ANTS PLAY AND LEISURE. 87 



insect friends are thus in possession of a modifiaa sort of 

 Enimetonian Turkish bath. 



The acrobatic skill of these ants, which has often furnished 

 me amusement, and which I shall yet further illustrate, was 

 fully shown one morning in these offices of ablution. The for- 

 micary was taken from the study, where the air had become 

 chilled, and placed in an adjoining chamber upon the hearth, 

 before an open-grate fire. The genial warmth was soon diffused 

 throughout the nest, and aroused its occupants to unusual ac- 

 tivity. A tuft of grass in the centre of the box was presently 

 covered with them. They climbed to the very top of the spires, 

 turned round and round, hanging by their paws, not unlike 

 gymnasts performing upon a turning-bar. They hung or clung 

 in various positions, grasping the grass blade with the third and 

 fourth pairs of legs, which were spread out at length, cleansing 

 their heads with the fore-legs or bending underneath to comb 

 and lick the abdomen. Among these ants were several pairs, 

 in one case a triplet, engaged in the cleansing operation just 

 described. The cleanser clung to the grass, having a fore-leg on 

 one side and a hind leg on the other side of the stem, stretched 

 out at full length, while the cleansed hung in a like position 

 below, and reached over and up, submitting herself to the 

 pleasant process. As the progress of the act required a change 

 of posture on the part of both insects, it was made with the 

 utmost agility. 



Similarly, Bates thus describes the cleansing process in 

 another genus of &nts(Ecitons}: 



Here and there an ant was seen stretching forth first one 

 leg and then another, to be brushed and washed by one or more 

 of its comrades, who performed the task by passing the limb 

 between the jaws and tongue, finishing by giving the antennae a 

 friendly wipe. 



Habits of Play and Leisure. The life of ants is not 

 all work, or, at least, is not so in all species ; for in some 

 species, at any rate, periods of recreation are habitually 

 indulged in. 



Biichner (' Geistesleben der Thiere,' p. 163) gives the 

 following abstract of Huber's celebrated observations in 

 this connection : 



It was of the pratensis that Huber wrote the observations 

 touching its gymnastic sports which became so famous. He 



