160 THE RING OF NATURE 



four of the largest kind of ant yet seen rolled into 

 one. Later they may see two or three of these 

 big ants at once, meeting and racing past one 

 another on their respective but mutually service- 

 able business. 



If the observer should be a boy scout he might 

 be able to determine which of two ants passing 

 one another was going to the nest, and that one 

 he could follow home. More often we ramble on 

 and happen on a still more crowded stream and 

 finally upon the nest. 



In the main ant street, about ten yards from the 

 nest, the whole ground seems to be composed of 

 ants. Looking carefully we see that all are going 

 straight along the street in opposite directions. 

 They have cleared the ground of rubbish, and it 

 even seems as though the accumulated pressure of 

 their innumerable feet had smoothed and polished 

 it into a sort of macadam. Such crowds could not 

 pass one another without some sort of order, and 

 when I have watched them I have usually come 

 to the conclusion that the rule of the ant is the 

 same as ours, namely to keep to the right. The 

 rule is not invariably kept, but then neither is 

 it among men. I should say that the average 

 ant crowd observes the rule of keep-to-the-right 

 about as faithfully per head of the population as 

 the average crowd of people in the Strand. 



There are roads running not only along the 

 ground but up the trees. Most of the ant's foraging 

 indeed is done in the trees, and those on the ground 



