ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. 4:7 
galleries, which the Brown Ants construct 
with earth, conducting from their nest 
to the feet of trees, and sometimes even 
to the origin of the branches, for the 
purpose of arriving with greater secu- 
rity at the places where they find their 
food. | 
4. ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS THAT FORM 
THEIR HABITATION IN TIMBER. * 
Is it nota matter of astonishment, that 
Nature should have given to insects of 
* «¢ Some ants” says Kirby,’”’ form their nests 
entirely of the leaves of trees. One of these was 
observed by Sir Joseph Banks in New South Wales, 
which was formed by glueing together several 
leaves as large as ahand. To keep these leaves in 
a proper position, thousands of ants united their 
strength, and if driven away, the leaves spring 
back with great violence.” Latreille speaks of an 
ant which is met with at Cayenne (F. bispinosa) that 
forms its nest of a great quantity of down, which 
it removes from the seeds of a species of the cotton- 
tree. Madame Merian, in her ‘“ JInsectes de Su- 
rinam,” speaks of an ant, which, in Tobago, is 
called the parasol ant. They are in the habit of cut- 
ting out circular pieces from the leaves of trees and 
plants (in thisrespect resembling the apis papaveris). 
aad carrying them off to their nest. When thus 
