HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 518 



bulk to the length of eight inches or more. In this 

 apartment the king and queen constantly reside; and 

 from the smallness of the entrances, which are barely 

 large enough to admit their more diminutive subjects, 

 can never possibly come out; thus, like many human 

 potentates, purchasing their sovereignty at the dear 

 rate of the sacrifice of liberty. Immediately adjoining 

 the royal chamber, and surrounding it on all sides to 

 the extent of a foot or more, are placed what Mr. 

 Smeathman calls the royal apartments, an inextricable 

 labyrinth of innumerable arched rooms of different 

 shapes and sizes, either opening into each other or com- 

 municating by common passages, and intended for the 

 accommodation of the soldiers and attendants, of whom 

 many thousands are always in waiting on their royal 

 master and mistress. Next to the royal apartments 

 come the nurseries and the magazines. The former are 

 invariably occupied by the eggs and young ones, and in 

 the infant state of the nest are placed close to the royal 

 chamber; but when the queen's augmented size re- 

 quires a larger apartment, as well as additional rooms 

 for the increased number of attendants wanted to remove 

 her eggs, the small nurseries are taken to pieces, rebuilt 

 at a greater distance a size bigger, and their number in- 

 creased at the same time. In substance they differ from 

 all the other apartments, being formed of particles of 

 wood apparently joined together with gums. A col- 

 lection of these compact, irregular, and small wooden 

 chambers, not one of which is half an inch in width, is 

 inclosed in a common chamber of clay sometimes as big 

 VOL. i. 2 L 



