86 
the foraging ants lap it up from the surface of the leaves, or directly 
from the excretory orifice of the aphides. The quantity of syrup thus 
produced is extraordinary. As an extreme case we may mention an 
aphis lying 
on the sugar 
maple which 
excretes for- 
bye 1. hit 
dio pis: im 
twenty-four 
hours.* 
During the 
season. of 
plenty, a cer- 
tain) number 
of the work- 
ers, usually 
majors: are 
set aside to 
store up the 
Fig. 2. Replete majors hanging from the ceiling of subter- 
supplies col- ranean honey vaults. 
lected by 
their foraging sisters. They hang motionless from the vaulted ceilings 
of the underground chambers (Fig. 2), and are always ready either to 
relieve a returning collector of the contents of her crop or to regurgi- 
tate a drop or two to feed a hungry member of the community. The 
swallowed honey is not ‘‘consumed’’; but simply stored. It remains 
in the crop, and is returned to the mouth in the same condition as 
when first swallowed. A minute quantity is of course passed on to 
the stomach proper, for the sustenance of the individual, but the crop 
contents are available for the use of the community ‘‘on demand’’. 
The tendency to active exertion, common to ants, is held in abey- 
ance, and the patient replete resigns herself to the monotonous oceu- 
pation of serving as a simple container for the fluid wealth of the 
community. 
During the dry season, the whole community depends upon the 
honey stored in the repletes, supplemented by dead bees, wireworms 
and other insects. The replete when appealed to by the antennae of 
another ant opens her mandibles to their fullest extent, and the recipi- 
ent sucks up the honey with mandibles almost shut. In two or three 
minutes the meal is over, and it is usual for the party served to lick 
*Ants, Their Structure, Development and Habits. Page 341. 
