FORAGING ANTS. amuses his leisure hours, and improves his marksmanship by picking off the more prominent intruders with a saloon pistol; but the vacancies are soon filled up, and no permanent benefit is obtained. But there is one insect which, although often annoying, is also exceedingly useful; and its approach is welcomed by the inhabitants of tropical America, where it abounds. This is the Foraging Ant, which, though not more skillful than many other insects in constructing its home, is worthy of special notice. These ants sally forth in vast columns, at least a hundred yards in length, though not of very great width. When they make their appearance nothing withstands their assault; the inhabitants throw open every box and drawer in the house so as to allow the ants access into every crevice, and then retire from the premises. Presently the van-guard of the column approaches, a few scouts precede the general body, and seem to inspect the premises and ascertain whether they are worth a search. The long column then pours in and is soon dispersed over the house. The scene that then ensues is described as most singular. The ants penetrate into the corners, peer into each crevice, and speedily haul out any unfortunate creature that is lurking therein. Great cockroaches are dragged unwillingly away, being pulled in front by four or five ants, and pushed from behind by as many more. The rats and mice speedily succumb to the onslaught of their myriad foes, the snakes and lizards fare no botter, and even the formidable weapons of the scorpion and centipede are overcome by their pertinacious foes. In a wonderfully short time the Foraging Ants have completed their work, the scene of turmoil gradually ceases, the scattered parties again form into line, and the procession moves out of the house, carrying its spoils in triumph. The raid is most complete, and when the inhabitants return to the house they find every intruder gone, and to their great comfort are enabled to move about without treading on some unpleasant creature, and to put on their shoes without previously knocking them against the floor for the purpose of shaking out the scorpions and similar visitors. In the illustration a column of Foraging Ants is seen winding its way through a wood. Every one who is accustomed to the country takes particular care not to cross one of these columns. The Foraging Ants are tetchy creatures, and not having the least notion of fear, are terrible enemies even to human beings. If a man should happen to cross a column the ants immediately dash at him, running up his legs, biting fiercely with their powerful jaws, and injecting poison into the wound. The only plan of action in such a case is to run away at top speed until the main body are too far off to renew the attack, and then to destroy the ants that are already in action. This is no easy task, for the fierce little insects drive their hooked mandibles so deeply into the flesh that they are generally removed piecemeal, the head retaining its hold after the body has been pulled away, and the mandibles clasped so tightly that they must be pinched from the head and detached separately. There seems to be scarcely a creature which these insects will not attack, and they will even go out of their way to fall upon the nests of the large and formidable wasps of that country. For the thousand stings the ants care not a jot, but tear away the substance of their nest with their powerful jaws, penetrate into the interior, break down the cells, and drag out the helpless young. Should they meet an adult wasp they fall upon it and cut it to pieces in a moment. The African Termite erects nests of vast size and stone-like solidity. The history of this insect is complicated and full of incident, so that many pages might be occupied in giving an account of them, and yet the subject be not exhausted. The illustration, however, will afford some idea of the form and size of their habitatious. A full-sized nest of the African Termite is a wonderful structure. Although made merely of clay, the walls are nearly as hard as stone, and hunters are accustomed to mount upon them for the purpose of looking out for game, and the wild buffalo has a similar habit, the structure being strong enough even to sup PENSILE SPIDER'S NEST. is closed effectively, just as a limpet shelters its soft body by pressing the top of the shell against the rock. Or, if detached, it can pull the lips together, and thus shut itself up in its strange house as completely as a box tortoise in its shell. The Oriental idea that feminine delicacy is only to be maintained by concealing the face, seems to have been borrowed from the House-builder Moth, which is a perfect model of female excellence, according to Oriental notions, always staying at home, always hiding her face, and always producing enormous families. Perhaps the male may be attracted to the female by some peculiar instinct, for the eyes can have little to do with the discovery, she being so closely shut up in her house, and never leaving it till the day of her death. The Tufted Spider of the West Indies spins a large, oval, cocoon-like nest. This creature derives its name from the