246 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



ground took these up and Ijore them to the nest. The 

 loadhig of the sections was accomphshed in this wise : 

 the piece was seized witli the curved mandibles, the 

 head elevated and the piece thrown back with a quick 

 motion. Let me draw for 3'ou the head of an ant and 

 you will see how this is done. A deep furrow runs 

 along the entire medial line, except the part at the very 

 end of the lace called the clypeus. At the edge of 

 this furrow, on cither side, and on the prothorax pro- 

 jecting over the neck are prominent spines, which you 

 will notice if you look again at the specimens. (Fig. 84.) 



" I have a cousin who once lived in Texas," remarked 

 Penn, "and he has told me that things down there have 

 a wonderful tendency to be jagged and thorny. How 

 is that ?" 



" Certainly it is so with many plants and animals. 

 Both species of ants studied by me, the cutting {Attn 

 fcrverifi) and agricultural {Pogonorjvjrmcx harhaltis) are 

 marked with strong spines. TIicu there are spinous 

 spiders, though we have some of them on our old farm 

 too ; horned toads hopping everywhere, horned lizards 

 running swiftly over the ground, prickly cactus plants 

 grown Into great bushes, thorn trees of many sorts, the 

 soap i)lant, the splendid Spanish bayonet, certainly well 

 named, and, not to be tedious, the fanious wide-liorned 

 Texas cattle herding in thousands on the plains. 



" The spines upon our cutting ant together with the 

 furrow seem to serve a very good purpose. The 

 worker seizes the leaf-section and l)y a quick motion 

 lodges it on edge within the furrow and between the 



