xin INTRODUCTION. 
that we have not discovered whether they 
possess the means of understanding each 
other; that we have not sufficiently de- 
scribed the construction of their abode, 
nor the manner in which they establish 
it, nor do we know whether these insects 
do or do not form colonies, &c. The 
number of questions not yet solved is 
endless ; it is, however, time to fill up 
some of the numerous sketches which 
our predecessors have left us upon this 
subject, and place, if possible, the history 
of ants on a more solid and secure found- 
ation. 
