How Animals Work. 



right up on to the nest, and place it in that position 

 which seems to them best ; but others, directly they 

 reach the confines of the nest, will drop their burden 

 and hastily depart back to the woods in search of more. 

 As fast as material is brought to the nest it is distributed, 

 either being placed in position on the outside of the 

 nest, or carried within to be built into the walls of the 

 galleries and chambers that are situated within the 

 dome; for this edifice is by no means an absolutely 

 solid mass of material, but contains many apartments 

 and connecting passages, the former being used as day 

 nurseries for the larvae and pupae, while the galleries 

 lead to the exits, or downwards to the principal chambers 

 excavated beneath the surface of the ground. As the ants 

 drive their shafts downwards into the ground, the soil 

 removed in the operation is not thrown away, but as it 

 is brought to the surface is mixed with the pine needles 

 and pieces of twig, helping to bind them together, and 

 so give greater firmness and stability to the dome- 

 shaped upper portion. 



The chambers beneath the surface of the ground 

 are not all excavated at the same level, but at various 

 depths, so that, could we cut a perfect vertical section 

 which would show the interior of the nest, we should 

 see that the chambers were arranged on floors, rising 

 from the basement, floor upon floor, in just the same 

 manner as in a human habitation. By keeping the ants 

 under constant observation we are able to learn the 

 reason for this arrangement, and to discover how the 

 eggs are all stored in special chambers, and how the 

 larvae are all sorted out according to age and size, so 

 that each nursery only contains larvae of a given age 



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