o 3 4 NATURAL HISTORY. 



large hills, one of which measured twenty-one feet long and four feet high. 

 The normal mound much resembles the "American spittoon in shape." 

 Dr. McCook thought at first he had pitched his camp near a deserted 

 mound. There was not a sign of life. " As the evening began to fall, 

 the scene was wholly changed. Hosts of ants of various sizes were hurry- 

 ing out of the open gates into the neighboring jungle, and two long double 

 columns were stretched from the bottom to the top of the large over- 

 hansrinff live-oak. The ants in the descending columns all carried above 

 their heads portions of green leaves, which waved to and fro and glanced 

 in the lantern light, giving to the moving column a weird look, as it 

 moved along. It seemed like a procession of Lilliputian Sabbath-school 

 children bearing aloft their banners. It is this habit which has given this 

 insect in some quarters the popular name of parasol-ant." 



The leaves were cut with the sharp mandibles, and after being taken 

 inside the nest were manipulated so that they could be made into cells 

 strongly recalling the honey-comb of bees. It would also appear that, 

 before building the comb, the juices of the leaves serve as food. They have 

 gates to their nests composed of sticks and leaves, between which are 

 placed gravel and grains of sand. In the evening, when the gates are to 

 be opened, the smallest workers appear first, carrying away the smaller 

 particles and depositing them two or three inches from the mouth of the 

 burrow, and then later, the larger workers come out and take away the 

 other rubbish. Near morning when the gates are closed the process is 

 reversed, the same particles being used to close the openings as were 

 carried away in the evening. The larger sticks and leaves are used first, 

 and " the last touches are carefully and delicately made by the minims, who 

 in small squads fill in the remaining interstices with minute grains of 

 sand ; and finally, the last laborer steals in behind some bit of a leaf, and 

 the gate is closed." 



Still more wonderful are the large chambers and the long tunnels 

 excavated by these parasol-ants. Some of "these holes were nearly as 

 large as the cellar for a small house. One such excavation, about three 

 miles from Austin, was twelve feet in diameter and fifteen feet deep." 

 This nest was six hundred and sixty-nine feet from a tree which the ants 

 had stripped, and between the two was a tunnel which pursued an almost 

 straight course, while two branch tunnels went to a peach orchard, one 

 hundred and twenty feet distant. All this excavation was done by the 

 smaller workers. It hardly needs to be said that these ants are regarded 

 as serious pests by the inhabitants. 



The only other species which we can mention is the agricultural ant 

 of Texas, which offers quite a contrast to the last, in that its work is done 





