1881.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 49 



The syrup had been placed upon large corks, hollowed out atop 

 into little dishes, and set in the soil. One cork projected an inch 

 above the surface, and up this the workers climbed, carrj'iug 

 pellets of earth and gravel, from the A-ery bottom of the nest, four 

 inches below the surface. These pellets they dropped into the 

 syrup, until the dish was filled and heaped up high. Some of the 

 bits of gravel were quite large, of greater bulk, and several times 

 heavier than the ants. As the nests were made of their native 

 soil, I thus saw the ease with which the workers carr}- up the 

 gravel stones, that cover their mounds (PI. YI, fig, 30). 



A broad trail of s^-rup was forced down one side of the cork, 

 and it also was covered. This required more delicate manage- 

 ment, as the ants wei*e forced to support themselves upon the 

 perpendicular surface of the cork, and, working side-wise, daub 

 the dirt into the syrup, and fix it there ! The whole trail was thus 

 covered from top to bottom. The sjrup was fed to another for- 

 micary with precisely the same results. 



This was not the only occasion on which food given the ants 

 was thus served. A crushed grape, and a juicj' bit of a pear were 

 covered in the sajne way in four of the nests. The fruit did not 

 seem to be relished hy the ants, yet I am not sure that the juice 

 may not afterwards have been lapped from the soil which ab- 

 sorbed it. White sugar the ants took freely ; bees' honey was not 

 so much relished. 



In the meanwhile, during the progress of these observations, I 

 found that the semi-rotunds, at least were not wholly dependent 

 for food upon the workers, as they partook freely of the sugar. 

 But I never saw a honev-bearer, one of full rotundity, taking food 

 or drink. ^ One might imagine that they are quite independent 

 of outside supplies after the}- have once reached that state, and 

 could spend the remainder of their lives, unless greatly prolonged, 

 without eating. The question of chief interest here is : are thej' 

 brought to that state b}' the deliberate action of workers in feed- 

 ing them ■? I believe that after a certain point of distension this 

 is the case. But the belief does not yet rest upon positive 

 demonstration. We now proceed to the anatomy of the creature, 

 which may aflford some additional light upon this question. 



^ I substituted for carmine Pmssian blue, which Dr. Forel had used for 

 staining living ants (Fouvmis de la Suisse, p. 110), but had no better suc- 

 cess, although some of the ants fed upon the colored sweets. 



