THE DUSKY ANT. 
77 
upon some intricate plan, the principle of which is not very 
evident. The Dusky Ant (. Formica fused) generally prefers 
banks with a southern aspect, in which it forms its elaborate 
dwelling. Like many other ants, it is somewhat of a builder 
as well as a miner, and can raise story upon story, as well as 
add them by excavation. This task is achieved by covering the 
former roof with a layer of fresh and moist clay, and converting 
it into a floor for the next story. Dry weather has the effect of 
retarding the ants in their labours, because they find a difficulty 
in procuring sufficient moisture wherewith to mix the clay. 
The muscular power and the energy and endurance of the ant 
are truly wonderful ; and if a human being, even if aided by tools, 
could perform such a day’s work as was achieved by a single ant 
without them, he would be a wonder of the world. M. Huber 
had the curiosity and good sense to devote the whole of a rainy 
day to watching the proceedings of a single Dusky Ant. The 
iir,ect began by scooping out a groove in the earth, about a 
quarter of an inch in depth, kneading the earth, which it removed 
into little pellets, and placing them on each side of the groove, 
so as to form a kind of wall. The interior of the groove was 
beautifully smooth and regular, and when completed it looked 
very like a railway cutting, and performed a similar office. After 
completing this task, it looked about and found that there was 
another opening in the nest to which a road must be made, and 
straightway set to work upon a second sunken path of a similar 
character, parallel to the first, and being separated from it 
merely by a wall of a third of an inch in height. 
Compare the size of an ant with that of a man, and then 
see how vast are the powers of so small a creature. Taking all 
the calculations in round numbers, and very much to the dis- 
advantage of the ant, we find that a single man, who would 
have achieved a similar w 7 ork in a single day, must have acted 
as follows : — 
He must have excavated two parallel trenches, each of seventy- 
two feet in length and four feet six inches in depth ; he must 
have made bricks from the clay he dug out, and with them built 
a wall along each side of the trenches, from two to three feet in 
