12 ABOUT ANTS. 



feet long ; he must have made the clay intc 



bricks, and laid them up in walls on each side 

 of the ditches, two to three feet high and fifteen 

 inches th'ck. He must have gone over it all 

 and made it straight and smooth; and must 

 have made it alone, in ground full of logs and 

 stones. 



The Brown Ants, F. hrunnea^ are both miners 

 and builders. They work either at night or in 

 damp weather, because the sunshine dries their 

 mortar too fast. They build a house of many 

 Btories, sometimes twenty or thirty. Each story 

 is about a fifth of an inch high, supported by 

 many partitions and pillars. In wet weather 

 they take the family into the upper rooms ; in 

 dry weather they occupy the middle or the lower 

 floors. While building, they work the damp 

 clay in their jaws until the pellets are compact, 

 and will adhere firmly ; then they press them 

 tightly against the tops of the partitions which 

 they have made. As fast as one row of bricks 

 has dried, another row is added ; thus they will 

 la} a perfectly smooth and strong ceiling two 



