A TOUR THROUGH A TEXAS ANT-HILL. 273 



either side of tlie foce, and striking forward with the 

 legs, accelerate the movement of the pellet. Others, 

 again, contented themselves with simply thrusting the 

 head beyond the margin of the dump and dropping 

 their load from the jaws. Here is a sketch of one of 

 these mason groups engaged on a dumping." (Fig. 94.) 

 " Certainly these little fellows have amazingly inter- 

 esting parts," remarked Penn Townes ; "but they 

 must be a great plague to the horticulturist. Is noth- 

 ing done to destroy the creatures ?" 



"Oh, yes, there are various ways for their destruc- 

 tion ; indeed the formidable nature of the insects' 

 depredations has developed a class of men whose 

 special business is to exterminate them. I heard of 

 one at Austin, who had long followed the business of 

 digging out nests, and was known as the ' Old Ant 

 Man.' I saw some of his work— great holes, the size 

 of a small cellar, from which vast formicaries had been 

 literally dug out. I heard of another person who, 

 being of an inventive turn, had devised a machine 

 which dispenses with the laborious method of the old 

 Austin ant man. I was fortunate enough to get one 

 of his circulars, and here it is, with the wood-cut to 

 illustrate the mode of operation. The cut, to be sure, 

 is of a most primitive type, and looks as though it 

 al;:o might have been manufactured by the inventor of 

 the macliine. But it is very interesting, if not artistic, 

 for it gives us some iiisight of an ant-bed, as seen by 

 an experienced practical observer. Of course he has 

 only made a rough diagram of a nest-interior, but you 



