Ch. II.] TEMPORARY ANTS' -NESTS. 25 



by all the common workers moving in one direction, 

 many of them carrying the larvae and pupae carefully in 

 their jaws. Here and there one of the light-coloured 

 officers moves backwards and forwards directing the 

 columns. Such a column is 'of enormous length, and 

 contains many thousands if not millions of individuals. 

 I have sometimes followed 'them up for two or three 

 hundred yards without getting to the end. 



They make their temporary habitations in hollow 

 trees, and sometimes underneath large fallen trunks that 

 offer suitable hollows. A nest that I came across in the 

 latter situation was open at one side. The ants were 

 clustered together in a dense mass, like a great swarm of 

 bees, hanging from the roof, but reaching to the ground 

 below. Their innumerable lon<r le^s looked like brown 



_/ o 



threads binding together the mass, which must have 

 been at least a cubic yard in bulk, and contained hun- 

 dreds of thousands of individuals, although many 

 columns were outside, some bringing in the puprc of 

 ants, others the legs and dissected bodies of various 

 insects. I was surprised to see in this living nest 

 tubular passages leading down to the centre of the mass, 

 kept open just as if it had been formed of inorganic 

 materials. Down these holes the ants who were bringing 

 in booty passed with their prey. I thrust a long stick 

 down to the centre of the cluster, and brought out 

 clinging to it many ants holding larvae and pupa?, which 

 probably were kept warm by the crowding together of the 

 ants. Besides the common dark-coloured workers and 

 light-coloured officers, I saw here many still larger 

 individuals with enormous jaws. These they go about 

 holding wide open in a threatening manner, and I 



