THE HARVESTING-ANTS OF FLORIDA. 79 



into the water. She floundered about for a 

 few moments, still holding on to the seed : 

 at last she let it drop and crawled out. As 

 soon as she had divested herself of the sur- 

 plus water, she consulted several of her com- 

 panions, and they immediately went to work 

 and filled up the shell, first throwing in four 

 or five apple-seeds, and then filling in with 

 earth ; and ever after, as often as I cleared 

 out the shell and put in fresh water, it would 

 be filled with earth, sticks, and seeds; and 

 they now served all sweet liquids which I 

 gave them in the same way, sipping the 

 sirup from the moistened earth. 



Like other ants, they are very fastidious 

 about removing their dead companions. I 

 buried one about half an inch beneath the 

 soil. Very soon several congregated about 

 the spot and commenced digging with their 

 forefeet, after the manner of digger-wasps, 

 throwing the earth backward. They soon 

 unearthed and pulled the body out, when 

 one seized and tried to remove it, climbing 

 up the side of the jar, and falling back until 

 I relieved her of the burden. 



From time to time I add new recruits of 

 soldiers and workers to the jar. This al- 

 ways causes a little confusion for a few mo- 

 ments : there is a quick challenging with 



