1 62 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



represented therefore the labour of little more than 

 one entire day. 



The mound having reached this size, it ceased to be 

 added to. I presume that the subterranean galleries 

 which the ants were excavating were now finished, and 

 that consequently there was no more earth for them 

 to bring up. While the galleries were being excavated 

 it was, of course, necessary that the earth which was 

 dug away should be brought out ; but why it should 

 have been deposited round the entrance, in the form 

 of a circular mound, was a matter which remained to 

 me a puzzle to the last. 



The mound, so far as I could see, was not only of 

 no use, but, on the contrary, it was a constant in- 

 convenience and a possible danger. If rain fell, it 

 would cause the nest to be flooded, and as it was the 

 mound formed an obstacle which every morning and 

 evening, when the ants went out to forage, they had 

 repeatedly to surmount. I made a rough calculation 

 that the mound was to these little ants what a steep 

 ridge sixty feet high would have been to an average- 

 sized man. Agile as the ants were, the crossing the 

 mound must have required some exertion. It also 

 entailed some little risk. The earth of the mound 

 was so loose and sandy, that it often gave way even 

 beneath their light tread. Then down they rolled to 

 the bottom ; and if returning with seed, the seed was 

 lost. 



It was not very long after the completion of this 

 second crater that the commencement occurred of the 

 Hindoo month of Kuer, and, to the great delight of the 



