8 4 
F. E. Weiss. 
effect produced by the very distinct line along the footpath. I have 
not been able to discover any existing ants’ nest along this line of 
furze bushes, but as they are all of considerable size and age, the 
absence of ants now does not preclude the possibility of ants 
having acted as agents of dispersal in former days. 
Another, though a less striking case of the dispersal of gorse 
along a roadway was noticed in Wales (see Fig. 2), and is mentioned 
o * (W(n>A^C^a*<rtk,a'vvvvvu^) X - 0/vcOb’ 
Fig. 2. Sketch plan showing bushes of gorse and broom along a lane near 
Fairbourne. The distribution has proceeded from the gorse and broom bushes 
in the triangular meadow, sloping down from the lane to the brook. 
here because in this case the distribution of the gorse seemed to be 
still in progress, many of the bushes being small and the ants being 
still at work carrying building material and food to their nests, which 
were close to the roadway, in fact on the bank of the lane. This 
lane ran up from the main road at Fairbourne, near Barmouth, to 
a hillside farm. On one side it was bounded by an oak wood with 
a steep bank, along which in a distance of about fifty yards were 
two comparatively large and sixteen smaller gorse-bushes. There was 
also a small plant of broom (Sarothamnus scoparius). There was 
neither gorse nor broom in the oak wood, but on the other side of 
the lane which was bounded by a loose stone wall, was a steep 
grassy slope on which were numerous gorse-bushes massed together 
and interspersed with some broom. Both of these are indicated on 
