168 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



was being carried away. Finally the disk was all gone 

 except the broad base. 



ALBERT. One year, after a rain, the ants were mining. 

 They dumped the wet dirt over the top. It stuck and 

 formed the outer eaves. The inner eaves are made by the 

 undermining, as you say. 



FLORENCE. But why do the Acrobats dump their 

 craters back into the house sometimes? 



CECIL. They do this if the Acrobats have gotten into 

 the house. The Garden ants try to keep the enemy out 

 by building pyramids of stone and earth over the doors, 

 but if they fail they dump the crater back into the nest. 



ALBERT. I saw a dozen Garden ants that were 

 greatly excited. Half of them were dumping the crater 

 back into the house and the other half were carrying the 

 dirt out. You saw them. 



CECIL. Whenever they would get too much of the dirt 

 out of the door I could see the gun of an Acrobat pointing 

 right at the Garden ants. They would get shot, too, for 

 they would act crazy for a time. 



ALBERT. Then we dug up the nest and found six 

 Acrobats inside, but nothing else. There was one tunnel 

 two inches long and one three. The enemy ants were at 

 the ends of the tunnels. As the ants rebuilt at once in 

 the same place, there must have been a third tunnel in 

 which they were hidden. 



CECIL. So, when you see the Garden ants dumping 

 their crater back into their stairway in an excited manner, 

 it is a safe guess that the Acrobats have broken into the 

 house. 



FLORENCE. I remember that in dry weather their 

 craters are all alike, and in wet weather they often differ. 



CECIL. They just happen to be different in wet weather. 



