290 Insect Architecture. 



guess its next proceeding, and the very fragment it was 

 about to remove. At the side of the opening where this 

 path terminated was a second opening, to which it was 

 necessary to arrive by some road. The same ant began and 

 finished this undertaking without assistance. It furrowed 

 out and opened another path, parallel to the first, leaving 

 between each a little wall of three or four lines in height." 



Like the hive-bees, ants do not seem to work in concert, 

 but each individual separately. There is, consequently, an 

 occasional want of coincidence in the walls and arches ; but 

 this does not much embarrass them, for a worker, on dis- 

 covering an error of this kind, seems to know how to rectify 

 it, as appears from the following observations : 



" A wall," says M. Huber, " had been erected, with the 

 view of sustaining a vaulted ceiling, still incomplete, that 

 had been projected towards the wall of the opposite chamber. 

 The workman who began constructing it had given it too 

 little elevation to meet the opposite partition, upon which 

 it was to rest. Had it been continued on the original plan, 

 it must infallibly have met the wall at about one-half of its 

 height ; and this it was necessary to avoid. This state of 

 things very forcibly claimed my attention ; when one of the 

 ants arriving at the place, and visiting the works, appeared 

 to be struck by the difficulty which presented itself ; but this 

 it as soon obviated, by taking down the ceiling, and raising the 

 wall upon which it reposed. It then, in my presence, con- 

 structed a new ceiling with the fragments of the former one. 



" When the ants commence any undertaking, one would 

 suppose that they worked after some preconceived idea, 

 which, indeed, would seem verified by the execution. Thus, 

 should any ant discover upon the nest two stalks of plants 

 which lie crossways, a disposition favourable to the construc- 

 tion of a lodge, or some little beams that may be useful in 

 forming its angles and sides, it examines the several parts 

 with attention; then distributes, with much sagacity and 

 address, parcels of earth in the spaces, and along the stems, 

 taking from every quarter materials adapted to its object, 

 sometimes not caring to destroy the work that others had 



