142 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



ing the clearings of the Agricultural Ant is dense, and 

 pathways through it are an advantage, if not a 

 necessity, generally on the American plains where 

 the Occidents occur, the Gramma Grass (Bouteldua 

 oligastachyd) prevails, which grows in tufts or bunches 

 separated from each other by several inches, and the 

 intervening spaces present only a smooth level soil, 

 so that specially made roads are uncalled for. 



The cone is covered exteriorly, roofed as it were 

 with a coating of pebbles to the thickness of about 

 half an inch, not, or but sparsely, intermingled with the 

 soil below, which is chiefly the natural soil of the 

 surface, and constitutes the bulk of the mound. The 

 stones are obtained from the subterranean galleries 

 and chambers, whence the miners bring them up and 

 distribute them on the top of the cone. These objects 

 are of enormous weight as compared with that of the 

 carriers, and their transportation from the interior 

 beds to the outer atmosphere, by way of the sharp 

 slopes or almost perpendicular surfaces of the galleries, 

 must be a formidable task. The entrance or entrances 

 to the dwelling, unlike those to the cone nests of the 

 Agriculturalist, are not in the crater-like depression on 

 the summit, but in the side of the cone and near the 

 base. In width they vary from about three-quarters 

 of an inch to three inches at their mouth, they are 

 quite shallow, simply penetrating through the gravel 

 to the inner soil. They open into the vestibule, and 

 from it one or more galleries extend downwards 

 through the cone, and communicate with the intricate 

 system of passages, store-closets, nurseries, and living- 

 rooms, mostly all situated beneath the level of the 



