I am Myrm, and this is my Antobiography.  I am an Ant, a black ant to be exact, and I have lived for 10 years now.  Let me share with you the history of my life - My parents, where I was born, where I eventually settled down and raised my family.

Its a story that will be joyous at times, and painful at others, never dull, and always busy.  This is the story of my life.

Chapter One - My beginnings

I am an Ant.  A queen ant to be exact.  Now I don't profess to know what a queen is exactly, but I do know that I am the founder of my particular family.

It all began roughly 10 years ago, and to an ant, that is a lifetime let me tell you.  My parents are unfortunately no longer with us.  My father passed away before I was born.  My mother also had a large family like my own, but she passed away about 5 years ago.  Sad times to think that my parents are no longer here, but I suppose I never really knew either of them.  And after all, that is the way of things for my species, humans just don't know how lucky they are!

I was born in a nest about 2 miles away from here, an awful long way for an ant, but at that time, I had wings, and flew on the breeze to where I live now.  I don't really remember much of my earlier life, it is the same with me as it is with you to a certain extent.  I started out as an egg, then developed through various stages until I was born into the world.  Of course, as an egg, then a larvae, then a pupae, I could still hear the world around me, I could still sense when things were good and when things were bad, much like yourselves.

My mother and father met about 14 years ago in the skies over Somerset, probably a mile away from where she eventually set up her home.  They had a brief fling, nothing serious, but you must understand that that is the way of the ants.  The fathers never stick around.  In fact, as soon as the pair had coupled for the first and last time, he was never to be seen again.  His task was successful and his memory lives on in all of my brothers and sisters.  I don't really know anything about him, not where he was from, or how old he was, but from things I have seen in my life, I know that he was young when he passed on.  I cannot be upset about it, it is the way of things as I have said before, and will probably say again.

My mother also came from a large family.  She was 6 when she had me, middle aged for an ant, and I understand from the teachings I recieved that she had had other sets of my brothers and sisters, one a year before she had me.   She was a very wise and successful lady, her own family was 10000 strong before she passed on.  Her underground home was very large indeed.

Eventually, I became a young queen, ready to fly the nest.  I had my beautiful wings, all that was left was to wait for a beautiful summers day in June or July and then I would be able to leave the nest.  It was my instinct to leave.  There was no pain involved, there was no longing to stay with my family, in fact the nest was a place of great excitement leading up to the departure of myself and my brothers and sisters.  Some days of course were more exciting than others the slightest threat to our home was met with extreme force for instance.  All of the smaller ants, I will call them workers, that's all they seemed to do after all, would go into a frenzy of activity and defend the nest at any cost.  On many occasions I saw the bodys of lots of my family.  Some I had known since I was an infant.  They would be brought into the nest and put into the graveyard.

On the quiet days, there was nothing to do, so I would wander around the nest looking for food, or someone to groom me. Sometimes I would wander up close to the nest entrances and soak up the lovely warmth of the sun.  I don't know why we couldn't fly on those days, I would have loved to, but mother said it wasn't the time, and who were we to argue.   The nest remained in a high state of excitement for days and days until eventually, the order came to finally fly the nest...and oh, what a day it was!  But that's a story for another day!