RIVAL BUILDERS 



nest under a stone when living on barren ground may under 

 other conditions raise a dome of twigs. " The characteristic 

 feature of the art and architecture of ants, 1 * says Forel, " is 

 the complete absence of any unalterable plan. They under- 

 stand to perfection how to modify their constructions accord- 

 ing to circumstances and to seize upon every advantage. 

 Moreover, every worker proceeds with its task independently, 

 following out a plan of its own ; and sometimes it receives 

 no assistance from its companions until they have understood 

 and adopted its scheme. Naturally, they are often at cross 

 purposes, one destroying what another has made. In this 

 we have the key to the construction of their labyrinths. As 

 a rule, the worker which hits upon the best method and 

 shows the most determination succeeds, not without struggle 

 and competition, in getting its idea adopted by the majority 

 of its companions and finally by the whole colony. But 

 scarcely has it got its own way, than another individual 

 comes forward and in its turn forms a party, and the first is 

 soon lost in the crowd." 



NESTS BUILT PARTLY OF EARTH 



The nests of most species of ant are excavated in the 

 ground, and are surmounted by mounds composed of earth 

 mixed with various other materials and pierced with galleries 

 continuous with those in the subterranean portion of the 

 nest. 



Amongst the largest of the ant-hills found in woods are 

 those made by the red Wood Ants (Formica rufa\ of which 

 Huber has given the following interesting account : 



" The little mound which seems, at the first glance, to be 

 nothing more than a mass of materials heaped up in confu- 

 sion, is in reality an invention adapted in a manner as in- 



105 



