8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



issuing from a crack in the cemented floor, and they 

 were not only issuing from the crack, but they were 

 returning to it again and descending. With the aid 

 of my magnifying-glass, I further ascertained that each 

 ant as he came out of the crack carried in his jaws 

 a minute pellet of mortar. The ants ran along the 

 floor, deposited their pellets upon it, and then raced 

 back to the crack, and disappeared within it. The 

 reason of their presence was now explained. They 

 had come not merely to visit, but to reside. They 

 were engaged in excavating chambers and galleries, 

 in which to establish a colony. In this work of ex- 

 cavation they must have been engaged for some hours, 

 for the floor of the verandah, to the distance of many 

 feet from the crack, was covered with the little pellets 

 of mortar which they had brought up from beneath 

 and deposited. 



The sight suggested some speculations. From whence 

 did these ants come? for I had seen none exactly like 

 them in the garden. Then why, with so much space of 

 earth all around, should they have selected this solid 

 masonry floor in which to excavate their residence? 

 And, lastly, how did such soft, diminutive little 

 creatures manage to tunnel through it? To none 

 of these problems am I able to afford any solution. 



These small red ants having arrived, they remained 

 for the rest of the season ; and I was glad that they did, 

 for the watching their proceedings was a source of 

 constant interest. They were followed by other ants ; 

 but these later arrivals, though much varying in size, 

 belonged all to the black varieties. They also, for 



