95 
with an air bubble occupying the upper region of the crop. I stinted 
supplies of honey to bring about diminution of her stock, and as she 
fed away her store the air bubble increased, until it filled three- 
quarters of her capacity, while the remaining quarter of honey lay 
in the lowest part of the crop. 
I now frequently found her lying on the floor of the little grotto 
where she lived, with six or eight workers gathered around to be fed. 
The reason for her recumbent posture is at once apparent. So long 
as she was hanging from the ceiling, the air bubble occupied the upper 
portion of the crop, and her efforts to regurgitate honey could only 
result in an eseape of the imprisoned air; but if she lay upon her side, 
or ventral surface, on the principle of the spirit level the air rose to 
the highest point of the gastrie wall and then any contraction of the 
proventriculus, or pumping stomach, forced the honey out at the 
mouth. Contrary to the observations of McCook on the horti- 
deorum variety, I have found that these ants very economically 
lap up the honey contents of dead repletes, after depositing the heads 
and thoraces in the moat round their nest. It was very amusing to 
watch the workers of this species feeding their larvae with eggs. 
The nurse holds the egg in her jaws and squeezes it into the mouth 
of the helpless baby, who shows great eagerness to be fed, After the 
larva has got what it can, the nurse cleans out the shell, and regurgi- 
tates the remnant into the larva’s mouth. Frequently the nurse sticks 
an egg on to the back of the larva’s neck by saliva, so as to have it 
ready for the next feeding time. 
Although these ants have no stings, they can spray some poisonous 
fluid into the wounds made by their mandibles, from a gland situated 
in the tip of the gaster. Two eaterpillars, an inch and a half long 
and a quarter of an inch in diameter, succumbed to the spray in a few 
minutes, and were dragged down into the nest for food. It is quite 
eommon to find dead insects, termites, flies, ete., lying among the 
larvae, and in wild nests and among captive communities it is usual 
for two or three repletes to hang from the ceilings of the nursery 
chambers. Sometimes the larger larvae remain for a long time with 
their heads thrust into the thoraces of dead flies, devouring the 
muscular tissue. 
The high development of ants is shown by the long period of 
helpless infancy and absolute dependence upon the care of the nurs- 
ing workers. Although they le upon the bare earth of their caves, 
they are protected from actual contact with the soil by stiff bristles 
which are set in their soft skin, and which allow of a free circulation 
of air all round them. Living as they do in damp subterranean caverns 
they are peculiarly liable to be attacked by various moulds, and it is 
