THE YELLOW ANT. 43 



dents which threaten them ? how comes it that the rain 

 does not penetrate their habitation, open as it is on every 

 side ? these simple questions appear to have obtained the 

 attention of no naturalist before Huber. On closely watch- 

 ing the appearance of one of these nests, he found it 

 undergoing an hourly change, and that the apertures, so 

 spacious in the middle of the day, gradually diminished in 

 size towards the evening, and at night entirely disappeared ; 

 the dome became closed in every part, and all the ants 

 were concealed within. In order to accomplish this, the 

 ants draw into the openings little bits of wood, placing 

 them across the entrance and sinking the ends in the covering 

 of the hill ; they then fetch others, laying them across the 

 first, and so continue selecting other pieces, smaller and 

 smaller as the work advances towards its accomplishment, 

 and finally close the opening with bits of dried leaves, and 

 similar materials. 



In the morning a few ants may be seen wandering about 

 the exterior of the nest, the number gradually increasing 

 as others emerge from the interior, under the little roofs 

 formed at the entrance of each avenue, and these soon set 

 to work, and begin to clear away the barricades. This em- 

 ployment continues for hours, until at length the apertures 

 are sufficiently extended, and the materials used in closing 

 them distributed over the exterior of the nest. This is a 

 daily labour unless it rains, or the morning threatens rain ; 

 and if after it has been performed rain come on, they hasten 

 to close the apertures as at night. 



At its commencement the nest is simply an excavation 

 made in the earth : a number of the labourers wander about 

 in quest of materials suitable for the superstructure ; others 

 carry out particles of earth from the interior, and these 

 particles, interspersed with the fragments of wood and 

 leaves brought in continually from every quarter, give a 



