Chap. I. LEAF-CAJIRYING ANT. 25 



two feet in height. We soon ascertained that these 

 were the work of the Satibas, being the outworks, or 

 domes, which overlie and protect the entrances to their 

 vast subterranean galleries. On close examination, I 

 found the earth of which they are composed to consist 

 of very minute gi'anules, agglomerated without cement, 

 and forming many rows of little ridges and tuiTets. 

 The difference in colour from the superficial soil of 

 the vicinity is owing to their being formed of the un- 

 dersoil, brought up from a considerable depth. It is 

 very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these 

 mounds ; the entrances seem to be generally closed ; 

 only now and then, when some particular work is 

 going on, are the galleries opened. The entrances are 

 small and numerous ; in the larger hillocks it would 

 require a great amount of excavation to get at the 

 main galleries ; but I succeeded in removing portions of 

 the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that the 

 minor entrances converged, at the depth of about two 

 feet, to one broad elaborately-worked gallery or mine, 

 which was four or five inches in diameter. 



This habit in the Saiiba ant of clipping and carrying 

 away immense quantities of leaves has long been 

 recorded in books on natural history. When employed 

 on this w^ork, their processions look like a multitude 

 of animated leaves on the march. In some places 

 I found an accumulation of such leaves, all circular pieces, 

 about the size of a sixpence, lying on the pathway, un- 

 attended by ants, and at some distance from any colony. 

 Such heaps are always found to be removed when the 

 place is revisited the next day. In course of time I had 



