180 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



biting, but not for laughing or yawning. I once 

 dabbed fifteen Mediums with a touch of white 

 paint as they approached the nest, and w^ithin 

 five minutes thirteen of them had emerged and 

 started on the back track again. 



The leaf is taken in charge by another Me- 

 dimn, hosts of whom are everywhere. Once after 

 a spadeful, I placed my eye as close as possible 

 to a small heap of green leaves, and around one 

 oblong bit were five ]Mediums, each with a con* 

 siderable amount of chewed and mumbled tissue 

 in front of him. This is the onlv tijne I have 

 ever succeeded in finding these ants actually at 

 this work. The leaves are chewed thoroughly 

 and built up into the sponge gardens, being used 

 neither for thatch nor for food, but as fertilizer. 

 And not for any strange subterranean berry or 

 kernel or fruit, but for a fungus or mushroom. 

 The spores sprout and proliferate rapidly, the 

 gray mycelia covering the garden, and at the 

 end of each thread is a little knobbed body filled 

 with liquid. This forms the sole food of the ants 

 in the nest, but a drop of honey placed by a busy 

 trail will draw a circle of workers at any time — 

 both ]Mediums and Minims, who surround it and 

 ririuk their fill. 



