152 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



on all sides beyond the circumference. The edifice 

 tends to become spherical or balloon-shaped ; its size 

 is about that of an ordinary foot-ball. A vertical 

 section presents an innumerable number of irregular 

 cells, composed of the same substance as the exterior. 

 Towards the centre they are more capacious than 

 near the surface, and have been found to contain 

 insects in every stage of development. These nests 

 were discovered by Colonel Sykes in the Poona 

 Collectorate, India, attached to the Kurwund shrub 

 (Carissa carandas) and on the Mango tree (Mangifera 

 Indica). No provision for the young appears to be 

 laid up, and probably the house -supplies depend on 

 daily quest. The ants are extremely small, barely 

 one-fifth of an inch long. 



The nests of another extraordinary tree ant, (Eco- 

 phylla smaragdina, are cunningly wrought with leaves, 

 united together with web (see Fig. 24). One was observed 

 in New South Wales in the expedition under Captain 

 Cook. The leaves utilised were as broad as one's hand, 

 and were bent and glued to each other at their tips. 

 How the insects manage to bring the leaves into the 

 required position was never ascertained, but thousands 

 were seen uniting their strength to hold them down, 

 while other busy multitudes were employed within in 

 applying the gluten that was to prevent them returning 

 back. The observers, to satisfy themselves that the 

 foliage was indeed incurvated and held in this form 

 by the efforts of the ants, disturbed the builders at 

 their work, and as soon as they were driven away the 

 leaves sprang up, with a force much greater than it 

 would have been deemed possible for such labourers 



