608 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



the enclosed queen. I have .seen them as large as cocoa-nuts, 

 and of an extraordinary weight, the greater portion of the mass 

 heing solid clay. 



FUNGUS A.NT. 



The accompanying illustration represents a most singular 

 structure, which is in the collection of the British Museum, and 

 may be seen in the nest room. 



It is hardly possible to imagine any object which less re- 

 sembles an insect's nest. It might very well be taken for a sponge, 

 did sponge grow in the forests of Cayenne. It much resembles 

 a fungus, and might be mistaken for an overgrown and partially 

 decayed puff-ball. If inspected closely it seems to be made of 

 the same fungus that furnishes the German tinder, and is indeed, 

 like that substance, very useful as a means of stopping the flow 

 of blood. 



The real material, however, of which the nest is made, is 

 formed of the short cottony fibres which fill the seed pods of the 

 cotton tree {Bonibax ceiba). The fibre is so short that it is in- 

 capable of being woven into fabrics, though it might possibly be 

 made useful in the manufacture of paper, its texture being 

 peculiarly soft and silky The only uses to which it is at 

 present applied are stuffing mattrasses and pillows, and packing 



