NATURAL HISTORY. 121 



" They never do get out, boys ; they live in 

 that house always, and they are not the first 

 kings and queens who have found that a 

 palace is sometimes a prison. Just around 

 this house of the king and queen are other 

 houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of 

 different shapes. These are for the servants 

 or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of the 

 queen as fast as she discharges them. The 

 soldiers also live in these houses. Next to 

 these are the magazines, that is, the houses 

 where they keep their food, such as dry juices 

 of trees and gums ; and mixed up with these are 

 the nurseries. These are made by the labour- 

 ers, and are different from all the other build- 

 ings, for they are made of wood gnawed or 

 broken into fine threads, .and joined together 

 with some kind of gum, and around each of 

 them there is a case of clay. These nurse- 

 ries are to carry the eggs into for the young 

 ants to be hatched. Between all these dif- 

 ferent houses or parts there are thousands of 

 galleries or ways, which run among them and 

 separate them from each other, and these 

 may be called the streets of the city. These 

 streets run in all directions, and extend as far 

 as the outside wall ; and houses are built on 



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