168 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



irregular, often having a zigzag direction, and being of no very- 

 great length. Those at a greater depth, however, are much more 

 regular in their structure, and when they are driven at some three 

 or four feet from the surface, they are large in diameter, cylin- 

 drical, and extend to a considerable distance. In the nest of the 

 British species, Formica fusca, there is a somewhat similar struc- 

 ture ; and although the ant is so small, these tunnels are some- 

 times an inch in diameter, and five feet or even more in length. 

 In these deep-set galleries, the tropical ants retire during the rainy 

 season, and in our own country the insects may be found in them 

 throughout the cold months of winter. 



Near the surface of the ground, the reader may observe several 

 enlargements of the galleries, forming spacious chambers. In 

 these chambers the ants are accustomed to lay the white pupae as 

 well as the eggs, in order that they may be warmed by the sun, 

 without enduring the full fury of his beams. At night, if rain 

 should come on, the vigilant workers take up their helpless 

 charges, and convey them to hiding-places far beneath the sur- 

 face. If, during the months of April or May, the nest of the 

 Dusky Ant be opened, a very curious state of things will be dis- 

 closed. Within the chamber may be seen a vast mass of pupae 

 and their attendant ants; and, what is still more remarkable, 

 specimens of certain beetles may also be found in company with 

 the ants. 



There are several species of British beetles which are never 

 seen in any other localities, and, until their singular mode of life 

 was discovered, were ranked among the rarest of our insects. No 

 less than thirty-seven species of ant's-nest-beetles have already 

 been acknowledged, besides the larvas of three other species. 

 One very rare species of the Staphylinidaj, or Cocktail -beetle 

 (Atemeles emarginatus), has now become quite common, so fre- 

 quently is it found in the nest of the ant which is now under 

 consideration. The locality of this beetle was discovered by a 

 collector, who saw an ant carrying one of the beetles into its nest. 

 As to the beetles themselves, they seem to be quite as much at 

 home as the ants, and when the nest is laid open, their first at- 

 tempt is to escape into the farthest galleries, or to hide themselves 

 in the nearest crevice. The ants, however, watch them carefully, 

 run after them, seize them in their jaws, and carry them back 

 again into the nests. 



