108 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
The following facts with regard to ‘ modes of mining 9 
are worth quoting from MacCook : — 
In sinking the galleries the difficulty of carrying is not 
great in a moist or tough soil, which permits the ant to obtain 
goodly-sized pellets for portage. But when the soil is light and 
dry, so that it crumbles into dust as it is bitten off, the diffi- 
culty is greatly increased. It would be a very tedious task 
indeed to take out the diggings grain by grain. This difficulty 
the worker overcomes by balling the small particles against the 
surface of the gallery, the under side of the head, or within and 
against the mandibles. The fore-feet are used for this purpose, 
being pressed against the side face, turned under, and pushed 
upward with a motion similar to that of a man putting his 
hand upon his mouth. The abdomen is then swung underneath 
the body and the apex pressed against the little heap of grains 
of dirt massed against the under side of the mandibles, or be- 
tween that and the smooth under surface of the head. Thus the 
dust is compressed into a ball which is of sufficient size to justify 
deportation. 
The same operation is observed in the side-galleries, where 
the ants work very frequently upon their sides or backs, pre- 
cisely as I have seen colliers do in Pennsylvania coal-mines. 
The following is likewise worth quoting from the same 
author : — 
Seeds are evidently not the only food of our agriculturals. 
"When the ants at disk NTo. 2 had broken through the slight 
mud-sediment that sealed up their gate, as described above, 
they exhibited a peculiar behaviour. Instead of heading for 
the roads and pressing along them, they distributed themselves 
at once over the entire disk, radiating from the gate to all 
points in the circumference, from which they penetrated the 
jungle of grass beyond. In a moment a large number were 
returning across the roads, out of the grass, over the pavement 
toward the entrance. They bore in their mandibles objects 
which I presently found to be the males and females of white 
ants ( Termes Jlavipes ), which were filling the air, during and 
after the rain, in marriage flight. They had probably swarmed 
just before the shower. The agriculturals were under great 
excitement, and hurried forth and back at the top of their 
speed. The number of ants bearing termites was soon so great 
that the vestibule became choked, and a mass of struggling 
anthood was piled up around the gate. A stream of eager 
insects continually poured out of the door, pushing their wa^ 
