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CHAPTEE XV. 



STRUCTURES OF THE WOOD-ANT OR PISMIRE, AND OF CAR- 

 PENTER-ANTS. 



The largest of onr British ants is that called the Hill- 

 ant by Gould, the Fallow-ant by the English translator 

 of Huber, and popularly the Pismire ; but which we 

 think may be more appropriately named the Wood-ant 

 (^Formica rufa, Latr.), from its invariable habit of living 

 in or near woods and forests. This insect may be readily 

 distinguished from other ants by the dusky black colour 

 of its head and hinder parts, and the rusty brown of its 

 middle. The structures reared by this species ai'e often 

 of considerable magnitude, and bear no small resemblance 

 to a rook's nest thrown ujDon the ground bottom upwards. 

 They occur in abundance in the woods near London, and in 

 many other parts of the country : in Oak of Honour wood 

 alone, we are acquainted with the localities of at least two 

 dozen, — some in the interior, and others on the hedge- 

 banks on the outskirts of the wood. (J. E.) 



Tlie exterior of the nest is composed of almost every 

 transportable material which the colonists can find in 

 their vicinity : but the greater portion consists of the 

 stems of withered grass and short twigs of trees, piled up 

 in apparent confusion, but with sufficient regularity to 

 render the whole smooth, conical, and sloping towards the 

 base, for the purpose, we may infer, of carrying off rain- 

 water. AVhen within reach of a corn-field, they often also 

 pick up grains of wheat, barley, or oats, and carry them to 

 the nest as building materials, and not for food, as was 

 believed by the ancients. There are wonders enough ob- 

 servable in the economy of ants, without having recourse 

 to fancy — w^onders which made Aristotle extol the sagacity 

 of bloodless animals, and Cicero ascribe to them not only 



