480 ants' nests. 



has been clearly proved in recent years by MacCook, lAibbock, Bloch- 

 mann, and otliers. These females live many years (eight to twelve 

 years, according to Lnbbock's experiments), and always rem;iin ])roIiiic 

 withont renewed copulation. They are the mothers of the whole 

 so-called ant colony, which, consequently, lasts many years and does 

 not die out annually like the wasp colony. It follows from the facts 

 stated that the ants must have permanent nests, and that these nests 

 must display great variety, both of which inferences are correct. 



The ants have, moreover, the peculiarity of changing their abode 

 from time to time in order to move to a new one. They understand how 

 to change theii- dwelling and how to build anew. 



Many species of ants understand likex^ise how to colonize; that is, 

 how to build new nests at a certain distance from their dwellings with- 

 out leaving their old nest. It is in this way that mighty colonies, with 

 numerous nests, are founded, resembling, to use Huber's words, the 

 cities of one and the same emjiire. I have counted as many as two 

 hundred immense nests standing close together in our European Form tea 

 exsecia Nyl., and MacCook has counted as many as sixteen hundred 

 still larger nests of one and the same colony of Formica e.rsccfoidcs 

 FoREL in the Alleghanies of Xorth America. These latter ant kingdoms 

 have, in all probability, a population of 200,000,000 to 400,000,000 

 inhabitants, all forming a single community and living together in 

 active and friendly intercourse, while they are on hostile terms witli all 

 other colonies of ants, even those of the same species. Certain kinds of 

 ants which live in trees form similar kingdoms by occupying numerous 

 trees of the same forest. 



In addition to this, ants frequently construct annexes to their nests — 

 covered ways, subterranean passages, stations, and flying camps — in 

 order to protect the plant lice which serve them as milk cows, and 

 also for other purposes. 



It is further to be remarked that there are courageous, warlike kinds 

 of ants, whose nests pre, consequently, open and easily discovered, 

 while other kinds are timid and live in concealment, in many cases, 

 because their colonies consist of only a few individuals. There are, 

 besides, ants with good eyes, which make their nests above ground, 

 and even on the boughs of trees, while there are blind and half blind 

 kinds which live hidden deep underground. 



As I have formerly asserted (Fourmis de la Suisse, 1874), the chief 

 feature of ant architecture, in contradistinction to that of the bees 

 and the wasps, is its irregularity and want of uniformity — that is to say, 

 its adaptability, or the capacity of making all the surroundings and 

 incidents subserve the purpose of attaining the greatest i)ossible econ- 

 omy of space and time and the greatest possible comfort. For instance, 

 the same species will live in the Alps under stones which absorb the 

 rays of the sun; in a forest it will live in warm, decayed trunks of 

 trees; in a rich meadow it will live in high, conical mounds of earth. 



