ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 51 



and dirt, as did also the larvae and pupae, for they were 

 no longer able to clean either themselves or them. They 

 nevertheless tried to look after their larvae, but only suc- 

 ceeded in dirtying them, and finally left them to lie and 

 perish. Ants have on their fore legs projecting ridges, 

 which serve them as brushes and cleansing organs, and 

 with which they constantly try to keep clean their heads, 

 antennae, mandibular palpi, mandibles, and thorax. The 

 abdomen is cleansed by the other legs, which also have these 

 ridges, only less developed. The legs clean each other in 

 turn, and the spur is cleansed by drawing the leg back- 

 ward and forwards between the mandibles and the mouth. 



" It is very easy," says Forel, " to watch the Amazons 

 when, returning from a marauding excursion, they go back 

 to their homes over the surface of the ground slowly and 

 wearied. We can then see how the fore leg of one side 

 cleanses the antennse of the same side, how it is then drawn 

 through the mouth, and again rubs the antennae. After 

 awhile the same manosuvre is repeated on the other side. 

 The Amazons clean themselves thus while on the march. 

 They stop for a moment, while they hang on to a blade of 

 grass by two feet on the same side, and brush with feverish 

 haste the two hind legs of the opposite side and the abdomen 

 with the spur of the corresponding fore leg. This only 

 lasts some five or six seconds ; they then recommence their 

 march, soon to repeat the same task on the other side. 

 They also from time to time cleanse their feelers." 



This remarkable love of cleanliness is not, it seems, con- 

 fined to the Amazons, but is common to all ants. The Rev. 

 H. C. McCook, the distinguished American observer, found 

 that the agricultural ants kept by him in captivity which 

 will be fully dealt with hereafter were the cleanest 

 creatures possible. The whole body was carefully cleansed 

 after each meal or sleep, the different ants mutually assisting 

 each other. The particulars of these interesting proceedings 

 were exactly noted by the observer, and remind one of the 

 fashion in which cats wash and rub themselves. A sense 

 of comfort manifestly accompanies the action. The feelers, 

 or antennae, are cleansed with peculiar care. (Proceedings 

 of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 1878, 

 2nd April.) 



Far less important than the antennae are the mandibular 



