ion, to be the cause of a literal revolution in lower
life. Imagine a city to be totally unroofed, try to conceive of the
sudden downfall of houses and buildings, and the consequent panic of
the inhabitants, and you may obtain an idea of the disturbance on
simple procedure effected in the peaceable, well-ordered colony of
ants which had located themselves securely beneath the friendly
shelter of the stone. The scene presented to view was one of the most
curious and interesting which could engage the attention of an
observer in any field of inquiry, and the occurrence certainly
banished the idle mood of the time, and lent a zest to the subsequent
hours of our holiday. Running hither and thither in wild confusion
were the denizens of this underground colony; their six little legs
carrying their curious globular bodies backward and forward over the
disturbed area from which the stone had been removed. At first the
movements of the ants were extremely erratic and purposeless. Panic
and alarm appeared to be the order of the day during the few minutes
which elapsed after removal of the stone. But soon the eye could
discern movements of purposive kind on the part of the alarmed
residents. There was "racing and chasing" in all directions: but the
ants which had at first radiated from the centre of disturbance, as if
on some definite quest, soon returned thereunto, and continued to
advance and retire from the field of action with tolerable regularity.
Not less than sixty or seventy ants appeared to be engaged in this
labor of scouring the country around. The object of their repeated
journeys in all directions was soon discovered. They were the
self-appointed scouts, engaged in the work of reconnoitring. Such at
least is a fair interpretation of the acts of the ants, and such also
is the conclusion borne out by the subsequent course of events. For,
after the scouts had spent a considerable time in their rapid journeys
to the environments of the nest, a new set of ants appeared upon the
scene, destined to perform a highly important series of labors.

The scouts continued their journeyings, and gave one the idea of a set
of fussy individuals who were superintending, or even bullying, their
new neighbors, who appeared from amongst the ruins and debris of the
ant city, carrying in their mouths certain oval bodies of a
dirty-white color, and measuring each about one-third of an inch in
length. Each of these bodies closely resembled a