ground in the shades of pine woods or in their neighbourhood, and covers a space of considerable extent. I have found them full forty feet in circumference. The ground beneath the dome-as is also the dome itself, about two feet in height is wrought into chambers and connecting passages, amply sufficient to accommodate the many thousands of its inhabitants. The entrances to the marvellously-constructed domicile are as a rule in the wellthatched dome, for never was hay-stack or corn-rick thatched with more consummate art than is the nest of the wood-ant; and what is most worthy of notice about these entrances is that as the shadows lengthen and the twilight intervenes, they are closed by the intelligent little people, and so closed that while they secure protection, the air is not excluded. The shutters and doors are formed of lattice-work, the labourers crossing and recrossing little sticks, until free ingress and egress is completely barred. I have watched the inhabitants of a palatial residence of F. rufa in the valley of East Lynn thus putting up their shutters and closing their doors at eventide as the sun was hastening to its setting, and its departing golden glory was reflected in the running stream which made pleasant music on its journey to the sea.

The drawing of Mr. F. Smith, from which Fig. 35 was engraved, forms the representation of a typical nest of Formica, doing service for the constitution of a nest both of F. rufa and also of F. fusca. In the former case the conical roof is the thatched dome of the heaped-up nest of the intelligent builder, and in the latter, the conical-shaped bank which forms the upper surface of the subterranean habitation of the ingenious miner. The chambers and corridors of the formic castle, as disclosed in the section, being in each case constituted upon a similar plan. I have found F. rufa acting as a miner by arranging its nest in a bank at Budleigh, Devon, and at Weybridge, Surrey. And I have also discovered an allied species, F. congerens,

acting as a miner in a turf bank at Bournemouth. This ant, and also F. exsecta, constitute the two other British species of wood-ant. The former (F. congerens) is the common wood-ant of Bournemouth, and, as a rule, constructs its habitation on the same architectural principles as F. rufa. The common wood-ant (F. rufa) is very rare at Bournemouth. That it is found there I know, since Mr. C. W. Dale has kindly given me a specimen of the queen of this species, which is readily distinguished from F. congerens by its glabrous abdomen, which his father, the late Mr. J. C. Dale, discovered in the locality. A very large nest of F congerens I discovered on a sloping bank of fern and heather and gorse, on the margin of the running stream which gives the name to this charming retreat on the southern coast. A careful measurement gave the depth at the crown of the nest twelve inches, and eighteen inches down the slope of the bank seven inches across the nest; from the upper part to the base on the declivity seventy-two inches; and a foot from the crown, fifty-three inches across. The circumference measured eighteen feet and four inches. There were seven entrances through the cleverly-arranged thatch, and as my wife sketched the nest, we watched the busy workers arranging the trellis at the entrances with narrow sticks and the long pine-needles of the Scotch fir for doors and shutters.

This species is very difficult to distinguish from the common rufa. It is more pubescent, and the abdomen of the male and female is not so shining as is that of the more familiar species. Besides Bournemouth, it has been met with at Loch Rannoch, in Perthshire, and other localities. The third wood-ant, F. exsecta, seems to belong almost exclusively to Bournemouth and its neighbourhood, having been discovered also at Poole and on the outskirts of the New Forest, near Ringwood, by myself, on the heathy carpet of the neighbouring woods, its interesting nest rising up gracefully from the heather. The thatched dome

is very much smaller than that of the two other species, and formed of little bits of grass, fern-frond, and ling.

I discovered a little nest at Boscombe, near Bournemouth, the dome of which was charmingly situated among the heath and the bracken, and measured in circumference

FIG. 36.-Nest of Formica exsecta, Boscombe, near Bournemouth.

thirty-two inches, and in height only three inches. F. exsecta is a brilliant ant, having a blood-red thorax and legs, the occiput widely notched, and the scale of it is smaller than the two allied species. Mr. F. Smith1 endeavoured to establish a colony in his garden at Islington, which he

1 See Ent. Annual, 1869, pp. 70, 71.

transported safely from Bournemouth, but unhappily his intentions were frustrated by the common garden ant, F. nigra, who resented the trespass upon what it doubtless considered its own rightful domain, and in strong force attacked and stormed exsecta's Lilliputian castle, and took the whole garrison prisoners, forming a triumphal procession from the citadel to its subterranean stronghold, each warrior of F. nigra bearing in its mandibles a captive exsecta. Strange to say, not a single member of the captured garrison ever reappeared, and the inevitable conclusion drawn from the incident was, that the conquerors devoured their luckless prisoners, and not, as Mr. Smith had hoped, that he had discovered F. nigra (L. niger) in the act of conducting a slave-making expedition.