THE DUSKY AXT. 12i5 



upon some intricate plan, the principle of which is not very 

 evident. The Dusky Ant (Formica fusca) generally prefers 

 banks with a southern aspect, in which it forms its elaborate 

 dwelling. Like many other ants, it is somewhat of a builder 

 as well as a miner, and can raise story upon story, as well as 

 add them by excavation. This task is achieved by covering the 

 former roof with a layer of fresh and moist clay, and converting 

 it into a floor for the next story. Dry weather has the effect of 

 retarding the ants in their labours, because they find a difficulty 

 in procuring sufficient moisture wherewith to mix the clay. 



The muscular power and the energy and endurance of the ant 

 are truly wonderful ; and if a human being, even if aided by tools, 

 could perform such a day's work as was achieved by a single ant 

 without them, he would he a wonder of the world. M. Huber had 

 the curiosity and good sense to devote the whole of a rainy day to 

 watching the proceedings of a single Dusky Ant. The insect 

 began by scooping out a groove in the earth, about a quarter of an 

 inch in depth, kneading the earth, which it removed into little 

 pellets, and placing them on eacli side of the groove, so as to form 

 a kind of wall. The interior of the groove was beautifully smooth 

 and regular, and when completed it looked very like a railway 

 cutting, and performed a similar office. After completing this 

 task, it looked about and found that there was another opening 

 in the nest to which a road must be made, and straightway set 

 to work upon a second sunken path of a similar character, 

 parallel to the first, and being separated from it merely by a wall 

 of a third of an inch in height. 



Compare the size of an ant with that of a man, and then see how 

 vast are the powers of so small a creature. Taking all the calcu- 

 lations in round numbers, and very much to the disadvantage of 

 the ant, we find that a single man, who would have achieved 

 a similar work in a single day, must have acted as follows : — 



He must have excavated two parallel trenches, each of seventy- 

 two feet in length and four feet six inches in depth ; he must 

 have made bricks from the clay he dug out, and with them built 

 a wall along each side of the trenches, from two to three feet in 

 height and fourteen or fifteen inches in thickness ; and lastly, 

 he must have gone over the whole of his work again, and 

 smoothed the interior until it was exactly true, straight, and 

 level. All this work must also have been done without the least 



