ANTS 5 



that they were gathering. To make sure, however, on 

 this point, I sent for my magnifying-glass, and with it 

 I examined the seeds. I found, rather to my surprise, 

 that the seeds were not the seeds of the grass, but 

 those of the akawa, a small, juicy wild plant that 

 grew among the grass clumps, and also elsewhere near 

 them. 



I remained for a long time watching the ants ; in 

 fact, I remained till the rays of the sun got too hot for 

 endurance. Then I retired to the house. The servants 

 told me that in another hour or so the ants would retire 

 also. They would enter their nest, and there remain 

 till the day declined. They would then reappear, 

 forage as before, and a little before sunset return again 

 for the night. 



I was curious to ascertain if this statement was 

 correct. I waited till a full hour had elapsed, and then, 

 shaded by a thickly wadded umbrella, I went back to 

 the nest. Not an ant was visible. The track was as 

 bare and deserted as I had seen it on the previous 

 evening. And not only had the ants retired, but the 

 entrances to the nest were also closed ; and I noticed 

 that over each a little mound of pellets had been 

 erected. The pellets were minute fragments of brick 

 or small pieces of hard earth, the like of which were 

 everywhere strewed about the garden. 



The mounds were so neatly constructed that I 

 imagined at first that they were the work of some 

 of the children of the servants who lived on the 

 premises ; but I was assured by my attendants that 

 they were erected by the ants themselves. It was 



