40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1881. 



the o:roup. The major, after her first confuseTl hesitation, seeiued 

 inclined to start again on the trail, but after being tolled entered 

 the gate. It thus appeared at the outset, that the honey collected 

 by the foraging parties is served out to the sentinels, working 

 parties and others at the nest, precisely as has been fully shown 

 in the case of the mound-making ants of the Alleghenies. ^ 



2. The act of receiving supplies from the hone^'-bearer was 

 observed by me soon after the transfer of the ants to an artificial 

 nest. The rotund threw her head up, raised her thorax, and 

 regurgitated a large drop of amber liquid, which hung upon the 

 mouth and palps. At first two ants were feeding — a major, who 

 was in a position similar to that of the rotund, and a dwarf who 

 stood upon her hind legs and reached up from below. During 

 the feeding another major was attracted to the banquet, and 

 obtained her share by reaching over the back of the first worker, 

 indeed, partly standing upon her, and thrusting her mouth into 

 the common " dish." (PI. Y, fig. 24.) The mandibles and maxillge 

 of the pensioners serve as a sort of dish, upon which a particle of 

 honey is taken and afterward is licked oft" more at leisure. 



3. Workers fond of the stored Honey — The fondness of 

 the workers for the store within the rotunds was strikingly shown 

 during the excavation of a nest. Necessaril}", in breaking down 

 the rooms, the distended abdomens of some of the honey -bearers 

 were ruptured. The high state of excitement which pervaded the 

 colony, the ordinary instinct to defend the nest and preserve the 

 larvae, cocoons and other dependents, were at once suspended in 

 the presence of this delicious temptation, and amid the ruins of 

 their home the workers paused, clustered in large groups around 

 the unfortunate comrade, and greedily lapped the sweets from the 

 honey-moistened spot. It was a pitiful sight to see, and was 

 noted with a mild sort of indignation, and to the disparagement 

 of the ants, until I remembered that history has often recorded,' 

 and, indeed, I myself have seen, the humiliating fact that human 

 beings have exhibited a like greed and ignoble self-gratification 

 amid the perils and threatened wreck of their country and homes. 



Treatment of Dead Rotunds. — Over against this fact may be 

 placed one seemingly more to the credit of our Melligera. From 

 time to time the honej^-beai'ers died. The bodies of those who 

 perished upon their perch would hang to the roof for daj^s before 



1 Op. cit., p. 377. 



