ANTS. 149 



fastened to trees and leaves ; but as in ninety-nine cases out of 

 a hundred its home is subterranean, it wiU here be considered 

 as one of the burrowers. 



The section of the nest which is presented to the reader will 

 give a very good idea of its general structure. There are gene- 

 rally some five or six entrances to the nest, but they are so 

 ingeniously hidden under stones, clods of earth, and any object 

 which can shelter them, that they would not be detected by a 

 casual passenger. The few upper passages or galleries are 

 extremely iiTCgular, often having a zigzag direction, and being 

 of no very great length. Those at a greater depth, however, are 

 much more regular in their structure, and when they are driven 

 at some three or four feet from the surface, they are large in 

 diameter, cylindrical, and extend to a considerable distance. In 

 the nest of the British species, Formica fusca, there is a some- 

 what similar structure ; and although the ant is so small, these 

 tunnels are sometimes an inch in diameter, and five feet or 

 even more in length. Into these deep-set galleries, the tropical 

 ants retire during the rainy season, and in our own country the 

 insects may be found in them throughout the cold months of 

 winter. 



Near the surface of the ground, the reader may observe several 

 enlargements of the galleries, forming spacious chambers. In 

 these chambers the ants are accustomed to lay the white pupce 

 as well as the eggs, in order that they may be warmed by the 

 sun, without enduring the full fury of liis beams. At night, if 

 rain should come on, the vigilant workers take up their helpless 

 charges, and convey them to hiding-places far beneath the 

 surface. If, during the months of April or May, the nest of the 

 Dusky Ant be opened, a very curious state of things will be dis- 

 closed. Within the chamber may be seen a vast mass of pupae 

 and their attendant ants ; and, what is still more remarkable, 

 specimens of certain beetles may also be found in company with 

 the ants. 



There are several species of British beetles which are never 

 seen in any other localities, and, until their singular mode of life 

 was discovered, were ranked among the rarest of our insects. 

 No less than thirty-seven species of ant's-nest-beetles have 

 already been acknowledged, besides the larvse of three other 

 species. One very rare species of the Staphylinid£E, or Cocktail- 



