ANT COMMUNITIES 



negative and one positive, in drawing termites and 

 roaches to the nests. The first is the benumbing effect 

 of cold, which suspends the emmet energies, and there- 

 with suspends hostile acts toward intruders upon their 

 domain. The second is the greater warmth and com- 

 fort of the mounds. These are built of a light com- 

 posite of soil-pellets and pine and other leaves, which 

 form more congenial quarters than the surrounding 

 earth. The galleries that honeycomb them are air- 

 chambers which mitigate the cold and conduce to natural 

 warmth. 



Besides, to errant insects abroad in the autumn in 

 search of winter quarters, the upraised cones of the ants 

 are prominent and inviting objects, the most available 

 for them in the vicinage. So there the rovers settle 

 and stay until, in the revived activity of returning spring, 

 the ants make the premises entirely too warm for them. 



These facts have at least a conjectural bearing upon 

 the origin of some ant affinities and associations. The 

 importance of the local nest-odor, and its intimate re- 

 lationships with the friendly or hostile attitude of ants 

 toward their fellows, has already been pointed out in 

 chapter xi. May it not follow that the temporary 

 and accidental lodgment of these alien insects upon the 

 ants' nests may have led, in occasional cases, to the 

 acquisition of so much of the local nest-odor as partly to 

 conciliate the ants? This complaisance may have been 

 increased by the inactive condition of the ants in early 

 spring, and at least made them tolerant of the presence 

 of their guests. This condition, acting upon tempera- 

 ments specially adapted to such an estate, together with 

 the discovery of some mutual advantage in nourishment 



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or massagerie, through the shampoo dejeune or other- 



22S 



