62 BRITISH ANTS. 



of plaster before the latter is dry, and the advantage of this nest 

 is that it retains moisture for a longer period than an ordinary 

 " Lubbock nest." These nests may be made of different sizes if 

 desired ; as in the " Fielde nest/' glass strips are used instead of wood, 

 and a second chamber may be added, kept light and without earth, 

 to serve as a feeding and exercise ground. When a second chamber 

 is present the apparatus is entirely shut in and requires to fit more 

 accurately ; plate glass -f^ or J in. thick should be used, and all 

 the parts of the nest should be cut from the same sheet of glass. 



Viehmeyer has modified the " Janet nest " by enclosing it with 

 a zinc bottom, and adding metal strips across the top ; the latter 

 prevent the glass covers from slipping. Though this arrangement 

 enables the nest to be more easily moved about, it naturally makes 

 it heavier to carry. Crawley formerly had made a heavy large 

 four-chambered " Janet nest," the plaster of Paris being thicker 

 in depth and width. These nests are admirable to leave, when 

 away from home, as when well watered they retain the moisture 

 for a long time. 



The nest I most frequently use, and find most convenient on 

 the whole, is a four-chambered " Janet nest," lighter and smaller 

 than the above. This nest is made by Messrs. Doulton and Co., 

 Ltd. (Archtl. Dept.), Lambeth, from directions supplied to them by 

 Crawley and myself, and can always be obtained there. The glass 

 for the roof requires to be purchased separately, and can be used 

 with, or without, the openings over the chambers. It may be held 

 in position by brass springs, clips, or some other arrangement. 



For the reception of such large species as Formica rufa, etc., 

 with their natural nest-materials, I invented a large artificial 

 nest. The frame-work is made of wood, 14 in. in height, breadth 

 and length, standing on four legs 4 in. high. Four panes of glass 

 12 in. square fit into grooves in the wooden frame, and form the 

 sides. The bottom is made of perforated zinc, over which is laid a 

 thick layer of plaster of Paris, and the top is left open. This nest 

 stands in a large zinc tray, the outside of which consists of a trough 

 to hold water about an inch and a half wide and two inches deep. 

 Between the sides of the legs of the nest and the trough there is 

 space about two inches wide. A layer of sand, five or six inches 

 deep, is placed over the plaster in the nest. When a colony is 

 introduced a mass of the materials of the nest, with the ants, etc., 

 just as it was collected, is shot from a bag into the nest. Care 

 must be taken that a queen, or queens have been secured, and 

 these are introduced separately. The ants soon tunnel into the 

 sand, and build up and arrange, the nest materials as in nature. 

 Fresh pine : needles, etc., may be thrown in from time to time, 

 which the ants will add to their hillock, and they use corners of the 

 zinc tray for cemeteries and " kitchen middens." Though this form 

 of nest does not enable one to study the behaviour of the ants in 



