8 ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 
- The fallow ants, collected in crowds 
during the day on their nest, have no fear 
of being disquieted in the interior, but 
when, in the evening, they retire to their 
quarters, no longer perceiving what passes 
without, how are they screened from the - 
accidents with which they are menaced ? 
or how happens it that the rain does not 
penetrate their abode, open as it is on 
every side to its introduction? These 
questions, simple as they are, do not ap- 
pear to have engaged the attention of 
naturalists. Have they not then foreseen 
_the dangers to which these insects would 
have been exposed, if that wisdom which 
regulates. the universe had not provided 
for their safety? Struck with these re- 
flections, when I first noticed the fallow 
ants, I directed my entire attention to 
this subject, and soon acquired the inform- 
ation I wanted. I remarked that their 
habitations changed in appearance hourly, 
and that the diameter of those spacious 
avenues, where so many ants could freely 
pass each other during the day, was, as 
