Wood-Ants. 299 



be seen the mound which the wood-ants have raised, accord- 

 ing to their custom, and below, through the glass front, the 

 reader may see the various passages and cells which commu- 

 nicate with the hill above. As the ants require that the 

 lower part of their dwelling should be in darkness, a 

 stout wooden door can be shut over the glass to exclude the 

 light.] 



There is this remarkable difference in the nest of the 

 wood-ants, that they do not construct a long covert way as if 

 for concealment, as the yellow and the brown ants do. The 

 wood-ants are not, like them, afraid of being surprised by 

 enemies, at least during the day, when the whole colony is 

 either foraging in the vicinity or employed on the exterior. 

 But the proceedings of the wood-ants at night are well 

 worthy of notice ; and when M. Huber began to study their 

 economy, he directed his entire attention to their night 

 proceedings. " I remarked," says he,*" that their habitations 

 changed in appearance hourly, and that the diameter of those 

 spacious avenues, where so many ants could freely pass each 

 other during the day, was, as night approached, gradually 

 lessened. The aperture, at length, totally disappeared, the 

 dome was closed on all sides, and the ants retired to the 

 bottom of their nest. 



"In further noticing the apertures of these ant-hills, I 

 fully ascertained the nature of the labour of its inhabitants, 

 of which I could not before even guess the purport ; for the 

 surface of the nest presented such a constant scene of agita- 

 tion, and so many insects were occupied in carrying materials 

 in every direction, that the movement offered no other image 

 than that of confusion. 



" I saw then clearly that they were engaged in stopping 

 up passages; and for this purpose they at first brought 

 forward little pieces of wood, which they deposited near the 

 entrance of those avenues they wished to close ; they placed 

 them in the stubble ; they then went to seek other twigs and 

 fragments of wood, which they disposed above the first, but 

 in a different direction, and appeared to choose pieces of less 

 size in proportion as the work advanced. They, at length, 



