A TOUR TIIROUGn A TEXAS ANT-HILL. 257 



agricultural auts, who have stings as sharp and viru- 

 lent as hornets. 



"The interior of the formicary may be briefly de- 

 scribed as an irregular arrangement of caverns com- 

 nuuiicating with the surface and with each other by 

 tubular galleries. These caverns or pockets were of 

 various sizes, three feet long and less, and twelve inches 

 \.ep by eight inches high, and less. Now we come to 

 lAe question of how the ants dispose of the leaves which 

 they collect. 



"Within these caverns were masses of alight, delicate 

 leaf-paper wrought into what may properly be called 

 'combs.' Some of the masses were in a single hemi- 

 sphere, lining the central parts of the cave ; others 

 were arranged in columnar masses two and one-half 

 inches high, placed in contact along the floor. Some 

 of these columns hung-likc a rude lioney-comb or wasp's 

 uest from roots that interlaced the chamber. The 

 material was in some cases of a gray tint, in others of 

 a lead-brown color and was all evidently composed of 

 the fibre of leaves." (Fig. 88.) 



"You speak of this material as leaf-paper,' said 

 Abl)y. " Do you mean that the leaves were fastened 

 together like pieces of paper, or that they were ground 

 up and made into a true paper?" 



" The fibre of the leaves had actually been reduced 

 to pulp, and spread out into a papery mass, which had 

 dried into the shapes described." 



" But how could this have been done ?" 



"Undoubtedly by the joint action of the mandibles 



