ANT COMMUNITIES 



paper wrought into what may be called "combs." Some 

 of the masses were in a single hemisphere, filling the 

 central part of the cave. Others were arranged along 

 the floor in columnar masses two and a half inches high, 

 in contact with one another. Some of these columns 

 hung like a rude honeycomb, or wasp's nest, from roots 

 that interlaced the cave. No leaves were intact; none 

 used, like the leaf-cutter bee, for lining wall or floor 

 (Fig. 50). 



In color this material was either of a gray tint or a 

 leaf-brown. It was all evidently composed in great 

 part of the fibre of leaves which had been reduced to this 





Fig. 50 SECTIONAL VIEW OF A CUTTING ANTS* NEST 



Showing mushroom garden caves in sight. (From nature) 



form within the nest, doubtless by the joint action of the 

 mandibles and salivary glands. On examination the 

 mass proved to be composed of cells of various sizes, an 

 irregular hexagon in shape, narrowing into a funnel- 



94 



