ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 18 
these little masons through a pane of 
glass which I adjusted against one of their 
habitations, I am enabled to speak with 
some degree of certainty upon the man- 
ner in which they are constructed. 
~ It is by excavating or mining the under 
portion of their edifice that they form 
their spacious halls, low indeed and of 
heavy construction, yet sufficiently con- 
venient for the use to which they are 
appropriated, that of receiving at cer- 
tain hours of the day the larve and 
pupe. * 
* The terms of Larva and Pupa are employed 
to designate the intermediate states of existence in 
the insect, on its passage from the egg to its becom- 
ing a perfect animal, endowed with all the powers 
of its race, the former being commonly known 
under the appellation of Grub or Caterpillar, the 
latter of Chrysalis or Aurelia. The ant remains, 
according to Gould, in the first or larva state of 
existence nearly a twelvemonth, in the state of 
pupa about six weeks, and as a perfect insect 16 
months. The time, however, they remain as larve 
and pupz is, no doubt considerably i fluenced by 
variations in the temperature, and other causes. 
M. Reaumur hastened the disclosure of the butter- 
