278 Insect Architecture. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



AECHITECTUEE OF ANTS. MASON-ANTS. 



A LL the species of ants are social. There are none solitary, 

 ** as is the case with bees and wasps. They are all more 

 or less skilful in architecture, some employing masonry, and 

 others being carpenters, wood-carvers, and miners. They 

 consequently afford much that is interesting to naturalists 

 who observe their operations. The genuine history of ants 

 has only been recently investigated, first by Gould in 1747, 

 and subsequently by Linnaeus, De Geer, Huber, and Latreille. 

 Previous to that time their real industry and their imagined 

 foresight were held up as moral lessons, without any great 

 accuracy of observation ; and it is probable that, even now, 

 the mixture of truth and error in Addison's delightful papers 

 in the Guardian (Nos. 156, 157) may be more generally 

 attractive than the minute relation of careful naturalists. 

 Gould disproved, most satisfactorily, the ancient fable of ants 

 storing up corn for winter provision, no species of ants ever 

 eating grain, or feeding in the winter upon anything. It is 

 to Huber the younger, however, that we are chiefly indebted 

 for our knowledge of the habits and economy of ants ; and to 

 Latreille for a closer distinction of the species. Some of the 

 more interesting species, whose singular economy is described 

 by the younger Huber, have not been hitherto found in this 

 country. We shall, however, discover matter of very con- 

 siderable interest in those which are indigenous ; and as our 

 principal object is to excite inquiry and observation with 

 regard to those insects which may be easily watched in our 

 own gardens and fields, we shall chiefly confine ourselves to 

 the ants of these islands. We shall begin with the labours 

 of those native ants which may be called earth-masons, from 

 their digging in the ground, and forming structures with 

 pellets of moistened loam, clay, or sand. 



