THE ANT. "(;3 



and tbose are as assiduously watched and protected by the work- 

 ing ants, who take upon themselves to supply whatever is want 

 ing to the nascent animal's convenience or necessity. They are 

 carried, as soon as laid, to the safest situation, at the bottom of 



ing off rain watpr. When within reach of a corn-field, they often also pick 

 up grains of wheat, barley, or oats, and carry them to the nest as building 

 materials, and not for food as was believed by the ancients. The coping 

 which forms the exterior of the wood-ant's nest, though only a small por- 

 tion of the structure, wiiich consists of a great number of interior cliamhers 

 and galleries, with funnel-shaped avenues leading to them, is one of the 

 most essential parts, and we cannot follow a more delightful guide than the 

 younger Huber, in detailing its formation. 



" The labourers," he says, "of which the colony is composed, not only 

 work continually on the outside of their nest, but, diflering very es-eutially 

 from other species, who willingly rem;un in the interior, sheltered from the 

 sun, they prefer living iu the open air, and do not hesitate to carry on, eveu 

 in oiu' presence, the greater part of their operations. To have an idea how 

 the straw or stubble roof is formed, let us take a view of the ant-hill at its 

 origin, when it is simply a cavity iu the earth. Some of its future inhabi- 

 tants are seen wandering about in search of materials tit for the exterior 

 work, with which, though rather irregularly, they cover up the entrance; 

 whilst others are employed iu mixing the esu'th, thrown up in hollowing 

 the interior, witli fragments of wood and leaves, wliich are every moment 

 brought in by their fellow-assistants ; and this gives a certiiin consistence to 

 the edifice, which increases in size daily. Our little architects leave here 

 and there cavities, where they intend constructing the galleries which are 

 to lead to the exterior, and as they remove in the morning the barriers 

 placed at the entrance of their nest the preceding evening, the passages are 

 kept open during the whole time of its construction. We soon observed 

 the roof to become convex ; but we should be greatly deceived did we con- 

 sider it solid. This roof is destined to include many apartments or stories. 

 Having observed the motions of these little builders through a pane of 

 glass, adjusted against one of their habitations, I am thence enabled to speak 

 with some degree of certainty upon the manner in which they are construct- 

 ed. I ascertained, that it is by excavating or mining the under portion of 

 their edifice, that they form their spacious halls, low indeed, and of heavy 

 Construction, yet sutliciently convenient for the use to wlxich they are ap- 

 propriated, that of receiving, at certain hours of the day, the larvae and 

 pupae. These halls have a free communication by galleries, made in the 

 same manner If the materials of wliich the ant-hill is composed were only 

 iuterlici'd, they would fall into a confused heap every time the ants at- 

 tempted to bring them into regular order. This, however, is obviated by 

 their tempering the earth with rain-water, which, afterwards hardened in 

 the sun, eo completely and effectually binds together the sever;il substances, 

 as to permit the removal of certain fragments from the ant-hill without any 

 injury to the rest ; it, moreover, strongly opposes the introduction of the 

 rain. I never found, even after long and violent rains, the iuterior of the nest 

 wetted to more than a quarter of an incli from the surface, provided it had 

 not been previously out of repair, or deserted by it^ inhabitants. The aul, 



