r. Finally, I was delighted to see him do what no car
ever does, turn completely over and lie quietly on his back with his
legs in air, while his diminutive helpers overran him and gradually
got him into shape for future battles and foraging expeditions.

On this resting-stage, within well-defined limits, were dozens of
groups of two cleaning one another, and less numerous parties of the
tiny professionals working their hearts out on battle-worn soldiers.
It became more and more apparent that in the creed of the army ants,
cleanliness comes next to military effectiveness.

Here and there I saw independent individuals cleaning themselves and
going through the most un-ant-like movements. They scraped their jaws
along the board, pushing forward like a dog trying to get rid of his
muzzle; then they turned on one side and passed the opposite legs
again and again through the mandibles; while the last performance was
to turn over on their backs and roll from side to side, exactly as a
horse or donkey loves to do.

One ant, I remember, seemed to have something seriously wrong. It sat
up on its bent-under abdomen in a most comical fashion, and was the
object of solicitude of every passing ant. Sometimes there were thirty
in a dense group, pushing and jostling; and, like most of our city
crowds, many seemed to stop only long enough to have a moment's morbid
sight, or to ask some silly question as to the trouble, then to hurry
on. Others remained, and licked and twiddled him with their antennae
for a long time. He was in this position for at least twenty minutes.
My curiosity was so aroused that I gathered him up in a vial, whereat
he became wildly excited and promptly regained full use of his legs
and faculties. Later, when I examined him under the lens, I could find
nothing whatever wrong.

Off at one side of the general cleaning and reconstruction areas was a
pitiful assemblage of cripples which had had enough energy to crawl
back, but which did not attempt, or were not allowed, to enter the
nest proper. Some had one or two legs gone, others had lost an
antenna or had an injured body. They seemed not to know what to
do--wandering around, now and then giving one another a half-hearted
lick. In the midst was one which had died, and two others, each badly
injured, were trying to tug the body along to the edge of the board.
This they succeeded in doing after a long series of efforts, and down
and down fell the dead ant. It was