In the
corners of these excavations tunnels ran deeper into the ground, and the
ants immediately began hurrying their treasures, the eggs, down into
these cellars. At one angle a tunnel went beneath the heath into further
excavations beneath a second boulder stone. Without, a fern grew, and the
dead dry stems of heather crossed each other.
This discovery led to the turning over of another boulder stone not far
off, and under it there appeared a much more extensive and complete
series of galleries, bridges, cellars and tunnels. In these the whole
life-history of the ant was exposed at a single glance, as if one had
taken off the roofs of a city. One cell contained a dust-like deposit,
another a collection resembling the dust, but now elongated and a little
greenish; a third treasury, much larger, was piled up with yellowish
grains about the size of wheat, each with a black dot on the top, and
looking like minute hop-pockets. Besides these, there was a pure white
substance in a corridor, which the irritated ants seemed particularly
anxious to remove out of sight, and quickly carried away. Among the ants
rushing about there were several with wings; one took flight; one was
seized by a wingless ant and dragged down into a cellar, as if to prevent
its taking wing.
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