74 ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 



of a room, or some little rafters which suggest the- 

 walls and the corners, it first observes the various part* 

 accurately, and then quickly and neatly heaps little pellets of 

 earth in the interspaces and alongside the stalks. It brings- 

 from every side materials that seern appropriate, and some- 

 times takes such from the uncompleted works of its com- 

 panions, so much is it urged on by the idea which it has 

 once conceived, and by the desire to execute it. It 

 goes and comes and turns back again, until its plan is 

 recognisable by the others." Ebrard (" Etudes de Moeurs," 

 Geneve, 1874, p. 3) relates: 



" The earth was damp and the workers were in full swing. 

 It was a constant coming and going of ants, coming forth 

 from their underground dwelling, and carrying back little 

 pellets of earth for building. In order to concentrate my 

 attention I fixed my gaze on the largest of the rooms which 

 were being built, wherein several ants were busy. The work 

 had made considerable progress ; but although a projection 

 could be plainly seen along the upper edge of the wall, there 

 remained an interspace of about twelve or fifteen millimetres- 

 to fill in. Here would have been the place, in order to 

 support the earth still to be brought in, to have had recourse 

 to those pillars, buttresses or fragments of dried leaves,, 

 which many ants are wont to use in building. But the use 

 of this expedient is not customary with the ants I was 

 observing (F.fusca, dark grey ants). Our ants, however, 

 were sufficient for the occasion. For a moment they seemed 1 

 inclined to leave their work, but soon turned instead to a, 

 grass-plant growing near, the long narrow leaves of which 

 ran close together. They chose the nearest, and weighted' 

 its distal end with damp earth, until its apex just bent down 

 to the space to be covered. Unfortunately the bend was 

 too close to the extremity and it threatened to break. To. 

 prevent this misfortune, the ants gnawed at the base of the 

 leaf until it bent along its whole length and covered the 

 space required. But as this did not seem to be quite 

 enough, they heaped damp earth between the base of the 

 plant and that of the leaf, until the latter was sufficiently 

 bent. After they had thus attained their object, they 

 heaped on the buttressing leaf the materials required for 

 building the arched roof." 



One of the most industrious species is the black or black- 



