GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 59 
SANITATION. 
All adult members of the colony keep themselves scrupulously 
clean, after the manner of most hymenopterous insects. Workers 
divest their bodies and legs of foreign matter by persistent rubbing 
of the body and antennae with their legs, while the tarsi are cleaned 
by pulling them between the mandibles. At times we have seen the 
workers assisting each other in these operations, particularly when 
some gummy or adhesive substance became attached to the head and 
mandibles. On one occasion the senior author observed one worker 
industriously cleaning the mandibles of a companion. During this 
operation, which lasted for several minutes, the worker receiving the 
kindly ministrations stood with her head well raised, mandibles 
extended, and feet firmly braced, while the teeth of her mandibles 
were thoroughly cleaned by those of her sister. 
The queen is occasionally cleaned and groomed by the workers, 
but for the most part she attends to her own toilet, being nearly as 
skillful and dextrous at the task as are the workers themselves. 
Larvae and pupae are groomed from time to time, this grooming being 
done with the tongues of the workers. 
Dead adults or larvae are not tolerated within the colony and are 
removed immediately. Dead adults are also invariably removed 
from the vicinity of any food supply which the ants are visiting. 
Decaying animal matter is not tolerated in near proximity to the 
nests. If the ants are unable to remove it bodily they will carry 
particles of earth with which to bury it, much after the manner 
adopted by honey bees in covering with propolis any dead animal 
which they can not remove from their hives. The following example 
will serve to illustrate this habit: A small minnow, recently dead, 
was placed near the entrance of one of the artificial formicaries. It 
was immediately covered with workers, and in the course of a few 
hours all the soft portions had been torn apart and carried into the 
formicary, little remaining except the bones and skin. On the fol- 
lowing day another fresh minnow Was given the same colony. While 
this was torn apart the same as the first one, it did not receive nearly 
as much attention. When a third minnow was given the colony the 
workers paid no attention to it, having evidently had fish "a plenty." 
As soon as it commenced to decay the workers brought particles of 
trash and dirt from their nest and piled these up around the minnow. 
This work they continued for three days, by the end of which time 
the remains of the minnow were completely buried. Decaying fruit 
left near the artificial nests was treated in the same manner. 
RATE OP TRAVEL. 
One of our associates, Mr. G. D. Smith, made some interesting 
experiments to determine how rapidly the workers travel both in 
going to food and in returning from it with their loads. Sirup was 
