116 DAYS OUT Of DOORS. 



brown, was very abundant, and I came upon many nests. 

 To-day the largest of these were found, and somewhat 

 carefully examined. Those that I found near Skink 

 Eock, as I have called the spot, were great dome-shaped 

 structures, built of sandy earth, with short bits of grass so 

 uniformly through the mass that their presence was prob- 

 ably not accidental, but had much to do with the stability 

 of the walls of the innumerable mazy passages. The least 

 disturbance caused the exterior of the nest to crumble, 

 and yet the general appearance was such as to suggest 

 considerable age. One of the two nests found to-day 

 measured six feet in diameter and two feet six inches 

 in height. The shape was that of a flattened cone. 

 The other was even larger but not so regular in outline. 

 This I cut in two from peak to surface, with an oar-blade, 

 and so procured a sectional view that showed a curiously 

 intricate tunneling throughout. These passages were all 

 empty. I found no trace of larvae ; no evidence that these 

 ants had slaves, and no soldiers to protest against my out- 

 rageous conduct. My destructive acts, however, very nat- 

 urally caused an intense commotion, and the rapid running 

 to and fro over the dead leaves that carpeted the ground 

 made a noise as loud as and very similar to the patter of a 

 summer shower. And twice afterward, when rambling in 

 the woods on the opposite side of the lake, I stopped, 

 thinking it had commenced to rain, although the sky was 

 clear, and found that I had been deceived by the noise 

 made by thousands of these ants that were running in 

 every direction, intensely excited without any, to me, ap- 

 parent cause. 



Strangely, I think, during my whole stay, I saw no 

 mammals, or traces of any, except a solitary red squirrel 

 and numerous chipmunks ; yet reports of minks, musk- 

 rats, otters, raccoons, and even wild cats were promptly 



