62 Ants. 



frame containing, instead of earth, a piece of linen, 

 one portion of which projected beyond the frame 

 and was immersed in water. The linen then 

 sucked up the water by capillary attraction, and 

 thus the air in the frame was kept moist. The ants 

 approved of this arrangement, and took up their 

 quarters in the frame. To minimize evaporation I 

 usually closed the frames all round, leaving only 

 one or two small openings for the ants, but in this 

 case I left the outer side of the frame open. The 

 ants, however, did not like being thus exposed ; 

 they, therefore, brought earth from some little 

 distance, and built up a regular wall along the open 

 side, blocking up the space between the upper and 

 lower plates of glass, and leaving only one or two 

 small openings for themselves. This struck me as 

 very ingenious. The same expedient was, more- 

 over, repeated under similar circumstances by the 

 slaves belonging to my nest of Amazon Ants. 



