WITH ARMY ANTS 227 



began to appear from the depths of the pit, over 

 the living carpet suspended from the brim. For 

 an inch the droghers climbed over the bodies 

 braced against the cliff. Then, where the sur- 

 face became smooth, the dangling chain came 

 into use. Before the rim of the pit was reached, 

 the chain had become a veritable hollow tube of 

 ants, all with heads inward, and through this 

 organic shaft passed the host from the as- 

 cending column. But it was far more than any 

 mechanically built tube. When an extra large 

 piece of loot came up, the tube voluntarily en- 

 larged, the swelling passing along until the 

 booty and its bearers emerged at the top. 



Within five minutes after this last column 

 was completed, there passed over it, out of the 

 pit, a daddy-long-legs with legs trailing, per- 

 haps the same one which I had seen in the tragic 

 little dance of death. There followed two sil- 

 very-gray ants, a wood-roach in two install- 

 ments, part of a small frog, three roaches, and 

 two beetles. These latter gave a great deal of 

 trouble and tumbled down the cliff again and 

 again. 



When all the columns were established and 

 the provision trains in full movement, I leaped 



