NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



and so did the supplicated ant, for she at once went 

 to work. 



The acrobatic skill of these ants was fully shown one 

 morning in the offices of ablution. The formicary had 

 been taken from its place, where it had become chilled, 

 and set on the hearth before an open fire. The warmth 

 was soon diffused through the nest, and roused its occu- 

 pants to unusual activity, A tuft of grass in the centre 

 of the box was presently covered with them. They 

 climbed to the top of the spires, turned around and 

 aromid, hanging by their paws, not unlike gymnasts 

 performing upon a ladder. They hung or clung in 

 various positions, grasping the grass-blade with the 

 third and fourth pairs of legs, which were spread out at 

 length, meanwhile cleansing their heads with the fore 

 legs, or bending underneath to comb and lick the abdo- 

 men. Among these were several ants, and in one case 

 a pair, engaged in washing and brushing a fellow-ant. 

 They clung to the grass, having a fore leg on one side 

 of the stem and a hind leg on the other, stretched out 

 at full length, while the cleansed ant hung in a like posi- 

 tion below, and reached over and up, submitting herself 

 complaisantly to the process. As the progress of the 

 act required a change of posture by either or both 

 parties, it was made with agility. 



These toilet operations usually preceded and followed 

 sleep. For ants, of course, must sleep; and all the 

 tokens of repose appear in them which are common to 

 sleeping animals. Their sleepy ways may be illustrated 

 by the behavior of a group of twenty-five or thirty 

 Agricultural ants in a glass formicary. They had been 

 lured by a gas-lamp upon the table from underground 



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