NATURES CRAFTSMEN 



a queen -room, or for a store-room for larvae and 

 eggs? 



This section was the most thoroughly excavated in 

 the entire formicary, and apparently had been the 

 original centre of operations. There the solitary found- 

 ress queen had probably made first lodgment. As the 

 community grew, work was pushed in all directions, 

 terminating at the top in an irregular dome which, with 



its pendent columns, 

 resembled the roof of 

 a limestone cavern 

 with its drooping sta- 

 lactites This was, in 

 fact, the ceiling or 

 uppermost story of 

 the formicary. 



The series of cav- 

 ities that surrounded 

 the centre and formed 

 the outer works dif- 

 fered in general plan 

 from those at the cen- 

 tre, inclining to large, 

 open vaults rather 

 than to compact series of chambers. It was as though 

 the early era of the commonwealth had been dominated 

 by one type of architecture, characterized by clustered 

 chambers, and the latter era by another type, the 

 vaulted or cavernous. One needs to keep a tight rein 

 upon his fancy when such speculations arise; but, really, 

 while studying the structure of this Camponotid com- 

 mune, one could not forbear noting that cities of 

 men show the same characteristic of crowded quar-» 



PROJECTING ROOM OVER A HALL: 

 A BAY-WINDOW 



