GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 59 



SANITATION. 



All adult members of the colony keep themselves scrupulously 

 clean, after the manner of most hymenopterous insects. Workers 

 divest their bodies and legs of foreign matter by persistent rubbing 

 of the body and antennae with their legs, while the tarsi are cleaned 

 by puUing them between the mandibles. At times we have seen tlie 

 workers assisting each other in these operations, particularly when 

 some gummy or adhesive substance became attached to the head and 

 mandibles. On one occasion the senior author observed one worker 

 inchistriously cleaning the mandibles of a companion. During this 

 operation, which lasted for several minutes, the worker receiving the 

 kmdly ministrations stood with her head well raised, mandibles 

 extended, and feet firmly braced, while the teeth of her mandibles 

 were thoroughly cleaned by those of her sister. 

 . The queen is occasionally cleaned and groomed by the workers, 

 but for the most part she attends to her own toilet, being nearly as 

 skillful and dextrous at the task as are the workers themselves. 

 Larvae and pupse are groomed from time to time, this grooming being 

 done with the tongues of the workers. 



Dead adults or larvae are not tolerated within the colony and are 

 removed immediately. Dead adults are also invariably removed 

 from the vicinity of any food supply which the ants are visitmg. 



Decaying ammal matter is not tolerated in near proximity to the 

 nests. If the ants are unable to remove it bodily they will carry 

 particles of earth with which to bury it, much after the manner 

 adopted by honey bees in covering with propoUs any dead animal 

 which they can not remove from their hives. The following example 

 will serve to illustrate this habit: A small minnow, recently dead, 

 was placed near the entrance of one of the artificial formicaries. It 

 was immediately covered with workers, and in the course of a few 

 hours all the soft portions had been torn apart and carried into the 

 formicary, little remaining except the bones and skin. On the fol- 

 lowing day another fresh minnow was given the same colony. Wliile 

 this was torn apart the same as the first one, it did not receive nearly 

 as much attention. Wlien a third minnow was given the colony the 

 workers paid no attention to it, having evidently had fish "a plenty." 

 As soon as it commenced to decay the workers brought particles of 

 trash and dirt from their nest and piled these up around the minnow. 

 This work they continued for three days, by the end of which time 

 the remains of the minnow were completely buried. Decaying fruit 

 left near the artificial nests was treated in the same manner. 



RATE OF TRAVEL. 



One of our associates, Mr. G. D. Smith, made some interesting 

 experiments to determine how rapidly the workers travel both in 

 going to food and in returning from it with their loads. Sirup was 



