148 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



dwelling. Five chambers are shown, two large and three small, 

 communicating with the gallery by very short corridors. 



It is a noteworthy fact, that the ant will always avail itself of 

 any accidental circumstances that may assist it in building. For 

 example, one of these industrious little beings has been observed 

 to take advantage of some straws that happened to cross one an- 

 other, and to convert them into beams, wherewith the ceiling 





Myrmeleon. 



Ampulex. 



could be supported. It began the work by depositing the little 

 clay pellets in the angles formed by the straws, and then laid 

 several rows of the pellets along the sides of each straw. The 

 ceiling rapidly grew under the jaws and feet of the ant, and on 

 account of the extemporized beams, was necessarily of much 

 greater strength than those which were constructed in the usual 

 manner. 



