Of A N T S. 
*7 
It may be added that Ants are extremely care¬ 
ful to keep their Apartments dean. They remove 
all Rubbifh, or what elfe might prove incommo¬ 
dious or ofienfive. As foon as one of their Fraternity 
dies, it is carried out of the Settlement and thrown 
upon the Ground without Ceremony or Rites of a 
Funeral. * Pliny informs us that the Ants of his 
Country are wont to bury their Dead* which is 
a Curioilty not imitated by ours in England . 
i 
There remains a remarkable Exception to be 
mentioned with regard to the Ants retiring down¬ 
wards. If the Autumnal and Winter Months? 
are more than ordinary wet, they are obliged to 
keep above or near the Center of their Colonies. 
Immoderate Rains are apt to fill Part of the fub- 
terraneous Channels, and foak into the lower 
Cells, which, like fo many little Cifterns, retain 
the Moifture, and prevent the Ants from inhabi¬ 
ting them. We may hence difcern the happy For¬ 
mation of Mole-hills for the Advantage of thefe 
Infeds, Their rifing above the level protects 
* Sepeliuntur inter fervent him folee prater Hominsm . 
Pliny Nat, Hill. L. n. cap. zg 0 
c 
them 
