sure or of applause.

The sweeping squad on the floor was interesting because of its limited
field of work at such a distance from the nest; but close to my chair
were a number of other specialized zones of activity, any one of which
would have afforded a fertile field for concentrated study. Beneath
the swarm on the white canvas, I noticed two large spots of dirt and
moisture, where very small flies were collected. An examination showed
that this was a second, nearer dumping-ground for all the garbage and
refuse of the swarm which could not be thrown down on the kitchen
middens far below. And here were tiny flies and other insects acting
as scavengers, just as the hosts of vultures gather about the
slaughter-house of Georgetown.

The most interesting of all the phases of life of the ants' home town,
were those on the horizontal board which projected from the beam and
stretched for several feet to one side of the swarm. This platform
was almost on a level with my eyes, and by leaning slightly forward on
the chair, I was as close as I dared go. Here many ants came from the
incoming columns, and others were constantly arriving from the nest
itself. It was here that I realized my good fortune and the
achievement of my desires, when I first saw an army ant at rest. One
of the first arrivals after I had squatted to my post, was a big
soldier with a heavy load of roach meat. Instead of keeping on
straight up the post, he turned abruptly and dropped his load. It was
instantly picked up by two smaller workers and carried on and upward
toward the nest. Two other big fellows arrived in quick succession,
one with a load which he relinquished to a drogher-in-waiting. Then
the three weary warriors stretched their legs one after another and
commenced to clean their antennae. This lasted only for a moment, for
three or four tiny ants rushed at each of the larger ones and began as
thorough a cleaning as masseurs or Turkish-bath attendants. The three
arrivals were at once hustled away to a distant part of the board and
there cleaned from end to end. I found that the focal length of my
8-diameter lens was just out of reach of the ants, so I focused
carefully on one of the soldiers and watched the entire process. The
small ants scrubbed and scraped him with their jaws, licking him and
removing every particle of dirt. One even crawled under him and worked
away at his upper leg-joints, for all the world as a mechanic will
creep under a ca