CARNIVOROUS ANTS 47 



refuse and clear all earth from the aperture of the 

 nest. 



Division of labour was a character which I was 

 always delighted to discover in ant life, for the 

 specialization of work and the allotment of different 

 tasks to the individuals of any community is one of 

 the surest manifestations of its mentality and advance- 

 ment. Just as specialization of function indicates the 

 superiority of the individual being, so does the division 

 of labour determine the progress of the race. In this 

 connection I will give another instance to illustrate 

 this great principle. At sunset a worker might some- 

 times be observed paying very special attention to 

 the outside of the nest. The other ants have retired 

 to rest, and this ant is clearly engaged in some special 

 individual work. It has been detailed for the par- 

 ticular duty of sealing up the entrance for the night. 

 One evening 1 watched the little labourer at work. 

 It carried the larger pebbles from the refuse heap and 

 dropped them down the opening of the nest. It 

 dusted back the finer earth with its hind legs so as 

 to fill the crevices between the pebbles and firmly 

 bar the door. How strange it is that the all-important 

 instinct of carrying out the pebbles and sweeping 

 away the debris from the nest should here seem to 

 be reversed, and that the ant should labour to replace 

 the same little stones and the same fragments of earth 

 which, earlier in the day, it had so eagerly cast 

 forth ! 



Having barred the door, with the exception of a 

 narrow slit sufficiently wide to permit of its own return 

 into the nest, the ant entered and, with particles of 

 earth carried from the interior of the formicary, it 



