370 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



soldiers are seen to come slowly out, moving their great heads 

 from side to side, and opening their powerful jaws with silent 

 menace. If they are not further disturbed, they will retire into 

 the gallery, and the hreach is soon mended by the workers. 



These galleries cannot be called tunnels, because they are built 

 upon the surface of the earth, and do not penetrate below it, and 

 ought perhaps to be called " covered ways," rather than galleries. 



I HAVE intentionally reserved the last place among the builders 

 for an insect which is certainly the most wonderful of them all ; 

 not only raising an edifice, but clearing a space around, and pre- 

 paring it for a garden. This insect is called by Dr. lincecum, 

 the discoverer of its habits, the Ageicultueal Ant, and its scien- 

 tific name is Attn malefaciens. As the reader will perceive, it 

 is allied to the parasol ant, which has been already described. 



This remarkable insect is a native of Texas, and until a few 

 years ago, its singular habits were unknown. Dr. Lincecum, 

 however, wrote a long and detailed account to Mr. Darwin, who 

 made an abstract of it, and read the paper before the Linnean 

 Society, April 18th, 1861. This abstract may be found in the 

 Journal of that Society, and is as follows : — 



"The species which I have named 'Agricultural' is a large, 

 brownish ant. It dwells in what may be termed paved cities, and 

 like a thrifty, diligent, provident farmer, makes suitable and 

 timely arrangements for the changing seasons. It is, in short, 

 endowed with skill, ingenuity, and untiring patience, sufficient 

 to enable it successfully to contend with the varying exigencies 

 which it may have to encounter in the life-conflict. 



"When it has selected a situation for its habitation, if on 

 ordinary dry ground, it bores a hole, around which it raises the 

 surface three and sometimes six inches, forming a low circular 

 mound, having a very gentle inclination from the centre to the 

 outer border, which on an average is three or four feet from the 

 entrance. But if the location is chosen on low, flat, wet land, 

 liable to inundation, though the ground may be perfectly dry at 

 the time the ant sets to work, it nevertheless elevates the mound, 

 in the form of a pretty sharp cone, to the height of fifteen to 

 twenty inches or more, and makes the entrance near the summit. 

 Around the mound, in either case, the ant clears the ground of all 

 obstructions, and levels and smooths the surface to the distance 



