MASON-ANTS. 261 



(as we think) abandoned it for the surer method of 

 observation. The details which he has given, as the 

 result of his researches, are exceedingly curious and 

 instructive. He began by observing an ant-hill till 

 he could perceive some change in its form. 



"The inhabitants," says he, "of that which I 

 selected kept within during the day, or only went out 

 by subterranean galleries which opened at some feet 

 distance in the meadow. There were, however, two or 

 three small openings on the surface of the nest ; but 

 I saw none of the labourers pass out this way, on 

 account of their being too much exposed to the sun, 

 which these insects greatly dread. This ant-hill, 

 which had a round form, rose in the grass, at the 

 border of a path, and had sustained no injury. I soon 

 perceived that the freshness of the air and the dew 

 invited the ants to walk over the surface of their 

 nest j they began making new apertures ; several 

 ants might be seen arriving at the same time, thrust- 

 ing their heads from the entrances, moving about 

 their antenna?, and at length adventuring forth to 

 visit the environs, 



" This brought to my recollection a singular opi- 

 nion of the ancients. They believed that ants were 

 occupied in their architectural labours during the 

 night, when the moon was at its full."* 



M. Latreille discovered a species of ants which 

 were, so far as he could ascertain, completely blind,-)- 

 and of course it would be immaterial to them whether 

 they worked by night or during the day. All ob- 

 servers indeed agree that ants labour in the night, 

 and a French naturalist is therefore of opinion that 

 they never sleep, — a circumstance which is well as- 

 certained witli respect to other animals, sucli as the 

 shark, which will track a ship in full sail for weeks 



* M. P. Huber on Ants, p. 23. 

 j Latreille, Hist. Nut. <lcs Fourmil. 



q 3 



