442 INSECTS ABROAD. 



pieces of leaves in its mouth. Whole columns of the Saiiba 

 Ant march deliberately along, each with its leaf held over its 

 head like Malcolm's soldiers at the wood of Dunsinane. These 

 leaves are employed in house-building, and are used after a 

 very curious manner. 



The nest of the Saiiba is partly above ground, though the 

 greatest portion of it, including all the tunnels, is below the 

 surface of the earth. The visible part of the nest consists of a 

 dome, seldom more than two feet in height, but often reaching 

 forty feet in diameter. This dome is really formed of the leaves, 

 the superincumbent earth being of slight thickness. It is a 

 curious fact that the workers who fetch the leaves do not build 

 with them, but merely lay them down and go off for more. In 

 fact they are to the real nest-builders exactly what labourers 

 are to bricklayers. Two figures of the Umbrella Ant are given 

 in the illustration, one showing the front of the head, and the 

 other the entire insect. The latter figure is a. portrait of a 

 specimen in the British Museum, which has preferred to die 

 rather than loosen its hold of the leaf. 



Large as the nest is, the dome forms but an inconsiderable 

 portion of it. Vast tunnels radiate from it in all directions, and 

 are carried to distances that seem almost incredible. The Ants 

 work away underground, leaving no signs of their passage, and 

 have a way of suddenly coming to the surface when least 

 expected. My brother has sent me an account of a serious 

 damage that was done to a gold-mine by the Travelling Ant, as 

 he calls it. In mines where the gold is extracted from quartz- 

 rock, the ore is obtained by driving galleries which are nearly 

 horizontal. These galleries are supported by timber both at 

 the sides and on the roof, and a tramway runs along the floor 

 for the purpose of conveying the ore to the stamps. Last year 

 (1872), during the wet season, the mine was suddenly flooded 

 in spite of all the precautions that had been taken, a torrent of 

 water pouring through the galleries with such force that the 

 supporting timbers gave way, and the sides closed in so much 

 that the cars could not pass over the tram. 



On examination it was found that this misfortune was caused 

 by the Saiiba Ant, which had driven one of its tunnels conir 

 pletely into the gallery, and so diverted a large amount of 

 surface drainage into the mine. A professional ant-killer was 



