6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



the custom, they said, of these ants always thus to 

 close and cover over the entrances to their nests 

 whenever they retired within them. They added that 

 if I would come out when the ants retired again at 

 sunset, I could witness them doing so. 



This account of my attendants so interested me that 

 I looked forward to the afternoon with some little 

 impatience. In fear lest I might be too late, I left the 

 house while the sun was yet well above the horizon. 

 I found the track still covered with ants, but all were 

 returning. Their numbers were so great that it was 

 a considerable time before the whole had entered the 

 nest. A small party, however, some twenty or thirty, 

 remained without ; and these now, to my extreme 

 satisfaction, set about the work of closing the entrances. 

 Their mode of procedure was as follows : — 



They first separated themselves into four groups of 

 about equal numbers. Each group appeared to under- 

 take the duty of closing one of the four entrances. 

 The ants next dispersed, and collected pellets from the 

 fragments of brick and hard earth lying around. With 

 these pellets they then commenced to cover over the 

 entrance holes. It was a work requiring some care, for, 

 small as were the entrance holes, a good many of the 

 pellets were even still smaller. But all the while I 

 looked on I did not observe a single pellet fall in. 



The ants worked rapidly. Before many minutes had 

 passed, all the four entrances were closed. In the 

 covering over one entrance a small aperture was left. 

 The other three entrances were closed completely, and 

 over these three the ants now proceeded to erect the 



