ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 45 
manner, to affix and consolidate the 
moistened earth. 
These, then, are the material and me- 
chanical means which they employ in 
their building. In following an instinct 
purely mechanical, they might execute 
with precision, a geometrical and invari- 
able plan, construct walls of equal length 
and breadth, vaulted ceilings, whose 
curve would only require a servile obezts- 
sance, and we should have been but mo- 
derately surprised by their industry : but 
to form these irregular domes, composed 
of so many stories; to distribute in a con- 
venient, yet varied manner, the apart- 
ments they include, and to seize the most 
favourable time for their labours, but 
especially to vary them according to cir- 
cumstances; to profit by the points 
d’appui that may present themselves; and 
to judge of the advantage of such and 
such operations, is it not necessary they 
should be endowed with faculties closely 
approaching intelligence, and that, far 
from considering them as automatons, 
Nature allows them to perceive the inten- 
