88 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



The sights I saw in this second day's acces- 

 sible nest-swarm would warrant a season's medi- 

 tation and study, but one thing impressed me 

 above all others. Sometimes, when I carefully 

 pried open one section and looked deep wuthin, 

 I could see large chambers with the larvee in 

 piles, besides being held in the mandibles of the 

 components of the walls and ceilings. Now and 

 then a curious little ghost-like form would flit 

 across the chamber, coming to rest, gnome-like, 

 on larva or ant. Again and again I saw these 

 little springtails skip through the very scimitar 

 mandibles of a soldier, while the workers paid 

 no attention to them. I wondered if they were 

 not quite odorless, intangible to the ants, in- 

 visible guests which lived close to them, going 

 where, doing what they willed, yet never per- 

 ceived by the thousands of inhabitants. They 

 seemed to live in a kind of fourth dimensional 

 state, a realm comparable to that which we peo- 

 ple with ghosts and spirits. It was a most un- 

 canny, altogether absorbing, intensely interesting 

 relationship; and sometimes, when I ponder on 

 some general aspect of the great jungle, — a for- 

 est of greenheart, a mighty rushing river, a crash- 

 ing, blasting thunderstorm, — my mind suddenly 



