1910} Wheeler — Artificial Ant-Nests 15 
of sweet oil is pressed down onto the plaster till it forms walls only a 
few millimeters in height. After the plaster has set, the roof-pane is 
removed, cleaned and cut into two or more pieces with a diamond 
along lines (dotted in the figures) which bisect the short galleries, and 
then replaced as covers of the chambers. ‘The ants can be introduced 
into the nest by sliding the covers apart a short distance over one of the 
galleries. The plaster is sufficiently porous to provide for ventilation 
and a thin slice of wet sponge or a tuft of wet moss or cotton, placed 
in one of the chambers, will furnish the requisite amount of moisture. 
Nests of this description are very useful as they can be placed on the 

Fig. 1. Diagrams of nests devised by Santschi. 
stage of the compound microscope, or preferably of the Zeiss binocular 
and their inhabitants studied under a low objective. Santschi recom- 
mends his nests for the study of such small ants as the various species 
of Leptothorax, Myrmica, Tapinoma, Bothriomyrmex, Myrmecina, 
Stenamma, Goniomma, Oxyopomyrmex, etc., and their parasites and 
myrmecophiles, but they would be equally useful for very small col- 
onies of larger ants and for studies on the foundation of colonies by 
single queens, not to mention all observations in which a few workers 
are to be kept in isolation for some purpose. ‘These nests can be so 
easily and rapidly made that they will prove to be very useful for 
travelers. 
