214 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



tively slight huts mounted on poles, and having the floor some 

 ten feet from the ground. 



During the winter, however, they live in habitations of a 

 very different character. 



In order to make these houses, they begin by digging a large 

 hole in the ground, about nine or ten feet in depth. This 

 they line with poles and sticks, making, in fact, a wall as of a 

 house. A stout conical roof is then raised over the hole, and 

 upon the roof earth is thickly strewn and beaten down, just as 

 has been mentioned when treating of the ice-house. The only 

 access to this strange house is by a circular aperture in the 

 centre of the conical roof, serving at once the purpose of a 

 door, a chimney, and a window. A notched pole answers as a 

 ladder, a low wooden dais placed against the wall serves as a 

 bed or a chair, for there is no other, and a few stones placed 

 together act as a fireplace. 



IN looking at both these subterranean dwellings, I could not 

 but be reminded of a very common insect which has a double 

 dwelling, one moiety being above ground, and the other moiety 

 below it. This is the common Wood-ant (Formica rufa), 

 whose large, leafy hills are so plentiful in some of our woods. 

 On account of its size, this species is sometimes called the 

 Horse-ant. 



At first sight the nest looks something like a small 

 haycock, made entirely of chopped grass. When examined 

 more nearly, it will be found to consist mostly of grass-stems, 

 little bits of stick, and leaves. Those of the fir are in great 

 request, for when they are dry they are very light, and their 

 form enables the Ant to interweave them with each other, so as 

 to form the necessary tunnels and galleries which line the 

 interior of the nest. The materials seem most unpromising, 

 but they are used with wonderful skill, such as no human 

 fingers could equal. 



After a little while a number of entrances into the nest are 

 visible. They are almost invariably sheltered by projecting 

 leaves, which act as porches, so that when the nest is viewed 

 from above, they are almost entirely hidden. Each of these 

 openings runs into one of the main galleries of the nest, and 

 from thence issues a perfect labyrinth of passages. 



