284 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
anv of those that have been lon^ at work. In this 
* o 
way a complete train of ants going and coming are 
to be seen, those which are empty-mouthed going 
back to the old nest, the others each with her burden 
going to the new one. M. Forel once counted from 
forty to fifty in a minute passing each way, so that 
36,000 new-comers would be carried in one day. 
At first it is only workers that are brought, but 
when chambers are prepared, then the eggs, larvae, 
and cocoons, princesses, males, and queens, are all 
carried to the new home, and the migration is com- 
plete. 
The next step, if the community be large, is to 
clear roads to the nearest plants where aphides may 
be found, and to do this the workers carry away 
dead leaves and refuse matter, and saw off the living 
blades of grass, and soon lay bare a narrow path 
along which they travel in search of food. Now, 
while all this is going on, it will often appear as it 
any one ant was wasting a great deal of time running 
hither and thither in an aimless kind of way. But 
it must be remembered that ants see but a very short 
distance, and that it is by means of their antennae, 
and probably chiefly by scent, that they find their 
way. Moreover, the blades of grass among which 
they are moving are to them like tall trees, so that 
we must look upon them as travellers in pathless 
woods following a track, and not expect them to go 
direct to their point. Many too will seem to stand 
idle, while others look as if they were merely playing 
together. This is because they not only rest from 
time to time, but are very particular to clean their 
bodies carefully from the earth which clings to them, 
