484 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



4| inches high, and had ^ inch space between the two jars. Two col- 

 onies were under observation. 



2. Observations. — There were neither queens nor young of Pheidole 

 j)il'ifera in the nests, and hence evidence on the activities of surround- 

 ing the queen and tending the young is necessarily wanting. Only a 

 small part of the colony took part at any one time in any of the activi- 

 ties observed. 



Though I several times tried the same experiment with the meal- 

 worm which was tried in the field (p. 486), I never got a response. 

 This experiment consisted in placing a meal-worm near the nest, and 

 noticing whether either class broke it to pieces. 



Unfortunately the ants all died before I was able to try any experi- 

 ments on fighting. I had purposely left this experiment till the last, 

 because of its destructive outcome. However, if responding to a dis- 

 turbance of the nest caused by knocking on the glass or tampering 

 with the earth at the top of the nest be any indication, it may be said 

 that both classes respond pretty generally every time ; but the soldiers 

 seem to be much more excited than the minors by such stimuli. 



I did not see any scavengers in these nests. 



In regard to foraging, the minors were seen in the well and on top of 

 the earth much oftener than the soldiers ; the latter kept almost wholly 

 underground. 



No soldier was ever seen carrying in food or preparing seed, but a 

 few minors were noticed doing both of these things, especially the 

 carrying of food. Once, however, when a minor brought in a seed and 

 placed it near a soldier, the latter became excited, waving its antennae 

 in the air. Presently it left the chamber, but returned almost imme- 

 diately, and for a short time remained near the seed perfectly quiet. 

 Soon it left again, and did not return while I watched the nest ; where 

 it went I was unable to see. It did not at any time touch the seed, 

 and the cause of its excitement may have been something wholly dif- 

 ferent. Once I saw a soldier carry a seed from one part of the nest to 

 another; and on another occasion four small ants each tried unsuccess- 

 fully to drag a soldier toward a pile of seed. When the small ants 

 broke up seed, they sometimes pulled at different parts of the .same 

 husk, and sometimes each attacked a seed alone, pulling off pieces of 

 the husk with its jaws. Chaff was commonly found in the deeper 

 parts of the nest and under the well. Though "breakfast foods" of 

 various kinds (" Quaker " oats, hominy, rice, corn meal) were placed on 

 the surface of the nests, I never saw the ants split these. They were 

 carried in, however, especially the Quaker oats, but the ants seemed to 

 much prefer grass-seed. 



