i; 8 ANTS. 



to another, it" only it will yield to their mouth parts, that is, if it can 

 he imbihed directh as a liquid or rasped off in minute particles from 

 which the liquid can he expressed in the hypopharyngeal pocket. Ants 

 with a specialized diet are described in detail in several of the chapters 

 of this volume. 



The protective habits are always very complex in colonial organ- 

 isms, and this is particularly true of ants. These embrace nidification, 

 to which Chapters XII and XIII are devoted, the care of the young, 

 which has already been briefly considered, their personal care, and that 

 of one another, their methods of defending themselves against enemies, 

 of keeping their nests clean, of preserving the colony free from admix- 

 ture with other species, etc. 



The care which ants lavish on their young is the manifestation of 

 an instinct so all-pervasive and obsessional that we are not surprised 

 to find it embracing the adult members of the colony as well. That it 

 extends even further and envelopes a motley multitude of alien arthro- 

 pods, enabling them to live as guests or parasites in the ant colonies, 

 will be shown in the chapters on myrmecophiles. Many observers, 

 especially McCook, have dwelt on the exquisite care bestowed by ants 

 on their own bodies and those of their comrades. Much of the time 

 spent by these insects in the dark recesses of their nests is devoted to 

 cleansing the surfaces of their bodies with their tongues and strigils. 

 This process is not only necessary for removing all particles of the 

 earth in which the ants work so much of their lives, but it also 

 invests their bodies with a coating of slightly oleaginous saliva, which 

 probably protects them from moisture and may be sufficiently antiseptic 

 to prevent the growth of lethal moulds and bacteria. 



This care of one another, however, does not cease with mutual 

 cleansing and feeding, but is also exhibited in their habit of deporta- 

 tion. There can be little doubt that this peculiar habit has developed 

 out of the instinct to carry the brood from place to place. It may be 

 observed under certain conditions, as when a colonv is moving to a 

 new nest, or towards nightfall when inexperienced or weary workers 

 have strayed some distance from the nest. In the former instance the 

 workers that initiate the change of quarters carry their indifferent or 

 recalcitrant companions bodily to the new nest. Of deportation under 

 the latter conditions I once saw a beautiful example on the sandy 

 deserts about Monahans, in western Texas. The straggling workers 

 of the slow-moving harvesting ant, Isc/uioiiiynnc.r cockcrclli, were re- 

 turning from all directions to their nests just as the cold December 

 twilight was setting in. Each worker bore in her slender jaws a fellow 

 worker that she had picked up while on her way home. In a similar 



