A journey to Ashango-Land, and further penetration into equatorial Africa . ellow colour comes fromthe soil which the ants use in building, and whichthey get from below the black loam. The height of the structure I examined was fourfeet and a half, and the diameter at the broadestpart two feet and a half; after breaking one sinuo-sity I found the cells to be about one inch and ahalf in length and about half an inch in height,each cell corresponding with the others by corridorsor round tunnels varying from half an inch to oneinch in length, and about a quarter of an inch indiameter. In demolish
A journey to Ashango-Land, and further penetration into equatorial Africa . ellow colour comes fromthe soil which the ants use in building, and whichthey get from below the black loam. The height of the structure I examined was fourfeet and a half, and the diameter at the broadestpart two feet and a half; after breaking one sinuo-sity I found the cells to be about one inch and ahalf in length and about half an inch in height,each cell corresponding with the others by corridorsor round tunnels varying from half an inch to oneinch in length, and about a quarter of an inch indiameter. In demolishing the sides, I found that the thicknessof the wall was only one inch before the cells werefound; but I found the earth at the top much harderthan on the sides, as though the builders had put amuch larger quantity of glutinous matter in thispart of the structure. After demolishing three inches of this yellow topof the nest I came suddenly to another layer, half aninch thick, full of little holes or cells, so small thatthey had no doubt been built on purpose for the ants. NEST OF FOEEST ANTS. Cbap. XI. FOREST TERMES. 225 to remain there alone, but for what reason they re-quired to remain alone I was unable to discover;at that time there were no ants there. Then with the axe I gave a powerful blow, anddemolished another part of the structure, which dis-turbed the ants from their dark chambers. I sawthere the three different classes of ants : the headmen, very large, with whitish body and black head(these were but few in number) ; the workers, withshort and thick body and broad head, but not solarge as the chiefs; and, thirdly, the soldiers, notso large as the workers, more slender, and possessinglonger nippers. These three distinct classes were theinhabitants of this curious structure. As I was looking at these ants, my attention wassuddenly called to watch their movements. The sol-diers came and, ranging themselves round the brokencells^ took their stand and remained immovable.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
