136 CONVERSATIONS ON 



tered the dirt here and there over the roof of 

 the story which they had finished. 



" I will tell you another story about these 

 ants, boys, which I think is most wonderful, 

 because it appears so much like reason. 

 These insects all seem to work separately, I 

 mean without attending to the work of oth- 

 ers : of course sometimes the work done by 

 different ants on opposite sides of the same 

 gallery or hall will not suit : one wall will be 

 higher than the other, so that the ceilings will 

 not meet. Mr. Huber saw just such a case ; 

 the ceiling which was begun from one wall 

 would just have reached the other wall about 

 half-way up ; and while he was wondering 

 how the ants would cure the fault, one of 

 them came, and looking at the work, seemed 

 to know that it was wrong, and immediately 

 began by taking down the ceiling from the 

 lower wall; he then raised it to the same 

 height with the opposite wall, and made a 

 new ceiling in Mr. Huber's presence with the 

 pieces of the old one." 



" Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know 

 how to think, I am mistaken." 



" I must confess, boys, it does seem very 

 much like thinking ; and if it was not think- 



