LEAP-CUTTING- ANTS. 
95 
about, the ants are in great concern to carry every morsel of it 
under shelter again ; and sometimes, when I had dug into a nest, 
I found the next day all the earth thrown out filled with little 
pits, that the ants had dug into it to get out the covered-up 
food. When they migrate from one part to another, they 
also carry with them all the ant-food from their old habita- 
tions. 
In Buchner’s ‘ Greistesleben der Thiere ’ there is pub- 
lished an interesting description of the habits of these ants, 
which was communicated to the author by Dr. Fr. Ellen- 
dorf of Wiedenbriick, w T ho has lived many years in Central 
America. Dr. Ellendorf says that — 
It would be quite impossible for them to creep even through 
short grass with loads on their heads for miles. They therefore 
bite off the grass close to the ground for a breadth of about five 
inches, and throw it on one side. Thus a road is constructed, 
which is finally made quite smooth and even by the continual 
passing to and fro of millions upon millions night and day. , . 
If the road is looked down upon from a height with these 
millions thickly pressed together, and all moving along with 
their green bannerets over their heads, it looks as though a 
giant green snake were gliding slowly along the ground ; and 
this picture is all the more striking in that all these bannerets 
are swaying backwards and forwards. 1 
This observer made the experiment of interrupting the 
advance of a column of these ants, with the interesting 
result which he describes : — 
I wished to see how they would manage if I put an obstacle 
in their way. Thick high grass stood on either side of their 
narrow road, so that they could not pass through it with the 
load on their heads. I placed a dry branch, nearly a foot in 
diameter, obliquely across their path, and pressed it down so 
tightly on the ground that they could not creep underneath. 
The first comers crawled beneath the branch as far as they 
could, and then tried to climb over, but failed owing to the 
weight on their heads. Meanwhile the unloaded ants from 
the other side came on, and when these succeeded in climbing 
over the bough there was such a crush that the unladen ants 
had to cla'mber over the laden, and the result was a terrible 
muddle. 1 now walked along the train, and found that all the 
ants with their bannerets on their heads were standing still, 
1 Luc. cit. p. 97. 
8 
