374 



KNOWLEDGE • 



[Jdne 22, 1883. 



dozen — would straggle completely across the stick or fing<T- 

 niark. Jt generally liappened that these chance regainers 

 of the opposite and liroken track were not followed, the 

 confusion remaining on either side as great as ever. After 

 a sliorter or longer interval an ant would lind its way over, 

 and was immediately followed hy a rush of the before 

 utterly disorganised crowd. This kind of behaviour would 

 seem to indicate the existence and recognition of duly 

 appointed leaders, and an authority not to lie disregarded 

 by the general throng, who refuse to accept of the guidance 

 of any of the common lot. 



In digging up some of these nests, one or two remarkable 

 features were brought to light. The queens are generally 

 found huddled together, as if in a sort of seraglio. The 

 eggs and pupie are similarly gathered in heaps. The usual 

 size of these ants is about a quarter of an inch long ; but 

 by opening the nest other members of the community are 

 met with of double such length and of corresponding 

 breadth and thickness. These giants are not so numerous 

 as are the smaller kind, and are seldom seen above ground, 

 and when the nest is dug up they look somewhat like a 

 score or two of Bonnors among a concourse of Bannernians. 

 Such comparative Goliaths are met with in the nests of 

 several of the ant species. The idea entertained by many 

 is that they act as soldiers to defend the settlement. This 

 view, however, so far as my own observations go, does not 

 seem to be verified. They are more than ordinarily 

 sluggish in their movements ; they scarcely ever rush out, 

 bent on bellicose operations, when the nest is disturbed, 

 whilst ants not one quarter of their length, and conse- 

 quently not one sixty-fourth of their bulk, appear to attack 

 them with impunity, the attacking party, if it happens to 

 be a strife of two to one, generally coming off victorious. 



Another kind of ant, somewhit larger than the last, of 

 a reddish colour, and by no means so active as those just 

 described, is often common on light, gravelly soil. They 

 are tolerably numerous in the Government House reserve, 

 especially at spots a little removed from the most-fre- 

 quented pathways. There are seldom more than some half- 

 dozen entrances to the community, and these would seem 

 to be all connected together, as when smoke, as before 

 mentioned, was blown down one hole, it issued, in a short 

 time, from all the rest, the entire settlement appearing to 

 be simultaneously alarmed. This species has its giants 

 also, and has besides a singular habit, as it would seem, of 

 constructing regular sepulchres for the deposit of the 

 dead. I have several times dug up one of these 

 burial-places, which may be said to be extra-mural, 

 since they are generally situate at least at the 

 very boundaries of the colony. The same habit seems 

 to follow these ants when kept in close captivity. 

 A few months ago 1 placed some two or three hundred 

 within a shallow box covered with a plate of glass and 

 containing a small, artificial glass nest. As the outer box 

 was allowed to stand exposed to the sun, the earth witliin 

 it dried, and a severe mortality among the inmates was the 

 result. The corpses were all removed and piled up in a 

 heap as far as possible from the entrance to the glass nest. 

 I several times scattered the bodies so heaped together, 

 but they were invariably re-collected by the ants and piled 

 up as before, and always in the same spot. This went on 

 till every member of the community had died but one. It 

 is only fair to add that the sole survivor seemed to hold an 

 opinion that the rights of sepulture should be rigidly 

 attended to, and observed, since they were accorded by the 

 solitary individual, last of his tribe, to his dead comrades. 



" Tlie skeletons of antdoni were around t)mt lonely one ; 

 Some had expired in fight, though brands 

 Were grasped not fast in bony Imnds." 



At last the survivor died also. As none of his race re- 

 mained to give him decent burial, I dropped him gently on 

 the pile of his late companions, saying, I almost think, 

 while doing so, " Well done, thou good and faithful 

 servant, liequiescal in pace." 



(To be continued.) 



A SUKVEY of the extensive landslip which recently 

 occurred at Warden, in the Isle of Sheppey, shows, saya 

 the Enffiueer, that fully three acres of land have sunk from 

 their natural level some 70 ft down. Had not Warden 

 Church been pulled down three or four years ago, it would 

 inevitably have formed part of the slip. As it is, the 

 entire churchyard has been carried away, and is now 

 located about half way down the clifl'. Although each 

 decade shows a greatly diminished acreage in the Island of 

 Sheppey, no attempt is made to construct works to resist 

 the inroads of the sea; it is not worth it. Within living 

 memory, the lane now abruptly cut off once ran on for 

 nearly half a mile, where now the tide covers the fore- 

 shore. Beyond the church was a coastguard station, and 

 some ten or fifteen acres of land, all of which have fallen a 

 prey to the encroachments of the sea. A landslip of such 

 magnitude as the present has seldom been recorded. 



AccoKDiN'G to the last annual report of her Majesty's 

 Inspectors of Explosives, laid before Parliament, there 

 were in Great Britain at the end of the year 1881 — 

 Factories, 8G ; magazines, 317; stores, 2,0-t5; registered 

 premises, 1-5,669; total, 18,117. 



Me.xicax Tin. — The first ton of Mexican tin has, it is 

 said, been lately received in the United States. It came 

 from the Durango district, near the mountains of the same 

 name, and is said to be bright, clear, and of good texture. 

 It was discovered by Mr. Hans Freeman, of Australia, 

 who has for more than a year being searching for evidence 

 of the tin lodes and placers spoken of by the old Spanish 

 settlers. 



The Xational Car-Builihr for May mentions that the 

 Vandalia Railway Company are removing the iron wheels 

 from carriages run through with express trains, and re- 

 placing them by a 43-in. paper wheels. The same company 

 two years ago issued an order, making the use of the 

 coupling-stick obligatory, on pain of dismissal. Since then, 

 no man obeying the order has been injured while making 

 couplings. 



The Colonies and India says trains running on Feb. 13, 

 between Waverley and Nukumara, half way to Wanganui, 

 New Zealand, were brought to a standstill through count- 

 less thousands of caterpillars being on the rails. The offi- 

 cials had to sweep and sand the metals before the trains 

 could proceed. 



A DESP.\TCH from Greensburg, Pa., 3rd ult., says : — 

 " The Lyons run gas well recently developed has turned 

 out to be a wonderful affair. The roar of the escaping gas is 

 something terrific, and the amount of gas going to waste is 

 enormous. It is estimated 6,000,0(10 cubic feet is daUy 

 wasted. The well is conceded by all who have seen it to 

 exceed in power the old Murraysville well and the new 

 wells of Messrs. Bolton it Doubleday and Pugh it 

 Emerson's, all three put together. The new well is two and 

 a-half miles nearer Pittsburgh than the Murraysville wells. 

 Messrs. Bolton k Doubleday, imitating the example of 

 boys on a fish pond, have bought an acre close by the new 

 well, and will put down a well in the hope of securing 

 some of the gas of Messrs. Brunot i Haymaker's well. 

 Twenty thousand dollars have been offered for the new 

 well." 



