942 Marvels of the Universe 
Before we deal with its dwelling-place and habits, let us consider what is a Honey Ant, and why 
it is so called. As is well known, many ants are in the habit of collecting honey-dew and storing 
it in their crops, which become distended, and when they reach home they feed their brood and the 
rest of the colony by disgorging the sweet liquid. Ordinary ants may often be seen returning home 
with the abdomen much distended. Now, in the Honey Ants this habit has been developed until 
a class of workers have been produced which are called “ repletes.’”’ Their bodies are enormously 
swollen ; in fact, they are literally ‘““ honey-pots.” The size and rotundity of the abdomen is due 
to the crop, and not the stomach. The former being filled with honey, forces back all the other 
organs against the walls of the abdomen, which are stretched to their utmost capacity. The 
ordinary worker is a quick and graceful creature, but the repletes, or “ honey-pots,”’ are only able 
to waddle along. The replete form is confined to certain workers, and these are only formed when 
they are callows. That is to say, when they are newly hatched from the chrysalid into which an 
ant grub changes before it becomes a perfect insect. The integument of the body is then soft, 
but when they are older it becomes hard, and they are unable to be formed into “ honey-pots.” 
This has been proved in observation nests in captivity, the callows being fed with maple sugar and 
other sweet liquids. These they greedily devoured, and some of them became semi-repletes, whilst 
others acquired the complete rotundity of a genuine “ honey-pot.” It is chiefly the larger workers 
that act as “ honey-pots,”’ but the smaller ones sometimes play this part. The “ honey-pots”’ 
never leave the nest, but store the sweet liquid which is fed to them by the other workers which 
go out to forage for food. In return they disgorge some of their store when the other workers wish 
to be fed. They are thus the living casks, or barrels, of sweet stuff, kept by the ant colony as a 
[By Theo. Carreras. 
THE HOME OF THE HONEY-POT ANTS. 
The nests are found on the top of the stony ridges in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado, and other suitable localities in 
Mexico and the south-western of the United States. The nest is composed of a mound of small pebbles, which have been 
collected by the industry of the inmates. In the centre of the mound is a large circular entrance, which is always guarded 
by a ring of ant-sentries. 
