HISTORY OF INSECTS. 79 



it is the lower part only of the building that is 

 inhabited. 



253. The inhabited portion is occupied by the 

 royal chamber, or habitation of the king and queen, 

 the nurseries for the young, the storehouses for the 

 food, and innumerable galleries, passages, and 

 empty rooms. 



254. In the centre of the building, just under 

 the apex of the dome, and nearly on a level 

 with the surface of the ground, is the royal chamber, 

 an arched vault of a semi-oval shape, at first not 

 more than an inch in length, but enlarged as the 

 queen increases in bulk, to the length of eight 

 inches or more. 



255. In this apartment the king and queen 

 constantly reside ; and by the smallness of the 

 entrances, which will only admit their much more 

 diminutive subjects, they are prevented from ever 

 emerging. 



256. Immediately adjoining the royal chamber, 

 and completely surrounding it, to the extent of 

 more than a foot, are tlie royal apartments, a 

 number of arched rooms of various shapes and 

 sizes, either opening into each other, or commu- 

 nicating by passages ; these are occupied by a 

 guard of soldiers and the attendant domestics, 

 thousands of whom are ever waiting on the royal 

 pair. 



257. Beyond the royal apartments are the nur- 

 series and magazines ; the nurseries are occupied 



