26 TWO CHAPTERS ON ANTS. 



is sand. I now mix sand and sugar togeth- 

 er ; the sand is left or thrown away, the su- 

 gar only is taken, to the nest. Some observ- 

 ers are inclined to think that ants do not 

 store up food, and everything that is taken 



FRONT VIEW OP RED ANT'S HEAD, SHOWING 

 ANTENNA AND MANDIBLES. 



to the nest is for building purposes. If this 

 were true, the sand would not be discarded. 

 I dissolve sugar with a few drops of wa- 

 ter, and place it on an oak leaf; a large num- 

 ber of black ants, and a yellow species about 

 the same size as the blacks, surround the 

 edge of the sirup, jostling and crowding one 

 another, and some that cannot find a place 

 on, the leaf mount the backs of the others 



