MASON-ANTS. 229 



ants labour in the night, and a French naturalist is there- 

 fore of opinion that they never sleep, — a circumstance 

 which is well ascertained with respect to other animals, 

 such as the shark, which will track a ship in full sail for 

 weeks together.* The ingenious historian of English ants, 

 Gould, says they never intermit their labours by night or 

 by day, except when compelled by excessive rains. It is 

 probable the ancients were mistaken in asserting that they 

 only work when the moon shines ;-f for, like bees, they 

 seem to find no difficult}^ in building in the dark, their 

 subterranean apartments being as well finished as the upper 

 stories of their buildings. But to proceed with the narra- 

 tive of M. P. Huber. 



" Having thus noticed the movements of these insects 

 during the night, I found they were almost always abroad 

 and engaged about the dome of their habitation after 

 sunset. This was directly the reverse of what I had 

 observed in the conduct of the wood-ants (^F. rufa), who 

 only go out during the day, and close their doors in the 

 evening, The contrast was still more remarkable than I 

 had previously supposed ; for upon visiting the brown ants 

 some days after, during a gentle rain, I saw all their 

 architectural talents in full play. 



" As soon as the rain commenced, they left in great 

 numbers their subterranean residence, re-entered it almost 

 immediately, and then returned, bearing between their 

 teeth pellets of earth, which they deposited on the roof of 

 their nest. I could not at first conceive what this was 

 meant for, but at length I saw little walls start up on all 

 sides with spaces left between them. In several places, 

 columns, ranged at regular distances, announced halls, 

 lodges, and passages, which the ants proposed establishing ; 

 in a word, it was the rough beginning of a new story. 



" I watched with a considerable degree of interest the 



* Dr. Clegliorn, Thesis de Somiio. 



t Aristotle Hist. Animal, ix. '38. Pliny says, " Operantiir et noctu 

 plena luna ; eadem intciiimio cessant," i e., They work in the night at 

 full moon, but they leave oif between moon and moon. It is the latter 

 that we think doubtful. 



