m] NESTS OF ANTS. 91 



Let us compare this relatively to man. An ant 

 measuring, say one-sixth of an inch, and the pencil being 

 seven inches high, it is consequently forty-two times 

 as long as the ant. It bears, therefore, somewhat the 

 same relation to the ant as a column two hundred and 

 fifty feet high does to a man. The pencil having been 

 moved six inches, it is as if a man in a country he 

 knew well would be puzzled at being moved a few 

 hundred feet ; or, if put down in a square containing 

 less than an acre, could not find a column two hundred 

 and fifty feet high ; that is to say, higher than the Duke 

 of York's column. 



As additional evidence I may adduce the fact, that 

 when my L. nigers were carrying off food placed in 

 a cup on a piece of board, if I turned the board 

 round, so that the side which had been turned towards 

 the nest was away from it, and vice versa, the ants 

 always returned over the same track on the board, 

 and consequently directly away from home. If I 

 moved the board to the other side of my artificial 

 nest, the result was the same. Evidently they followed 

 the track, not the direction. 



It is remarkable, that notwithstanding the labours 

 of so many excellent observers, and though ants swarm 

 in every field and every wood, we do not yet know 

 how their nests commence. 



Three principal modes have been suggested : after 

 the marriage flight the young queen may either 



1. Join her own or some other old nest ; 



2. Associate herself with a certain number of workers, 



and with their assistance commence a new 

 nest ; or 



