ANT COMMUNITIES 



of funereal respect to the dead of their own household 

 (Fig. 31). 



This was one of the most interesting and puzzling of 

 the activities developed by the cutting-down of the 

 mound. Access to the uninjured part was easy, and 





Fig. 31 MOUND-MAKING ANTS COVERING A DOUBLE GALLERY 



a, a, a Double gallery, c, c, c Chambers. 



knowing the habits of these Fonnicans and their wide 

 range of daily venture, it seemed strange that they did 

 not at once, as did so many of their fellows, rally to the 

 reconstruction work on the old foundation. Had they 



/ 



been found huddled impassively underneath the scat- 

 tered fragments, keeping refuge for the nonce and wait- 

 ing results, it would have seemed natural. But this 

 immediate launching upon an apparently fresh enter- 

 prise turning to housemaking instead of home-repair- 

 ing, so near the gates of the old republic beginning the 

 upbuilding of a new this mystified a mere human brain. 

 Did the familiar savor and associations of a bare lump 

 of their former home deceive them ? Were they so little 



46 



