244 



lENANTH OF AN OLD FARM. 



carry a parasol, perhaps, but they manage it well. I 

 will show you how this is done when I have explained 

 the leaf-cutting habit. I observed very fully at the nests 

 around ni}^ camp and in vegetable gardens near Austin 

 the mode of cutting and carrying leaves. In order 



better to see the process I 

 thrust leafy branches of 

 live-oak into the mound 

 near the gates. They 

 "were soon covered with 

 ants, and as the lantern 

 could thus be used con- 

 veniently, the operations 

 of the cutters wei'e com- 

 pletely in view. The cut- 

 ting is done in this way : 

 The cutter grasps the 

 leaf with outspread feet 

 and makes an incision at 

 the edge by a scissors-like motion of her sickle-sluaped, 

 toothed mandibles. She gradually revolves, steadily 

 cutting as she does so, her mandibles thus describing a 

 circle, or the greater portion thereof. The feet turn 

 with the head. The cut is a clean one quite through 

 the leaf." 



"How largo a piece do the insects cut out ?" Aunt 

 Hannah asked. 



" The cutting is about the size of a ten-cent piece or 

 sixpence, and is usually rotnidish in shape, though often 

 irregular. Tlie cutter woulil sometimes drop with the 



FIG. S3. — DEFOLIATED TWIG 

 OF PRIDE-OF-CHINA-TKEE. 



