780 Wlarvels of the Universe 
attached to the grubs of the ants, but it also fastens itself to the sides of the ant’s hind body, 
where it causes a scar. Another yellow species, with long legs, is of exactly the same colour as its 
host, and it much resembles the hind body of an ant as it runs about the nest. 
It will thus be seen that Mites are not uncommon in ants’ nests, and that they play many 
different rdles. 
FOUR-FOOTED NES» BUILDERS 
BY R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S. 
WE are so accustomed to associate the habit of building nests for the rearing of the young (and in 
their case for the incubation of the eggs) with birds, that we are very apt to overlook the fact that 
the practice is likewise common to a large 
number of the smaller mammals. Indeed, the 
greater proportion of those species which live 
in holes or burrows and produce their young 
in a helpless condition, such as foxes, marmots, 
rabbits, moles, and rats and mice, construct 
nests at the bottom of these chambers, where 
their offspring are safe from harm. The same 
is the case with the duck-billed platypus of 
Australia, whose two eggs are laid in a chamber 
at the termination of the long burrow in the 
river’s bank. In one respect these subterranean 
nurseries differ materially from the nests of 
birds, since they are in most cases used as 
permanent places of residence for the parents, 
while in not a few instances, as among marmots 
and hamsters, they are employed as granaries 
for storing grain and other food. 
From these subterranean nests there is a 
transition to nests of dry grass and leaves con- 
structed in ‘‘runs’’ or amid tussocks of coarse 
grass, such as those made by field-mice, hedge- 
hogs, and shrew-mice ; these being for the most 
part, at any rate, employed only as nurseries, 
the winter quarters of the parents being con- 
eS ANSI LAND EES: CRN structed in situations affording better protection 
The upper photograph shows one of the “ Antennae-bearer”’ ° “9 , 2 : 
Mites. much enlarged; beneath, it occupies a very favourite against the winter cold. From these, again, 
position on the head of the ant. we may pass to breeding-nests, like those of the 
harvest-mouse, constructed amid the growing stems in a corn-field, and then on to nests built in 
bushes or trees, like those of dormice and squirrels. It is to nests built in situations raised above 
the ground that attention is restricted in the present article, subterranean nests forming much too 
large a subject. 
Before proceeding further, it will, however, be well to mention that one group of mammals, 
namely, the kangaroos and many of their relatives, which produce their young in an almost 
embryonic condition, have solved the nursing problem by developing pouches in the bodies of the 
female parents, in which the young are nurtured and carried until able to shift for themselves. A 
similar expedient is resorted to by the Australasian spiny ant-eaters, or echidnas, in which the 
female develops a temporary pouch for the reception of her eggs and the subsequent helpless young. 
