322 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS, 



resembles. When the building has assumed this its final form, the inner 

 turrets, all but the tops, which project like pinnacle from different parts 

 of it, are removed, and the clay employed over again in other services. 



It is the lower part alone of the building that is occupied by the inhab- 

 itants. The upper portion or dome, which is very strong and solid, is left 

 empty, serving principally as a defence from the vicissitudes of the 

 weather, and the attacks of natural or accidental enemies, and to keep up 

 in the lower part a genial warmth and moisture necessary to the hatching 

 of the eggs and cherishing of the young ones. The inhabited portion is 

 occupied by the royal chamber, or habitation of the king and queen, the 

 nurseries for the young, the store-houses for food, and innumerable gal- 

 leries, passages, and empty rooms, arranged according to the following 

 plan. 



In the centre of the building, just under the apex, and nearly on a 

 level with the surface of the ground, is placed the royal chamber, an 

 arched vault of a semi-oval shape, or not unlike a long oven ; at first not 

 above an inch long, but enlarged as the queen increases in bulk to the 

 length of eight inches or more. In this apartment the king and queen 

 constantly reside ; and from the smallness of the entrances, which are barely 

 large enough to admit their more diminutive subjects, can never possibly 

 come out ; thus, like many human potentates, purchasing their sovereignty 

 at the dear rate of the sacrifice of liberty. Immediately adjoining the 

 royal chamber, and surrounding it on all sides to the extent of a foot 

 or more, are placed what Mr. Smeathman calls the royal apartments, 

 an inextricable labyrinth of innumerable arched rooms of different shapes 

 and sizes, either opening into each other or communicating by common 

 passages, and intended for the accommodation of the soldiers and attend- 

 ants, of whom many thousands are always in waiting on their royal master 

 and mistress. Next to the royal apartments come the mcrscries and the 

 magazines. The former are invariably occupied by the eggs and young 

 ones, and in the infant state of the nest are placed close to the royal 

 chamber ; but when the queen's augmented size requires a larger apart- 

 ment, as well as additional rooms for the increased number of attendants 

 wanted to remove her eggs, the small nurseries are taken to pieces, rebuilt 

 at a greater distance, a size bigger, and their number increased at the 

 same time. In substance they differ from all the other apartments, being 

 formed of particles of wood apparently joined together with gums. A 

 collection of these compact, irregular, and small wooden chambers, not one 

 of which is half an inch in width, is inclosed in a common chamber of 

 clay sometimes as big as a child's head. Intermixed with the nurseries 

 lie the magazines, which are chambers of clay always well stored with 

 provisions, consisting of particles of wood, gums, and the inspissated juices 

 of plants. 



These magazines and nurseries, separated by small empty chambers 

 and galleries, which run round them or communicate from one to the other, 

 are continued on all sides to the outer wall of the building, and reach up 

 within it two thirds or three fourths of its height. They do not, however, 

 till up the whole of the lower part of the hill, but are confined to the 

 sides, leaving an open area in the middle, under the dome, very much 

 resembling the nave of an old cathedral, having its roof supported by 



