72 ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 



by a scaffolding of beams laid crosswise. Round this are 

 numberless single rooms and galleries, which are divided by 

 partition-walls, and arranged in stories. The lowest parts 

 of the nest are built most firmly and methodically. It is 

 highly interesting to see how the ants drag the beams along, 

 and overcome all the obstacles in their way. Two or more 

 workers usually unite in consultation over the arrangement 

 of the work, when a little way has been made. One gene- 

 rally begins in one direction, one in another. Or both work 

 in the same direction ; but a grass-stalk, a plant-stem, or 

 something of that kind gets in the way and renders their 

 endeavors abortive. They soon recognise their mistake, 

 and unite their efforts in a more fruitful direction. 



" Looking at the entangled mass of sticks of almost the 

 same size," says Blanchard, "which the ants have heaped 

 together, it might be thought that they were the work of 

 chance. But a more accurate investigation convinces one 

 that these bits of wood are arranged with wonderful nicety, 

 that rooms, galleries, lodges, tunnels, etc., are all so made as 

 to yield easy communication between the several garts of 

 the nest. The spaces between the beams are filled up with 

 earth, pebbles, dry leaves, etc., the chinks are plastered 

 over, the roughnesses smoothed; pillars and pilasters are 

 reared of damp earth ; in brief, the creatures act in every- 

 thing like clever architects." 



Clever as these little architects may be, they are, however, 

 subject to error, like human architects, and have to suffer 

 from the clumsiness of some of the laborers. Yet, on the 

 other hand, they do not find it difficult to repair blunders 

 which have thereby happened. Wrongly directed walls are 

 pulled down and others built: Avorkers which have done bad 

 work are corrected by the others, or are put right and 

 obliged to work under the supervision of a companion. P. 

 Huber relates : " After I had observed the ingenuity with 

 which these ant-palaces were built, I felt that the only way 

 of finding out the true secrets of their construction, was to 

 watch the behavior of the several ants at work. My day- 

 books are full of similar observations ; I will quote some of 

 those which appear to me to be of sufficient importance. I 

 will picture the conduct of a single ant, which I was able to 

 follow for a long tune. I once saw an ant scraping up the 

 earth near a hole which served as entrance to an ant-nest. 



