ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 29 
an apprehension that the building could 
not possibly resist its own weight, and 
that such extensive ceilings, sustained 
only by a few pillars, would fall into ruin 
from the rain which continually fell upon 
them ;—but I was quickly convinced of 
their stability, from observing that the 
earth, brought by these insects, adhered 
at all points, on the slightest contact; and 
that the rain, so far from lessening the 
cohesion of its particles, appeared even to 
increase it. Thus, instead of injuring the 
building, it even contributed to render 
it still more secure. 
These parcels of moistened earth, 
which are only held together by juxta- 
position, require a fall of rain to cement 
them more closely, and thus varnish over, 
as it were, those places where the walls 
and galleries remain uncovered. All in- 
equalities in the masonry then disappear. 
The upper part of these stories, formed 
of several pieces brought together, pre- 
sents but one single layer of compact 
earth. ‘They require for their complete 
c 3 
