GEOLOGIC WORK OF ANTS BRANNER. 



327 



In southern Minas, south of Barbacena, Dr. R. Walsh notes mounds 

 of the white ants 10 or 12 feet high. 1 



In the vicinity of Caximbu, in southern Minas, white ants' nests are 

 said to be 4 meters high and nearly 2 meters in diameter at the base. 

 In the vicinity of Taubate, Sao Paulo, they are often 2.4 meters high, 

 while about the city of Sao Paulo they usually are 1 meter and less in 

 height. 



Over the level table-lands of the interior of Piauhy, where the soil 

 is red clay, the mounds of white ants are abundant and often 6 or 

 8 feet high. 2 



At and about Asuncion,, in Paraguay, I found the nests very abun- 

 dant on the clayey soils, and many of them as much as 3 meters high. 



Fig. 7.— White ants' nest built of earth, in the State of Minas Geraes. 

 [From a photograph by R. Crandall, July, 1909.] 



The outer portion of the nest being thick, hard, and compact, and 

 the inside being friable and easily removed, it is a custom in the inte- 

 rior of Brazil and Paraguay to scoop out the inside of white ants' nests 

 and to use them for ovens. The door is cut near the base of the cone, 

 and the inside parts removed through it. 



The accompanying illustrations will probably give a better idea of 

 the sizes and shapes of the nests than verbal descriptions. 



Sir Woodbine Parish speaks of "Corrientes and Paraguay, where 

 whole plains are covered with their dome-like and conical edifices, 

 rising 5 and 6 feet and more in height." 3 



» Rev. R. Walsh: Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829, vol. 2, p. 50. Boston, 1831. 



» George Gardner: Travels in the interior of Brazil, p. 280. London, 1846. 



s Sir Woodbine Parish: Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of Rio de la Plata, 2d ed., p. 252. London, 1852. 



