29-i Insect Architecture. 



CHAPTER XV. 



STRUCTURES OF THE WOOD- ANT OR PISMIRE, AND OF CAR- 

 PENTER-ANTS. 



HHHE largest of our British ants is that called the Hill-ant 

 J- by Gould, the Fallow-ant by the English translator of 

 Huber, and popularly the Pismire ; but which we think may 

 be more appropriately named the Wood-ant (Formica rufa, 

 LATR.), from its invariable habit of living in or near woods 

 and forests. This insect may be readily distinguished from 

 other ants by the dusky black colour of its head and hinder 

 parts, and the rusty brown of its middle. The structures 

 reared by this species are often of considerable magnitude, 

 and bear no small resemblance to a rook's nest thrown upon 

 the ground bottom upwards. They occur in abundance in the 

 woods near London, and in many other parts of the country : 

 in Oak of Honour Wood alone, we are acquainted with the 

 localities of at least two dozen, some in the interior, and 

 others on the hedge-banks on the outskirts of the wood. 

 (J. E.) 



The exterior of the nest is composed of almost every trans- 

 portable material which the colonists can find in their 

 vicinity ; but the greater portion consists of the stems of 

 withered grass and short twigs of trees, piled up in apparent 

 confusion, but with sufficient regularity to render the whole 

 smooth, conical, and sloping towards the base, for the pur- 

 pose, we may infer, of carrying off rain-water. 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. 

 There are wonders enough observable in the economy of 

 ants, without having recourse to fancy wonders which made 

 Aristotle extol the sagacity of bloodless animals, and Cicero 

 ascribe to them not only sensation, but mind, reason, and 



