igS A BUSY CITY AND THOROUGHFARE. 



large trunk or a bulky mattress. See him hold it 

 up over his head, that it may not drag on the 

 rough pieces of earth and thus injure the chrysa- 

 lis ! Now he falls down from a clump of pellets, 

 but still clutches his precious burden, and hastens 

 on to the mouth of the shaft, where he lays it 

 down, " cuts " it round, adjusts it properly, and 

 finally disappears with it down the covered way. 

 Not one alone, but hundreds are working in this 

 manner with all their might. Great interests are 

 at stake ; the emergency must be met or so many 

 ants are lost to the world. 



As one looks upon such a spectacle he is lost 

 in admiration, and cannot believe that the little 

 creatures are mere automatons, but that they are 

 guided by an intelligence strangely akin to human 

 reason. Indeed, was it not the wisest man who 

 advised certain classes of his fellow-beings to study 

 these insects and be wise ? 



It is curious to watch the busy, intelligent ways 

 of these sand bees. Although they are not so 

 social as the higher types of bees, yet they love to 

 be neighborly, and so have established a flourish- 

 ing little city of two or three hundred underground 

 dwellings along the sides and at the foot of this 

 hillock. Two or three individuals that have lately 



