4,4, ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS, 
From these observations, and a thou- 
sand similar, I am convinced that each 
ant acts independently of its companions. 
The first who conceives a plan of easy 
execution, immediately gives the sketch 
of it; others have only to continue what 
this has begun, judging, from an inspec- 
tion of the first labours, in what they 
ought to engage. They can all lay down 
plans, and continue to polish or retouch 
their work as occasion requires. ‘The 
water furnishes the cement they require, 
and the sun and air harden the materials 
of which their edifice is composed. They 
have no other chisel than their teeth, no 
other compass than their antennee, and no 
other trowel than their fore-feet, of 
which they make use in an admirable 
arches, from pillar to pillar, and thus form an ex- 
tensive saloon. Should they be, at any time, in 
want of small apartments, they have only to pre- 
pare a quantity of moistened earth, and by placing 
this between the pillars, and carrying it up to the 
roof, leaving here and there an aperture for en- 
trance, their object is completely attained,.—T. 
