284 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



Amazon Ants should always select the pupae which will after- 

 wards be developed into neuters, and never take those from 

 which males or females will issue. 



The Amazon of the Continent is not the only Ant which 

 enslaves the neuters of another species, for in different parts of 

 the world several species of Ants have been observed which 

 seize upon workers belonging to other nests, and bring them 

 to do the work of the home. A Brazilian species (Myrmica 

 paleatd) has been observed to act in a similar manner. 



In the collection of the British Museum may be seen a very 

 remarkable nest ; which is made by some species of wasp at 

 present unknown. 



The material of which it is formed is mud, or clay, which is 

 kneaded by the insect until it has attained a wonderful tenacity 

 and strength, and is rendered so plastic as to be worked almost 

 as neatly as the waxen bee-cell. It is of rather a large size, 

 measuring about thirteen inches in length, by nine in width, and 

 filled with combs. Unfortunately, in its passage to this country, 

 it was broken and much damaged, but the fragments were col- 

 lected and skilfully put together by Mr. F. Smith, who has 

 succeeded in restoring the nest to its original shape, with the 

 exception of an aperture through which the interior of the nest 

 may be seen. 



The accident was in so far an advantage, that it gave oppor- 

 tunities of studying the construction of a nest which is at 

 present unique, and which the officers of the Museum might be 

 chary of cutting open, particularly as its materials are so brittle. 

 The walls of the nest are remarkably hard and solid, but ex- 

 tremely variable in thickness, some parts being nearly three 

 times as strong as others. The upper portions of the nest are 

 the thickest, the reason for which is evident on inspecting the 

 specimen. 



The nest was found in a Guianan forest, near the river 

 Berbice, suspended to a branch, which passed through a hole 

 in the solid wall of the nest. In the actual specimen, the 

 branch is wanting ; but in the illustration it has been restored, 



