NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



It is not often that a cu- 

 rious entomologist falls 

 into the hands of such a 

 liberal abettor. 



The piece was sawed 

 into two parts and care- 

 fully split open, Alas 

 for the sacked city of the 

 Camponotidse ! ' ' Kill no 

 ants needlessly !" was 

 the order to the work- 

 men. 



'' Do not distress your- 

 self !" quoth the propri- 

 etor to the naturalist. 

 "We would gladly be 

 rid of all the pests. This 

 is hard upon ants, but 

 helpful to men!" 



Nevertheless, only 

 such specimens were 

 taken as seemed need- 

 ful sacrifices for the tem- 

 ple of science, and the 

 others, a great company, 

 were permitted to es- 

 cape. As if by previ- 

 ous arrangement, they 

 formed an irregular col- 

 umn, and the workers, 

 who at once had seized 

 larvae and pupse and eggs, marched away with their treas- 

 ures into a near-by pile of logs, doubtless well known to 



120 



SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR 

 GALLERIES, AND ROOM OF A CAR- 

 PENTER ant's nest 



