Chap. XI. THE TREE ANT. 221 



I frequently broke open portions of this singular 

 structure, and tried to observe the movements of the 

 inhabitants in the interior of their dark chambers. 

 As in the mushroom hives of the prairie, I found 

 numbers of little pale young ants in the cells ; there 

 were also a few head men or chiefs, soldiers, and 

 workers, the soldiers doing no work, whilst the 

 workers were full of activity ; the immature indivi- 

 duals moved but slowly, and seemed very delicate ; 

 the very young ones did not move at all. Whenever 

 I broke into the cells, the first care of the adults was 

 always to place the young progeny out of danger ; 

 this they did by taking them up in their mouths and 

 carrying them into the inner chambers. Those, how- 

 ever, who could walk unaided were driven in. As 

 soon as the young ones had been taken into the cells, 

 the soldiers came to the apertures of all the cells that 

 had been broken, to defend the breach from any 

 enemies that might come : and then the workers 

 began to work with great rapidity. In breaking 

 the structure I killed a few of the young ones — the 

 adults came to them, and seeing them dead, left them 

 on the field. 



I observed the soldiers engaged in an occupation 

 which was at first incomprehensible to me, but I after- 

 wards came to the conclusion that it was the act of 

 tracing with their mouths the outline of the work of 

 closing up the cells, which was to be completed by 

 their fellow ants the workers. The soldiers came and 

 stood at the opening of every broken cell in a row, 

 quiet for a little while, then they disappeared. By 

 the movement of their heads I thought they might be 



