CARPENTER ANTS. 83 



quite as easily as they can a horizontal one, they need 

 no flights of stairs, nor do they greatly care to make 

 their floors flat and even ; and as it is always dark in 

 the formicary, it is not necessary for appearance' sake 

 to decorate the walls, or to finish their rooms with all 

 the surfaces at exact right angles to each other, or plan 

 their houses with the regularity of different parts that 

 we find desirable in those we build. The doors open- 

 ing from one room to another or upon the long gal- 

 leries are either arched, or form more or less complete 

 circles, ovals, or ellipses ; and the same may be said of 

 the windows that serve for ventilation in the parti- 

 tions. Still, there is no real lack of symmetry in the 

 construction of the habitation, when we take into 

 consideration the purpose its architects had in view, 

 and the admirable way in which it is adapted to the 

 use of its tenants. The surfaces of the walls and 

 floors are finished with the greatest care and kept 

 scrupulously clean, and the galleries and doors are 

 arranged to give the readiest and easiest possible ac- 

 cess to all parts of the formicary. 



A carpenter ant can not, like a human workman, 

 lay aside his tools when he has done with them, for 

 they are part of himself. Unlike those contrived by 

 man, they are never dull or rusty, and no amount of 

 invention can contrive any better fitted for the work 

 they do. These mandibles, as they are called, at- 

 tached by strong muscles to the face, are shaped 

 something like the blades of a pair of shears, such 

 as are used by sheep-shearers, but the inner edges 

 are armed with sharp teeth. Never were more serv- 



