18 ANTS. 



the rain ceases, and is succeeded by a diying 

 ^vind, before they have completed their work, 

 the earth ceasing to adhere together and 

 crumbling into powder, frustrates all their 

 labours : as soon as they find this to be the 

 case, they, with one accord, set about destroy^- 

 ing the cells which they had begun, but had 

 not been able to cover in, and distribute the 

 materials over the upper story of what they 

 had completed. 



In tracing the design of the cells and galle- 

 ries, each Ant appears to follow its own fancy. 

 A want of accordance must therefore fre- 

 quently take place at the points where their 

 works join ; but they never appear to be em- 

 barrassed by any difficulties of this kind. An 

 instance is related by M. Huber, in which 

 two opposite walls were made of such diffe- 

 rent elevations, that the ceiling of the one, if 

 continued, would not hiive reached above half 

 way of the height of the other. An expe- 

 rienced Ant arriving at the spot, seemed 

 struck with the defect, and immediately de- 

 stroyed the lower ceiling, built up the wall 

 to the proper height, and formed a new ceil- 

 ing with the materials of the former. 



