144 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



garrets, for they had evidently contained the gravel 

 for a length of time, and were apparently sealed up in 

 the very midst of the nest. 



The nests of the honey-storing ants of Mexico like- 

 wise consist externally of gravel-covered cone-shaped 

 mounds, of diminutive proportions, attaining a height 

 seldom more than about three inches (see Fig. 20). A 

 single narrow tubular entrance-way descends through 

 the mound and the earth more or less perpendicularly, to 

 a distance varying from three and a half to six inches, 

 and opens into the underground rooms and galleries. 

 Arranged in several horizontal series one above the 

 other, and intercommunicating by vertical passages, 

 these extend chiefly in one direction from the gate. 

 This ant is nocturnal in its habit of foraging for food, 

 but does not bar its door in the daytime, the plan 

 adopted by a night-wandering ant of Texas (the Cut- 

 ting Ant, Atta fervens). The Honey Ant, however, 

 does not neglect measures for safety ; just within the 

 margin of the opening cordons of sentinels are stationed 

 continually, whose business is to keep a sharp look 

 out for enemies, and they appear to hold themselves 

 in readiness during storms to repair damage or dis- 

 arrangement of the pebbled roof. Disaster from this 

 cause is slight, owing probably to the admirable choice 

 of the situation for the nest. The honey-rooms, the 

 abodes of the inflated honey-bearing individuals, are 

 oval, conspicuously large, and vaulted, and will some- 

 times rise from a height of barely three quarters of an 

 inch at the walls to an inch and a half in the centre. 

 The galleries are smoothed throughout ; but while the 

 floors and walls of the honey-rooms are pressed well- 



