ANTS -FUNEREAL HABITS. 
89 
ation. When this happened the place was always a sunny nook 
in the forest. The main column of the army and the branch 
columns, at these times, were in their ordinary relative posi- 
tions ; but instead of pressing forward eagerly and plundering 
right and left, they seemed to have been all smitten with a 
sudden fit of laziness. Some were walking sternly about, others 
were brushing their antennae with their fore-feet ; but the 
drollest sight was their cleaning each other. [Here follows the 
above-quoted passage.] The actions of these ants looked like 
simple indulgence in idle amusement. .... It is probable that 
these hours of relaxation and cleaning may be indispensable to 
the effective performance of their harder burdens ; but whilst 
looking at them, the conclusion that the ants were engaged 
merely in play was irresistible . 1 
Funereal Habits . — In another connection it has already 
been stated that Sir John Lubbock' found his ants to be 
very careful in disposing of the dead bodies of their com- 
rades. This habit seems to be pretty general among many 
species of ants, and is no doubt due to sanitary require- 
ments, thus becoming developed as a beneficial instinct by 
natural selection. The funereal habits of the agricultural 
ant are thus related by MacCook : 2 — 
There is nothing which is apt to awaken deeper interest in 
the life-history of ants than what may properly be called their 
funereal habits. All species whose manners I have closely 
observed are quite alike in their mode of caring for their own 
dead, and for the dry carcasses of aliens. The former they 
appear to treat with some degree of reverence, at least to the ex- 
tent of giving them a sort of sepulture without feeding upon 
them. The latter, after having exhausted the juices of the body, 
they usually deposit together in some spot removed from the 
nest. I did not see any of the 4 cemeteries ’ of the agricul- 
tural ant upon the field, nor, indeed, observe any of their 
behaviour towards the dead, but my artificial nests gave me some 
insight of this. In the first colony had been placed eight agri- 
cultural of another nest, which were literally cut to pieces. 
Very soon after the ants were comfortably established in their 
new home, a number of them laid hold upon these disjecta membra , 
and began carrying them back and forth around the formicarium. 
The next day this continued, and several of their own number 
1 Loc. cit. 
2 Loc. cit. p. 337 
