38 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
wider than the bore of a large cannon, on all sides from 
their habitation to their various objects of attack; or 
which sloping down (for they cannot well mount a sur- 
face quite perpendicular) penetrate to the depth of three 
or four feet under their nests into the earth, till they ar- 
rive at a soil proper to be used in the erection of their 
buildings. Were they, indeed, to expose themselves, the 
race would soon be annihilated by their innumerable 
enemies. ‘This circumstance has deceived the author of 
the MS. account of those in Ceylon, who, speaking of 
the nests of these insects in that island, which he de- 
scribes as twelve feet high, observes, that ‘they may 
be considered as a large city, which contains a great 
number of houses, and these houses an infinite number 
of cells or apartments : 
these cells appear to me to 
communicate with each other, but not the houses. I 
have convinced myself; by bringing together the broken 
walls of one of the cavities of the nest or cone, that it 
does not communicate with any other, nor with the ex- 
terior of the cone—a, very curious circumstance, which I 
will not undertake to explain. Other cavities communi- 
cate by a very narrow tunnel.” By not looking for 
subterranean communications, he was probably led into 
this error. 
You have before heard of their diligence in building. 
Does any accident happen to their various structures, or 
are they dislodged from any of their covered ways, they 
are still more active and expeditious in repairing. Get- 
ting out of sight as soon as possible,—and they run as 
fast or faster than any insect of their size,—in a single 
night they will restore a gallery of three or four yards in 
length, If attacking the nest, you divide it in halves, 
