Architecture in the Animal Kingdom. 121 



not only nests but also permanent dwellings both for 

 the parents and the young, they bear a closer resemb- 

 lance to the nests of ants than to those of birds. 

 Instances are plentiful; for the burrows of badgers, 

 foxes and wild rabbits are well known. In some cases 

 the same buildings serve also for storing provisions, 

 as is the case with German marmots and moles. These 

 buildings, therefore, by their greater universality of 

 purpose, are more similar to ant-nests than to bird- 

 nests. Another point of similarity with the former 

 is in this, that they show, with some species at least, 

 a greater individual variability and less specific uni- 

 formity than the latter. Nevertheless, in all these 

 respects ant-nests by far excel the buildings of mam- 

 mals. The very highest vertebrates, the anthropoid 

 apes, scarcely manifest a trace of building instinct or 

 of its intelligent application, unless you wish to 

 mention the sleeping-places somewhat resembling 

 regular nests, which Orang-Utans 1 are wont to build 

 on trees. Although the brain of apes most resembles 

 that of man, yet the most "intelligent" architects 

 among mammals are found, not among the apes but 

 among the rodents, which in development of brain 

 are far inferior. Beavers are the only higher animals 

 whose architecture can bear comparison with that of 

 ants. 



The buildings of beaver-families consist of an 

 underground chamber and burrow resembling those 

 of other mammals, and of a so-called "lodge." The 

 manner in which the latter is built was ably described 



*) See Buettikofer, "Zoologische Skizzen aus der Niederlaendischen 

 Expedition nach Central-Borneo" (Compte rendu du 3me Congres 

 international de Zool.), P- 224. 



