33* THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



HOMES OF SOCIAL INSECTS.* 



Bv L. N. BADENOCH. 



IN no branch of insect work are more admirable means em- 

 ployed to bring about the desired ends, or is greater diversity 

 of method found, than in that of insect architecture. The beauty 

 of the buildings in many cases is incomparable, and generally 

 speaking the abodes attain a magnitude colossal as compared 

 with that of their creators. It may be exception will be taken 

 to the use of the word architecture to designate this portion of 

 the insect economy, and perhaps the term can hardly be applied 

 in fairness to homes which are mere tunnels and galleries bored 

 in the earth or in wood. But who would deny it to the exquisite 

 pensile nests of the English wasps, or those of many a foreign 

 relative, to the geometric precision exhibited within the hive of 

 the honey bee, or to the edifices of some ants, as will be presently 

 discovered ? 



Among the communities which combine their operations, 

 there are those of which the object is simply the protection of 

 the individuals composing them. To these societies belong the 

 caterpillars of certain species of moths. The homes formed by 

 these larvae, though they are not elaborate, are interesting in sev- 

 eral minute circumstances. But they fall short in every respect 

 of the attractive nests fabricated by companies of insects in their 

 perfect state, in view not only of self-preservation, but of the 

 nurture and education of their young as well. 



The nests of an extraordinary tree ant, (Ecophylla smarag- 

 dina, are cunningly wrought with leaves, united together with 

 web (see Fig. 1). One was observed in New South Wales in the 

 expedition under Captain Cook. The leaves utilized were as 

 broad as one's hand, and were bent and glued to each other at 

 their tips. How the insects manage to bring the leaves into the 

 required position was never ascertained, but thousands were seen 

 uniting their strength to hold them down, while other busy mul- 

 titudes were employed within in applying the gluten that was to 

 prevent them returning back. The observers, to satisfy them- 

 selves that the foliage was indeed incurvated and held in this 

 form by the efforts of the ants, disturbed the builders at their 

 work, and as soon as they were driven away the leaves sprang 

 up, with a force much greater than it would have been deemed 

 possible for such laborers to overcome by any combination of 

 strength. The more compact and elegant dwelling of (E. vires- 



* Reprinted, with the kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co., from the author's 

 popular work, Romance of the Insect World. 



