84 ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 
therefore, consists in their executing, at 
the same time, two contrary operations, 
the one of mining, the other of building, 
making the former subservient to the 
jatter; and what is still as singu- 
lar, the same talent is manifested in 
these excavations, as in that portion of 
the building above ground. ‘The humi- 
dity which penetrates to the bottom of 
their nest, is doubtless of great assistance 
to them in these labours. * 
* It may not be uninteresting after this account 
of the labours of the Mason-Ants, to give a sketch 
of the manner in which the Termites, or what have 
been termed by travellers, White Ants, so abun- 
dant in Africa, construct their dwelling. Compared 
with the Architects, their habitations are of an as- 
tonishing magnitude ; they frequently exceed twelve 
feet in height, and are so firmly cemented as to 
bear the pressure of several men at the same time. 
It often happens that, whilst.a herd of wild 
cattle are quietly grazing below, one of their body 
is stationed on them as sentinel, to give timely no- 
tice of approaching danger. The Termites begin 
constructing their habitations, by raising, at little 
distances from each other, several turrets of com- 
pact clay in the shape of sugar-loaves: upon these 
they erect others; those in the centre run to the 
