236 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



many times over. I have often said it, and for that 

 very reason have maintained that the sterner sex will 

 always be the superior naturalists. But a truce with 

 this ! AVe are making no progress with our story. 



" I made my camp in a mesquit grove on the plateau 

 of Barton Creek, a branch of the Colorado, a few miles 

 beyond Austin, not far from the government trail to 

 San Antonio. Here I found the insects which I sought in 

 abundance, and spent several weeks studying them. 

 But I shall not speak of them now. I found also 

 another interesting species, the Cutting or Parasol Ant, 

 whose habits I investigated. They furnish a remark- 

 able example in one insect of both the cave-dwelling 

 and engineering habit of which we have been recently 

 conversing. In the first place we want to make the ac- 

 quaintance of the ant itself. In this box, which I have 

 had sent me from my collection in the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, are pinned specimens of the various 

 castes or forms that may be found in one of the Cutting- 

 Ant nests. 



"Is it possible that these are ants?'' cried Abby, as 

 the box was opened. "Why they are larger than a 

 bumble-bee." 



" Yes, these largest forms are the females or young 

 queens, the next in size are the males. These wingless 

 fellows with the large heads are the soldiers, and others, 

 running down through several forms to these tiny 

 creatures no bigger than our little brown garden ant, 

 are the workers. This diilerence in size among the 

 individual castes of one species, in one common domi- 



