408 



HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



different corrridors by openings made in the masonry; in 

 another we see a true saloon, whose vaults are supported by 

 numerous pillars ; and further on are the cross ways or squares 

 where several streets meet, and whose roofs, though often 

 more than two inches across, the ants are under no difficulty 

 in constructing, beginning the sides of the arch in the angle 

 formed by two walls, and extending them by successive layers 

 of clay till they meet ; while crowds of masons arrive from 

 all parts with their particle of mortar, and work with a regu- 

 larity, harmony, and activity, which can never enough be 

 admired. So assiduous are they in their operations, that they 

 will complete a story with all its saloons, vaulted roofs, parti- 

 tions, and galleries, in seven or eight hours. If they begin a 

 story, and for want of moisture are unable to finish it, they 

 pull down again all the crumbling apartments that are not 

 covered in.i 



Another species of ants (F.fusca) are also masons. When 

 they wish to heighten their habitations, they begin by cover- 

 ing the top with a thick layer of clay, which they transport 

 from the interior. In this layer they trace out the plan of 

 the new story, first hollowing out little cavities of almost 

 equal depth at different distances from each other, and of a 

 size adapted to their purposes. The elevations of earth left 

 between them serve for bases to the interior walls, which, 

 when they have removed all the loose earth from the floors 

 of the apartments, and reduced the foundations to a due 

 thickness, they heighten, and lastly cover all in. M. Huber 

 saw a single working ant make and cover in a gallery which 

 was two or three inches long, and of which the interior was 

 rendered perfectly concave, without assistance.^ 



The societies of F. fuliginosa make their habitations in the 

 trunks of old oaks or willow trees, gnawing the wood into 

 numberless stories more or less horizontal, the ceilings and 

 floors of which are about five or six lines asunder, black, and 

 as thin as card, sometimes supported by vertical partitions, 

 forming an infinity of apartments which communicate by 

 small apertures; at others by small light cylindrical pillars 



1 Huber, Rechcrckes, &c. 30 — 40. 



2 Ibid. 45. 



