CHAPTER VI 

 MAKERS OF MOUNDS 



ANTS 



Ant-hills The ant's adaptability Rival builders The roof of the nest 



Doorways Life in the open Wood ants compared with other 

 species Closing the doors at night On guard Early morning 

 scene Keeping out the rain How a nest is made How to watch 

 ants at work Formation of halls The living-room Earth nests of 

 the mason ants Methods of the black ants Home of the brown ant 



Columns, walls, and buttresses Streets and crossings Range of 

 nurseries Studying the weather Night work Working in the rain 



Laying out a new story Building walls Vaulted chambers 

 Putting in the ceilings Taking advantage of the rain A successful 

 ruse Black ants Marking out a new story An industrious labourer 



Road making An error of judgment Advantages seized Indepen- 

 dent labour Nature's implements Robbers' caves. 



A^TS, as we know, form huge societies, and most of 

 them build vast dwellings which we call ant-hills 

 tumuli or mounds remarkable not only for their size, 

 but also for the ingenuity with which they are planned and 

 the skill displayed in their construction. 



Before describing one of their habitations it is as well to 

 make a general statement of considerable interest concerning 

 these insects, namely, that they know how to adapt them- 

 selves to a considerable extent to the circumstances of the 

 moment and to the surroundings amidst which they happen 

 to find themselves. Their operations are governed by no 

 hard-and-fast rules ; for instance, the species which makes its 



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