104 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
as many as seven. They are usually two to three inches 
wide at their origin, bat in large nests may be as much as 
live. MacCook found no road longer than sixty feet, but 
Lincecum describes one of three hundred feet. Along 
these hard and level roads there is always passing, during 
the daytime of the harvesting season, a constant stream 
of ants — those going from the nest being empty-handed, 
and those returning to it being laden with seeds. Of 
course the incoming ants, converging from all quarters 
upon the road, and therefore increasing in numbers as they 
approach the nest, require greater space for free locomo- 
tion ; while the outgoing ants, diverging as they get further 
from home, also require greater proportional space the 
less their distance from the nest : hence the gradual 
swelling in the width of the roads as they approach the 
nests. 
The manner of collecting the seeds in the jungle sur- 
rounding the roads is thus described by MacCook : — 
At last a satisfactory seed is found. It is simply lifted from 
the ground, or, as often happens, has to be pulled out of the 
soil into which it has been tightly pressed by the rain or by 
passing feet. Now follows a movement which at first I 
thought to be a testing of the seed, and which, indeed, may be 
partially that; but finally I concluded that it was the adjusting 
of the burden for safe and convenient carriage. The ant pulls 
at the seed-husk with its mandibles, turning and pinching or 
4 feeling ’ it on all sides. If this does not satisfy, and commonly 
it does not, the body is raised by stiffening out the legs, the 
abdomen is curved underneath, and the apex applied to the seed. 
I suppose this to be simply a mechanical action for the better 
adjusting of the load. Now the worker starts homeward. It 
has not lost itself in the mazes of the grass forest. It turns 
directly towards the road with an unerring judgment. There 
are many obstacles to overcome. Pebbles, pellets of earth, bits 
of wood, obtruding rootlets, or bent-down spears of grass block 
up or hinder the way. These were scarcely noticed when the 
ant was empty-handed. But they are troublesome barriers now 
that she is burdened with a seed quite as thick, twice as wide, 
and half as long as herself. It is most interesting to see the 
skill, strength, and rapidity with which the little harvester 
swings her treasure over or around, or pushes it beneath these 
obstacles. Now the seed has caught against the herbage as the 
