328 SAGACITY OF ANTS. Chap. XVII. 



of grass, and placed higher than the line of inundation. This 

 must have been the result of experience, for, if they had waited 

 till the water actually invaded their terrestrial habitations, they 

 would not have been able to procure materials for their aerial 

 quarters, unless they dived down to the bottom for every mouthful 

 of clay. Some of these upper chambers are about the size of a 

 bean, and others as large as a man's thumb. They must have 

 built in anticipation, and if so, let us humbly hope that the 

 sufferers by the late inundations in France, may be possessed 

 of as much common sense as the little black ants of the Dilolo 

 plains. 



