DOOR-STEP NEIGHBORS 6l 



black holes in an instant ! And now another wait 

 of five minutes, followed by the same hocus-pocus, 

 and the black spots, one by one, vanishing from 

 sight even as I looked upon them. But let us 

 keep perfectly quiet this time and examine the sus- 

 pected spots more carefully. Locating the posi- 

 tion of the hole by the little circular " door-yard," 

 we can now certainly distinguish a new feature, 

 not before noted, at the centre of each — two 

 sharp curved prongs, rising an eighth of an inch 

 or more above the surface and widely extended. 



What a danger signal to the creeping insect 

 innocent in its neighborhood ! How many a 

 tragedy in the bug world has been enacted in 

 these inviting, clean-swept little door-yards — these 

 pitfalls, so artfully closed in order that their de- 

 sign may be the more surely effective. As I 

 have said, these tunnels are commonly called 

 " ant-holes," perhaps with some show of reason. 

 It is true that ants occasionally are seen to go 

 into them, but not by their own choice, while the 

 most careful observer will wait in vain to see the 

 ant come out again. Here at the edge of the 

 grass we see one approaching now — a big red ant 

 from yonder ant-hill. He creeps this way and 

 that, and anon is seen trespassing in the precincts 

 of the unhealthy court. He crosses its centre, 



