SANITATION PERSONAL BENEVOLENCE 



selves into sundry odd positions ; at least, so they seem 

 to an onlooker, although quite similar attitudes may be 

 seen in cats and dogs when giving themselves a tongue- 

 brushing. In mature imagohood they are seen fre- 

 quently sponging and combing themselves. Dust and 

 impurities of whatever kind they cannot abide, and are 

 uncomfortable until rid of the defilement. They are 

 continually in contact with muck and mud and dust, 



Fig. 95 ANTS CLEANING STINGING APPARATUS AND BRUSHING 



BACK-HAIRS OF THE HEAD 



living as they do on and under the ground in earthen 

 caverns and cells. Yet who ever saw one looking untidy 

 and unkempt? (Fig. 95.) 



"As tidy as an emmet" would be an apt proverb, and 

 it would apply with equal truth to bees, wasps, hornets, 

 yellow- jackets, and other insects. If it be true that 

 cleanliness is next to godliness, our tidy emmets, not 

 here and there a rare example, but one and all, would 

 be fair candidates for canonization, and no advocatus 

 diaboli could challenge their record successfully. Per- 

 haps it would be impossible for human laborers, in any 

 conceivable industrial condition, under any form of 

 government, to approach even afar off the habitual 

 cleanliness of working ants. 



283 



