ANT COMMUNITIES 



squad was joined by larger forms, who began to carry 

 away bits of chippage. This was also a slow process, 

 but it seemed to avail in gradually loosening up the 

 massy material crowded into the gate; for now came 

 a grand rush from within, the workers, major and minor, 

 and the big-headed soldiers in the lead. They broke 

 forth, bearing before them the larger bits of gate-closing 

 rubbish, which was scattered here and there, and in a 

 few moments was cleared away from the gallery and 

 strewed around the margin of the gate (Fig. 42). 



This chippage appears to be a part of the communal 

 treasure, for it was easy to identify a number of the 

 pieces as having been used several days in succession. 

 The ants having found out just what shapes and sizes 



Fig. 42 CUTTING ANTS: A GATE WIDE OPEN 



were best adapted for effective infilling, were wise 

 enough to keep them close by and use them again and 



again. 



The closing of gates began early in the morning and 

 dragged along until ten o'clock. The galleries, of which 

 the gates were the terminals, sloped from the surface, 

 at as great an angle as forty-five degrees, a conformation 



