YELLOW ANT. 129 



they migrated during the day to a large crack, formed by the 

 dryness of the weather, ahout a yard from their old nest." 



This description is accompanied by a sketch of a portion of 

 the dwelling. Five chambers are shown, two large and three 

 small, communicating with the gallery by very short corridors. 



It is a noteworthy fact, that the ant will always avail itself 

 of any accidental circumstances that may assist it in building. 

 For example, one of these industrious little beings has been 

 observed to take advantage of some straws that happened to cross 

 one another, and to convert them into beams, wherewith the ceiling 

 could be supported. It began the work by depositing the little clay 

 pellets in the angles formed by the straws, and then laid several 

 rows of the pellets along the sides of each straw. The ceiling 

 rapidly grew under the jaws and feet of the ant, and on account 

 of the extemporized beams, was necessarily of much greater 

 strength than those which were constructed in the usual manner. 



The common Yellow Ant {Formica fiava), so abundant in 

 marshes and gardens, is also a good burrower, though its habita- 

 tion is not so large or so elaborate as that of the Brown Ant. 

 This species is very fond of making its subterranean houses 

 under stones or similar substances, and I have found hundreds 

 of the nests under flat stone tiles that had once been employed in 

 edging the walks of a large kitchen garden, and had been pressed 

 aside or sunk flat upon the earth. It is a curiously sociable 

 species, for it is often found occupying one side of a little hiUock, 

 while another species of ant, Myrmica scdbrinodis, has possession 

 of the other. This latter species is sometimes extremely abundant, 

 and it is a rather remarkable fact, that some of our rarest British 

 beetles are only to be found in the nests of the ants. 



As is well known, the ants do not retain their wings for any 

 lengthened period, and after these members have served the 

 purpose for which they were intended, they are broken off by the 

 insect by means of a transverse seam near the base. There are, 

 however, many of the permanently winged hymenoptera which 

 possess very great powers of burrowing, and are able to excavate 

 soil so hard that a knife can scarcely make its way through the 

 solidly impacted mass of earth and stones. 



The mining bees, which belong to the genus Andrena, are 

 admirable burrowers, and in spite of their small size, drive their 



K 



