316 FORMIC MASONRY. 



and large chambers, with vaulted ceilings, resting upon a solid 

 base," while, in others, the work of one of the cleverest and 

 eke the smallest of the mason tribes,* our admiration is excited 

 by "storied buildings, with partitions but half a line in thick- 

 ness, the substance of which they are composed being so finely 

 ground that the inner walls present one smooth unbroken 

 surface. The arched ceilings which cover the most spacious 

 apartments are, in these marvellous interiors, supported either 

 by little columns, slender walls, or by regular buttresses." 



From the observations of Huber, who thus describes them, 

 it would appear that these accomplished builders, being pro- 

 vided with no other cement, are indebted to the rains and 

 dews of heaven for sufficient moisture to ensure the coherence 

 of their building particles ; and they owe to the rain a further 

 obligation for consolidating, when finished, their delicate 

 walls, which one might suppose, ignorantly, that a summer 

 shower, with its "Niagaras aux four mis " would be much 

 more likely to wash down and annihilate. 



We can devote now but little more attention to insect ma- 

 sonry, or to the specimens of that art here assembled ; but in 

 addition to solitary wasps, and solitary bees, and social ants, 

 which exercise their skill in this vocation, there are other 

 labourers in the same, whose works we must not wholly over- 

 look, though they are more simple, and performed under a 

 more selfish impetus, for the purpose, namely, of self-preser : 



* Formica brunnea. 



