336 C. H. TURNER. 



On the twenty-sixth of December, 1906, I discovered three 

 batches of newly laid eggs in the living chamber. For several 

 days prior to this discovery, an ant from the nest had been busy 

 covering crack b (Fig. I.) with detritus obtained from the island. 

 At first only one ant was thus occupied. Later in the day a 

 second ant joined this one. On some days three and on others 

 four ants were thus engaged. These ants worked on for about 

 two weeks and covered not only crack b but also the edges, d, c y 

 f (Fig. 1), in the order named. Crack b received the largest 

 amount of trash, edge d the next largest amount, while the edges 

 c and/" each received about an equal amount. The ants covering 

 these cracks sometimes obtained the trash from one place on the 

 island and sometimes from another ; thus all the trips of the 

 same ant were not made along the same path. Not only so, but 

 the same ant often went to the trash pile along one path and re- 

 turned to the crack along another. 



In this particular experiment the glass cover over C reached 

 much nearer the edge of the well than is shown in the illustra- 

 tion, which was drawn from another experiment of the same kind. 

 Indeed, it entirely covered the turkish toweling on the well side 

 of the living chamber. As a result of this, when the ants began 

 to cover the edge d with trash, it would fall down into the well. 

 This continued for nearly three days and by that time the well 

 contained quite a collection of bread crumbs, bits of wood, and 

 the charred ends of matches. About the close of the third day, 

 the ants stopped carrying heavier debris and began covering the 

 edge d with fibers of cotton shredded from the layer of cotton 

 upon which the nest rested. They continued to add cotton fibers 

 for about a day, at the end of which time they recommenced 

 adding wood and bread crumbs to the pile. This time, owing to 

 the presence of the cotton fibers this coarser detritus remained 

 where placed. I do not feel justified in attaching much signifi- 

 cance to the fact that after the other detritus failed to remain on 

 the crack the ants covered it with cotton fibers and then resumed 

 carrying heavier materials ; for the cotton was all brought from 

 a side of the nest upon which there was no other detritus and it 

 may have been that the ants happened to go to that side for 

 detritus and, finding cotton in abundance, continued to return to 

 that side for material. 



