Illustrations

Habitat plate: an Aqua among reeds, water lilies and a mossy trunk, reflected in shallow water

Pen study of a nest attack with attackers, defenders and a retreating slime

Attack, nest combat and defence

Pen study of several slimes taking different paths, one carrying a load

Autonomous behaviour

Hand-colored natural-history study: Bat

Hand-colored natural-history study: Boar

A collapsed slime carcass among fallen leaves

Carcasses and decay

Aqua light and a retreating Gloom in a cavern

Dangerous slime light

Hand-colored natural-history study: Deer

Desert plate with sunlit rocky ridges, dry grass and an open sandy path

Hand-colored natural-history study: Desert hare

A slime descending from the entrance into an earthen chamber

Entering and digging

A leader with loosely spaced colony members following

Escorting, following and gathering

A cautious scout rounding a bend

Exploration and safer routes

A small escort in combat with one member withdrawing

Fighting and leading a group

Leafy forest with tall trees, ferns and clusters of red and brown mushrooms on the woodland floor

Hand-colored natural-history study: Forest bird

Hand-colored natural-history study: Forest hare

Hand-colored natural-history study: Fox

An Aqua and its colony on their first paths near the nest

Getting started: slime, camera and time

Habitat plate: a dark Gloom in an almost black cave among violet-glowing crystals and roots

Dark cave with narrow rocky ledges, black water, roots and softly glowing violet crystals

Habitat plate: an orange-glowing Magma among warm desert stones at dusk

Object study of four round orange nectar parcels

Nectar and the founding reserve

Nectar in an underground vein and one separated portion

Aqua resting, eating and drinking

Needs, health and retreat

Cutaway of a nest with its local food store

Nests, stores and entrances

Object study of four compact green food parcels

Nutrition points and food parcels

Foragers following the trail of a returning food carrier

Pheromones and danger memory

A slime carrying a food parcel beside a deposited portion

Picking up, carrying and putting down

A persistent toxic growth beside decaying wood

Slimes at a toxic patch, one visibly weakened

Underground passage between two cavern spaces

A large queen with workers and food reserves

Queen and offspring

Hand-colored natural-history study: Rat

Two colonies of different sizes, nests and paths beneath sun and moon

Reading dominance and time of day

Field sketch of a decaying trunk with remaining bark and broken wood.

A Gloom withdrawing beneath a rock from the morning light

Sunlight damage

A growing Aqua colony with its queen, workers and food delivery

Sustaining a colony

Open swamp water with broad lily pads, pale violet flowers, reeds and small muddy islands

Open ground with water, sun and rain

The surface: light, rain and territory

Excavated earthen galleries among roots and rocks

The underworld and shaft digging

Habitat plate: a pale violet Undead among rotting wood, mushrooms, bones and poisonous growths

Barren Undead Grove with splintered deadwood, bare trees and gray-brown rubble

Pen study of slime tracks around thorns, faded scent marks and a decaying site of danger

Warning pheromone

Unlabelled shore study: drinking in water and foraging on land

Violet Gloom crystal

Shaft in a cross-section of the ground

Entering and digging

An inhabited nest in cross-section

Founding a nest

Entrance in grassy ground

Founding a nest

Shaft leading to an excavated, empty chamber

Founding a nest

A blue slime resting in the chamber

Founding a nest

Red-and-white edible mushrooms from the forest

Pen study of a large rat encountering several slimes on a forest path

Large violet swamp lily eaten by Aqua in water

Medium violet swamp lily eaten by Aqua in water

Small violet swamp lily eaten by Aqua in water