ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 89 
served sufficiently long to satisfy my 
curiosity. 
One rainy day, I observed a Labourer 
digging the ground near the aperture 
which gave entrance to the ant-hill. It 
placed in a heap the several fragments it 
had scraped up, and formed them into 
small pellets, which it deposited here and 
there upon the nest. It returned con- 
stantly to the same place, and appeared 
to have a marked design, for it laboured 
with ardour and perseverance. I re- 
marked a slight furrow, excavated in the 
ground in a straight line, representing 
the plan of a path or gallery, The La- 
bourer, the whole of whose movements 
fell under my immediate observation, 
gave it greater depth and breadth, and 
cleared out its borders; and I saw, at 
length—in which I could not be deceived 
—that it had the intention of establish- 
ing an avenue which was to lead from 
one of the stories to the under-ground 
chambers. ~This path, which was about 
two or three inches in length, and formed 
