38 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



"which sloping down (for they cannot well mount a sur- 

 face quite perpendicular) penetrate to the depth of three 

 or four feet under their nests into the earth, till they ar- 

 rive at a soil proper to be used in the erection of their 

 buildings. Were they, indeed, to expose themselves, the 

 race would soon be annihilated by their innumerable 

 enemies. This circumstance has deceived the author of 

 the MS. account of those in Ceylon, who, speaking of 

 the nests of these insects in that island, which he de- 

 scribes as twelve feet high, observes, that " they may 

 be considered as a large city, which contains a great 

 number of houses, and these houses an infinite number 



of cells or apartments: these cells appear to me to 



communicate with each other, but not the houses. I 

 have convinced myself, by bringing together the broken 

 walls of one of the cavities of the nest or cone, that it 

 does not communicate with any other, nor with the ex- 

 terior of the cone — a very curious circumstance, which I 

 will not undertake to explain. Other cavities communi- 

 cate by a very narrow tunnel." By not looking for 

 subterranean communications, he was probably led into 

 this error. 



You have before heard of their diligence in building. 

 Does any accident happen to their various structures, or 

 are they dislodged from any of their covered ways, they 

 are still more active and expeditious in repairing. Get- 

 ting out of sight as soon as possible, — and they run as 

 fast or faster than any insect of their size, — in a single 

 night they will restore a gallery of three or four yards in 

 length. If, attacking the nest, you divide it in halves, 

 leaving the royal chamber, and thus lay open thousands 

 of apartments, all will be shut up with their sheets of 



