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them as fast as deposited. Yet this does not at all incommode 

 the little worker, or interfere with the increase of population, 

 for I have seen colonies up to ten yards in length and one or 

 two wide on barren roads and even garden walks, prospering 

 exceedingly. Their time of greatest activity in the hot season 

 is the morning and evening, each community having its own 

 district, to the more distant parts of which regular beaten 

 tracks lead, real roads very well defined near the towns, being 

 between one and two inches wide, and trodden out by their 

 own tiny feet, and by their motion kept clear of grass and 

 other obstacles. At varying distances these " roads" become 

 less and less marked by giving off ramifications to trees and 

 shrubs, and finally disappear altogether. Near human habita- 

 tion their bold, prying, and aggressive habits are apt to become 

 disagreeable, and it was an experience of this kind that led me 

 to notice how nests were formed de novo. 



Some 50 or 60 yards from my residence, on an old track, was 

 one of these towns. Between it and the former the children 

 used to play, and frequently to consume their luncheon, when, 

 of course, the scattered fragments were left behind. There 

 the ants discovered them and carried them off to their strong- 

 hold. After a short time, the sinking of a shaft was com- 

 menced at the very spot, which happened to be within some ten 

 yards from the house, and this was quickly succeeded by 

 others, a new colony being thus established. Between it and 

 the parent-nest a continual connection was kept up by a 

 continuous double stream of ants travelling in the one beaten 

 track. On this track again, solitary holes occurred, like hotels 

 on a main road. From the new centre the ants extended their 

 excursions even into the cottage, and, at last, commenced 

 mining operations in front of the door, when I had to interfere 

 in earnest to prevent it. The above facts point to the conclu- 

 sion that in the selection of a new locality for a nest the ants 

 are guided by the proximity of a copious supply of food as one 

 of the determining causes. 



Those ants who are somewhat lazy, &c., construct at first a 

 temporary home, saving themselves from a hurried run should 

 a shower of rain threaten, &c. At the time of swarming, no 

 doubt some of the fertilised females find their way into it, 

 lay their eggs, and thus convert the temporary into a fixed 

 place of abode. If we consider that in the course of the long 

 years these nests remain in existence the localities of the most 

 copious sources of food must change by the decay and growth 

 of shrubs, trees, &c., it is easily seen that the establishment of 

 new settlements will occur in various directions, but without 

 breaking their connection for a long time, thus forming dis- 

 tricts over which the ants are all friendly, and find shelter in 



