536 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



The body of an ant is divided into the head, 

 breast, and belly. In the head the eyes are 

 placed, which are entirely black, arid under 

 their eyes there are two small horns or feelers, 



attempted to bring them into regular order. This, how- 

 ever, is obviated by their tempering the earth with rain- 

 water, which, afterwards hardened in the sun, so com- 

 pletely and effectually binds together the several substan- 

 ces, as to permit the removal of certain fragments from 

 the ant-hill without any injury to the rest ; it, moreover, 

 strongly opposes the introduction of the rain. I never 

 found, even after long and violent rains, the interior of 

 the nest wetted to more than a quarter of an inch from 

 the surface, provided it had not been previously out of 

 repair, or deserted by its inhabitants. The ants are ex- 

 tremely well sheltered in their chambers, the largest of 

 which is placed nearly in the centre of the building; it is 

 much loftier than the rest, and traversed only by the 

 beams that support the ceiling; it is in this spot that all 

 the galleries terminate, and this forms, for the most 

 part, their usual residence. As to the underground 

 portion, it can only be seen when the ant-hill is placed 

 against a declivity ; all the interior may be then readily 

 brought in view, by simply raising up the straw-roof. 

 The subterranean residence consists of a range of apart- 

 ments, excavated in the earth, taking a horizontal direc- 

 tion." ' ^ ' 



There is this remarkable difference in the nest of the 

 wood-ants, that they do not construct a long covert way 

 as if for concealment, as the yellow and the brown ants 

 do. The wood-ants are not, like them, afraid of being 

 surprised by enemies, at least during the day, when the 

 whole colony is either foraging in the vicinity or em- 

 ployed on the exterior. But the proceedings of the 

 wood-ants at night are well worthy of notice ; and when 

 M. Huber began to study their economy, he directed 

 his entire attention to their night proceedings. " I re- 

 marked," says he, " that their habitations changed in 

 appearance hourly, and that the diameter of those spa- 

 cious avenues, where so many ants could freely pass each 

 other during the day, was, as night approached, gradu- 

 ally lessened. The aperture, at length, totally disap- 

 peared, the dome was closed on all sides, and the ants 

 retired to the bottom of their nest. In further noticing 

 the apertures of these ant-hills, I fully ascertained the 

 nature of the labour of its inhabitants, of which I could 

 not before even guess the purport ; for the surface of the 

 nest presented such a constant scene of agitation, and so 

 many insects were occupied in carrying materials in 

 every direction, that the movement offered no other image 

 than that of confusion. I saw then clearly that they 

 were engaged in stopping up passages ; and for this pur- 

 pose, they at first brought forward little pieces of wood, 

 which they deposited near the entrance of those avenues 

 they wished to close ; they placed them in the stubble ; 

 they then went to seek other twigs and fragments of 

 wood, which they disposed above the first, but in a dif- 

 ferent direction, and appeared to choose pieces of less size 

 in proportion as the work advanced. They, at length, 

 brought in a number of dried leaves, and other materials 

 of an enlarged form, with which they covered the roof ; an 

 exact miniature of the art of our builders, when they form 

 the covering of any building ? Nature, indeed, seems 

 everywhere to have anticipated the inventions of which 

 we boast, and this is doubtless one of the most simple. 

 Our little insects, now in safety in their nest, retire 

 gradually to the interior before the last passages are 

 closed, one or two only remain without, or concealed be- 

 hind the doors on guard, whilst the rest either take their 

 repose, or engage in different occupations in the most 

 perfect security. I was impatient to know what took 

 place in the morning upon these ant-hills, and therefore 

 visited them at an early hour. I found them in the 



composed of twelve joints, all covered with a 

 fine silky hair. The mouth is furnished with 

 two crooked jaws, which project outwards, in 

 each of which are seen incisors, that look like 



same state in which I had left them the preceding even- 

 ;. A few ants were wandering about on the surface 

 of the nest, some others issued from time to time from 

 under the margin of their little roofs formed at the en- 

 trance of the galleries ; others afterwards came forth, 

 who began removing the wooden bars that blockaded the 

 entrance, in which they readily succeeded. This labour 

 occupied them several hours. The passages were at 

 length free, and the materials with which they had been 

 closed, scattered here and there over the ant-hill. Every 

 day, morning and evening, during the fine weather, I 

 was a witness to similar proceedings. On days of rain 

 the doors of all the ant-hills remained closed. When 

 the sky was cloudy in the morning, or rain was indicated, 

 the ants, who seemed to be aware of it, opened but in 

 part their several avenues, and immediately closed them 

 when the rain commenced." 



The galleries and chambers which are roofed in as thus 

 described, are very similar to those of the mason-ants, 

 being partly excavated in the earth, and partly built with 

 the clay thence procured. It is in these they pass the 

 night, and also the colder months of the winter, when 

 they become torpid or nearly so, and of course require 

 not the winter granaries of corn with which the ancients 

 fabulously furnish them. 



The Carpenter- Ants, or ants that' work in wood, per- 

 form much more extensive operations than any of the 

 other carpenter insects. Their only tools, like those of 

 bees and wasps, are their jaws or mandibles ; but though 

 these may not appear so curiously constructed as the 

 ovipositor file of the tree-hopper, or the rasp and saw of 

 the saw-flies, they are no less efficient in the perfor- 

 mance of what is required. Among the carpenter-ants 

 the emmet or jet-ant holds the first rank, and is easily 

 known by being rather less in size than the wood-ant, 

 and by its fine shining black colour. It is less common 

 in Britain than the others, though its colonies may oc- 

 casionally be met with in the trunks of decaying oak or 

 willow trees in hedges. 



Among the foreign ai.ts, we may mention a small 

 yellow ant of South America, described by Dampier, 

 which seems, from his account, to construct a nest 01 

 green leaves. " Their sting," he says, " is like a spaik 

 of fire ; and they are so thick among the boughs in some 

 places, that one shall be covered with them before he is 

 aware. These creatures have nests on great trees, 

 placed on the body between the limbs ; some of their 

 nests are as big as a hogshead. This is their winter 

 habitation ; for in the wet season they all repair to these 

 their cities, where they preserve their eggs. In the dry 

 season, when they leave their nests, they swarm all over 

 the woodlands, for they never trouble the savannahs. 

 Great paths, three or four inches broad, made by them, 

 may be seen in the woods. They go out light, but bring 

 home heavy loads on their backs, all of the same sub- 

 stance, and equal in size. I never observed any thing 

 besides pieces of grean leaves, so big that I could scarcely 

 see the insect for his burden ; yet they would march 

 stoutly, and so many were pressing forward that it was a 

 very pretty sight, for the path looked perfectly green 

 with them. 



Ants observed in New South Wales, by the gentlemen 

 in the expedition under Captain Cook, are still more in- 

 teresting. " Some," we are told, " are as green as a 

 leaf, and live upon trees, where they build their nests of 

 various sizes, between that of a man's head and his fist. 

 These nests are of a very curious structure : they are 

 formed by bending down several of the leaves, each of 

 which is as broad as man's hand, and glueing the points 



