234 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



formed by a single ant, was opened above, and bordei'ed 

 on each side by a buttress of earth. Its concavity, in 

 the form of a pipe (gouttiere), was of the most perfect 

 regularity : for the architect had not left an atom too much. 

 The work of this ant was so well followed and understood, 

 that I could almost to a certainty guess its next proceeding, 

 and the very fragment it was about to remove. At the 

 side of the opening where this path terminated was a 

 second opening, to which it was necessary to arrive by 

 some road. The same ant began and finished this under- 

 taking without assistance. It furrowed out and opened 

 another path, parallel to the first, leaving between each 

 a little wall of three or four lines in height." 



Like the hive-bees, ants do not seem to work in concert, 

 but each individual separately. There is, consequently, 

 ar; occasional want of coincidence in the walls and arches ; 

 but this does not much embarrass them, for a worker, on 

 discovering an error of this kind, seems to know how to 

 rectify it, as appears from the following observations : — 



"A wall," sa3^s M. Huber, "had been erected, with 

 the view of sustaining a vaulted ceiling, still incomplete, 

 that had been projected towards the wall of the opposite 

 chamber. The workman who began constructing it, had 

 given it too little elevation to meet the opposite parti- 

 tion, upon which it was to rest. Had it been continued 

 on the original plan, it must infallibly have met the wall 

 at about one-half of its height ; and this it was necessary 

 to avoid. This state of things very forcibly claimed my 

 attention ; when one of the ants arriving at the place, and 

 visiting the works, appeared to be struck by the difficulty 

 which presented itself; but this it as soon obviated, by 

 taking down the ceiling, and raising the wall upon which 

 it reposed. It then, in my presence, constructed a new 

 ceiling with the fragments of the former one. 



" When the ants commence any undertaking, one Avould 

 suppose that they worked after some preconceived idea, 

 which, indeed, would seem verified by the execution. 

 Thus, should any ant discover upon the nest two stalks of 

 plants which lie cross ways, a disposition favourable to the 



