1272 The Zoologist— July, 18G8. 



to the disposition of the dirt which comes out of their tunnels, &c\ 

 These passages are always commenced within the compass of the city 

 mound : the sand that is taken from the tunnels is always thrown back 

 on the mound. These tunnels are made at the depth of eight to twelve 

 inches, and in the direction of the object for which they are excavated. 

 Sometimes, as I will show presently, on extraordinary occasions they 

 are carried at a much greater depth. Dr. Fechlig's case, which I will 

 now relate, was a tunnel from one of their cities to a neighbouring 

 well, the tunnel entering the well ten or twelve feet below the surface 

 of the ground. The well being walled with oak timbers, the ants had 

 cut their way through to gain access to the water. In performing the 

 boring through the thick oaken curbing, they threw down into the well 

 so much saw-dust that the people were forced to strain the water pre- 

 vious to using it. On examination Dr. Fechtig found that a quantity 

 of oak chips, similar to those which had been separated from the well- 

 water, had also been thrown out on the ant mound. 



Situated in a garden at Austin, Texas, there was a very large, very 

 populous and seemingly prosperous cutting-ant city : the ants had for 

 years, in spite of many patent traps and newly-discovered ant poisons, 

 damaged the garden extensively. The proprietor of the garden at 

 last conceived the idea that he would try to drown them, and for this 

 purpose dug a large basin-formed pit in the ant mound, and led 

 trenches into it right and left from the hill-side above the ant city, to 

 convey the water into the basin when it should rain. Not long after 

 this preparation was completed, there came a tremendous rain storm. 

 Large quantities of water rushed along the ditches into the basin dug 

 in the mound. To the gentleman's surprise the basin did not fill, but 

 seemed to send forth hollow sounds. After the rain was over it was 

 found that all the water which had been conveyed into the basin had 

 been swallowed up. There is a creek with a flat rock bottom about 

 seventy yards from the ant hill, and it was discovered that the water 

 from the trenches had rushed down the wells of the ant city, washing 

 out down to the rock (twenty-two feet) an immense hole, thence along 

 a great tunnel on top of the rock, to the before-named creek, where the 

 entire sluice, charged with millions of ants and sand and mud, made 

 its escape into the creek. 



Under a beautiful wide-spreading live-oak (Quercus virens) on the 

 west border of the town of La Grange, Texas, there was an extensive 

 and flourishing ant city. The city mound was large, occupying the 

 entire area overshadowed by the live-oak. Nearly on a level, and not 



