66 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
in they must be cut up by the small class of workers into 
little pieces. I have never seen the smallest class of ants 
carrying in leaves; their duties appear to be inside, cutting 
them up into smaller fragments, and nursing the immature 
ants. I have, however, seen them running out along the 
paths with the others ; but instead of helping to carry in the 
burdens, they climb on the top of the pieces which are being 
carried along by the middle-sized workers, and so get a ride 
home again. It is very probable that they take a run out 
merely for air and exercise. The largest class of what are 
called workers are, I believe, the directors and protectors of 
the others. They are never seen out of the nest, excepting 
on particular occasions, such as the migrations of the ants, 
and when one of the working columns or nests is attacked; 
they then come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their 
strong jaws. Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, 
one of these giants has unperceived climbed up my dress, 
and the first intimation of his presence has been the burying 
of his jaws in my neck, from which he would not fail to draw 
the blood. The stately observant way in which they stalk 
about, and their great size, compared with the others, always 
impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the 
brains that directed the community in its various duties. 
Many of their actions, such as that I have mentioned of two 
relays of workmen carrying out the ant-food, can scarcely 
be blind instinct. Some of the ants make mistakes, and 
carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is nearly always 
rejected by them, yet I have seen some ants, perhaps young 
ones, carrying in ‘leaves of grass. Aftera while these pieces 
were "invariably brought out again and thrown away. I can 
imagine a young ant getting a severe earwigging from one of 
the major-domos for its stupidity. 
I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants 
with an instance of their reasoning powers. A nest was 
made near one of our tramways, and to get to the trees the 
ants had to cross the rails, over which the waggons were 
continually passing and repassing. Every time they came 
along a number of ants were crushed to death. They per- 
severed in crossing for several days, but at last set to work 
and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when the 
waggons were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with 
