Photo by Mr. J. G. Hubbard and Dr. O. S. Strong 



PORTION OF A Camponotus amcricanus colony with workers and virgin ouEEns 

 Five pairs of workers are seen in the act of feeding one another bv regurgitating liquid 

 looa trom the social stomach or crop. Many observers, especiallv McCook. have dwelt on 

 tne exquisite care bestowed by ants on their own bodies and those of their comrades. Much 

 ol the time spent by these insects in the dark recesses of their nests is devoted to cleansing 

 tne surtaces of their bodies with their tongues and strigils. This process is not onlv neces- 

 sary tor removing all particles of the earth in which the ants work so much of their lives, 

 ixit It also invests their bodies with a coating of slightlv oleaginous saliva, which probably 

 protects them from moisture and may be sufficientlv antiseptic to prevent the growth of 

 lethal moulds and bacteria. 



A DETERMINED ATTEMPT AT SELF 

 CIVILIZATION 



As ants were primitively carnivorous 

 or predacious insects, it is rather difficult 

 to understand how they could have de- 

 veloped societies at all, for as a general 

 rule we find that predacious animals, 

 which have to hunt their prey or to lie 

 in wait for it, like the spiders, hawks, 

 and tigers, live solitary lives, and that 

 only vegetarians like the caterpillars, 

 sparrows, rodents, and ruminants, which 

 have easy access to a large amount of 

 food, develop gregarious or social habits. 



There can be no doubt that the ants 



have found it difficult to reconcile their 

 carnivorous appetites with their social 

 proclivities, for we find that they have 

 attempted this reconciliation in diverse 

 ways. 



J\Iost of the species of the oldest, most 

 primitive, and most conservative sub- 

 family, the Ponerinse, have not been able 

 to relinquish their carnivorous habits, 

 and have therefore been prevented from 

 forming large colonies. Most of the 

 species of this subfamily, in fact, form 

 colonies of only a few dozen individuals, 

 and these colonies are, moreover, rare 

 and depauperate in appearance. 



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