the passages, in all the chambers.

Meredith watched spellbound as, on the upper level, several newly hatched adult ants emerged from their cocoons looking translucent and weak. There were tended by pale worker ants who licked them attentively and fed them with nutrients carried by their kisses.

"This is wonderful." She turned to the shaman who had been watching her amusedly.

Harvesters

"They're Harvester ants," she said, excited. "You can recognize them by their stout mandibles and beards. They're insects who scour the desert for seeds to eact, but they live underground to avoid the heat. Look, there's a trail of ants transporting seeds. The trail leads from those branches littering the cave into the storage chambers in the upper levels of the nest. Let's see. Flattened heart-shaped seeds. Why, those branches must be from Cordaites, early conifers!"

"Yes, we know about heart-shaped seeds," said the shaman. "We find them in the stones and see almost the very same seeds in the living pines."

"Of course, you know these creatures and plants well. What do you call them?"

He told her the Anasazi names for the ants and conifers.

Successful Species

Long lines of ants traveled in and out of the nest carrying seeds which they had removed from the grasses strewn about the cave floor. Meredith recognized ragweed and pokeweed. The ants had amassed a huge larder of food, which they had stored in many chambers of their palace.

"I seen now why ants are the most successful species on earth. They multiply so rapidly and are so well organized, they could strip the world of food in no time if they were unchecked!" said Meredith.

"Our name for 'ant' means 'gatherer'," said the shaman. "These ants are gathering building materials." He pointed to another row of ants carrying straw and twigs to the nest.

"Yes," said Meredith, "they are amazing scavengers, converting detritus, aerating the soil and hastening the decomposition of decaying wood, dung and humus."

"Be still now. Watch and listen." He pointed toward a stone near the ants' nest.