130 CONVERSATIONS ON 



" If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of 

 them at another time; but now we would rather 

 have you tell us of the other kinds of ants." 



" Oh, very well, boys ; it shall be as you 

 wish. All that I desire is to instruct and 

 amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can 

 furnish a good lesson to us. I shall begin 

 with the mason ants. They always build 

 their nests either of clay which is damp, and 

 dug from the inside of their city under ground, 

 or which has been made wet by the rain ; and 

 a part of their building is always above the 

 ground, so that you can easily see it. There is 

 no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their 

 cities are not all alike in the inside. Some- 

 times the walls are larger and coarser, and the 

 ways and galleries are higher, than at other 

 times. The rooms, too, are different in shape 

 and size, so that this industrious little insect 

 seems to have sense enough to work in the 

 best way according to circumstances. There 

 is only one general rule which they seem to 

 have, and that is always to build in a number 

 of different stories, one above the other. If 

 you examine one of these stories you may 

 see a number of large places or halls, some 

 smaller rooms, and some long galleries which 



