i io INSECT BEHAVIOR 



penter ant * thrusts her head from a crack in the ancient bark. In 

 her jaws is a bit of wood debris from the work of enlarging the nest 

 within, where other individuals of her kind are cutting away the fiber 

 with their powerful jaws. 



The ant that we are watching is only a cog in the great machine 

 that makes up the colony and her part of the work is simply gathering 

 these wood chips and carrying them to the outside of the tree. Here 

 she either drops or transfers them to other porters who carry them 

 some distance away from the spot where the nest is being constructed. 



Several porters are also assigned to the task of removing the pellets 

 which are dropped at the base of the tree, and if we were to watch 

 long enough, the pile which first attracted our attention would grad- 

 ually be removed until no evidence of activities within the tree 

 remained. 



The work of enlarging the home may be carried on by ten individ- 

 uals or a thousand, without affecting the regular routine of the ant 

 city. As we watch the crack in the bark for the head of the porter 

 with her endless wood pellets, other ants are seen hurrying in and out, 

 ants of several sizes, bearing a variety of burdens. Occasionally one 

 stops to give the characteristic greeting by crossing or touching feelers 

 with a fellow worker, a sort of "Same Lodge," as it were, but the 

 general appearance about the entrance is one of haste, and reminds me 

 of the Grand Central Station a minute or so before the departure of a 

 popular commuters' train. 



Here is an ant bearing a tiny whitish grub-like object, dead but 

 good eating nevertheless for the hungry ones within. Closely follow- 

 ing upon her footsteps is a big powerful member of the colony strug- 

 gling towards the entrance in the bark, with the entire springing leg 

 of a grasshopper. It weighs as much or more than the ant herself and 

 the spines upon it must have caused her no end of trouble, yet she has 



1 Camponotus pennsylvanicus. 



