Ch. V.] REASONING POWERS OF AXTS. 83 



then come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their 

 strong jaws. Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, 

 one of these giants has unperceived climbed up my dress, 

 and the first intimation of his presence has been the 

 burying of his jaws in my neck, from which he would 

 not fail to draw the blood. The stately observant way 

 in which they stalk about, and their great size, compared 

 with the others, always impressed me with the idea that 

 in their bulky heads lay the brains that directed the 

 community in their various duties. Many of their 

 actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of 



f 



workmen carrying out the ant food, can scarcely be 

 blind instinct. Some of the ants make mistakes, and 

 carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is always 

 rejected by them, but I have seen some ants, perhaps 

 young ones, carrying leaves of grass ; but after a while 

 these pieces are always brought out again and thrown 

 away. I can imagine a young ant getting a severe ear- 

 wigging from one of the major-domos for its stupidity. 



I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting 

 ants with one more instance of their reasoning powers. 



A nest w^as made near one of our tramways, and to get 

 to the trees the ants had to cross the rails, over which the 

 waggons were continually passing and repassing. Every 

 time they came along a number of ants were crushed 

 to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, 

 but at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each 

 rail. One day, when the waggons were not running, I 

 stopped up the tunnels with stones ; but although great 

 numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the nest, 

 they would not cross the rails, but set to work making 

 fresh tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order 



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