62 HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



but in old hills are often as large as the head of a child a 

 year old. 



The royal chamber is situated nearly on a level with the 

 surface of the ground, at an equal distance from all the 

 sides of the building, and directly under the apex of the 

 hill. It is surrounded on all sides, both above and below, 

 by what may be called the royal apartments, which have 

 only labourers and soldiers in them, and can be intended 

 for no other purpose than for these to wait in, either to 

 guard or serve their common father and mother, on whose 

 safety depends the happiness, and probably even the ex- 

 istence, of the whole community. These apartments com- 

 pose an intricate labyrinth, which extends a foot or more 

 in diameter from the royal chamber on every side. Here 

 the nurseries and magazines of provisions begin, and, be- 

 ing separated by small empty chambers and galleries which 

 go round them, or communicate from one to the other, are 

 continued on all sides to the outward shell, and attain two 

 thirds or three fourths of its height, leaving an open area in 

 the middle, under the dome, which very much resembles 

 the nave of a cathedral ; this is surrounded by three or four 

 very large gothic-shaped arches, which are sometimes two 

 or three feet high next the front of the area, but diminish 

 very rapidly as they recede from thence, like the arches of 

 aisles in perspective, and are soon lost among the innu- 

 merable chambers and nurseries behind them. These 

 chambers and the passages communicating with them, 

 being arched, help to support each other ; and while the 

 interior large arches prevent their falling into the centre, 

 and keep the area open, the exterior building supports them 

 on the outside. There are, comparatively speaking, few 

 openings into the great area, and they, for the most part, 

 seem intended only to admit into the nurseries that genial 

 warmth which the dome collects. The interior building 