remarkable tufts of stiff, bristle-like hairs which decorate the limbs. Of the curious Spherical Spider nests, with their black cross bars, nothing is known except the mere fact of their existence. ranged methodically upon the other. The labor must have been considerable, even if the spider had nothing to do but to arrange and fasten together pieces of leaves which had already been selected. The Water Spider is a most curious and interesting creature, because it affords an example of an animal which breathes atmospheric air constructing a home beneath the water, and filling it with the air needful for respiration, The sub-aquatic cell of the Water Spider may be found in many rivers and ditches, where the water does not run very swiftly. It is made of silk, as is the case with all spiders' nests, and is generally egg-shaped, having an opening below. This cell is filled with air; and if the spider be kept in a glass vessel, it may be seen reposing in the cell, with its head downward, after the manner of its tribe. The Water Spider places her eggs in this cell, spinning a saucer-shaped cocoon, and fixing it against the inner side of the cell and near the top. In this cocoon are about a hundred eggs, of a spherical shape, and very small. The cell is a true home for the spider, which passes its earliest days under the water, and when it is strong enough to construct a subaquatic home for itself, brings its prey to the cell before eating it. There is another spider which frequents the water, but which only makes a temporary and movable residence. This is the Raft Spider, which is represented in the illustration of its natural size. Not content with chasing insects on land, it follows them in the water, on the surface of which it can run freely. It needs, however, a resting-place, and forms one by getting together a quantity of dry leaves and similar substances, which it gathers into a rough ball, and fastens with silken threads. On this ball the spider sits, and allows itself to be blown about the water by the wind. Apparently it has no means of directing its course, but suffers its raft to traverse the surface as the wind or current may carry it. The spider does not merely sit upon the raft, and there capture any prey that may happen to come within reach, but when it sees an insect upon the surface, it leaves the raft, runs swiftly over the water, secures its prey, and brings it back to the raft. It can even descend below the surface of the There is a species of spider which constructs a remarkable pensile nest, as seen in the illustration. The spider takes several concave seed-water, and will often crawl several inches in pods, and fastens them firmly together with the silken thread of which webs are made, and in the interior the eggs are placed. In the lower part of the illustration is a leaf upon which are piled a number of fragments of leaves, so as to form a rude conical heap. This is also the work of a spider, and is made with great ingenuity, for the structure has been regularly built up of a great number of pieces, each being ar depth. This feat it does not perform by diving, as is the case with the water spider, but by means of the aquatic plants, down whose stems it crawls. Its capability of existing for some time beneath the surface of the water is often the means of saving its life; for, when it sees an enemy approaching, it quietly slips under the raft, and there lies in perfect security until the danger has passed away. THE RAFT SPIDER There is a well-known marine species of this group, called the Fifteen-Spined Stickle-back, a long-bodied, long-snouted fish, with a slightly projecting lower jaw, and a row of fifteen short and sharp spines along the back. This creature makes its nest of the smaller algæ, and the delicate green and purple seaweeds which fringe our coasts. Sometimes, indeed, it becomes rather eccentric in its architecture, and builds in very curious situations. A case is on record where a pair of Stickle-backs had made their nest in the loose end of a rope, from which the separated strands hung out about a yard from the surface, over a depth of four or only have been brought, of course, in the mouth of the fish, from the distance of about thirty feet. They were formed of the usual aggregation of the finer sorts of green and red sea-weed, but they were so matted together in the hollow formed by the untwisted strands of the rope that the mass constituted an oblong ball of nearly the size of the fist, in which had been deposited the scattered assemblage of spawn, and which was bound into shape with a thread of animal substance, which was passed through and through in various directions, while the rope itself formed an outside covering to the whole. As a rule, fishes display but little architect- | five fathoms, and to which the materials could ural genius, their anatomical construction debarring them from raising any but the simplest edifice. A fish has but one tool, its mouth, and even this instrument is of very limited capacity. Still, although the nest which a fish can make is necessarily of a slight and rude character, there are some members of that class which construct houses which deserve the name. The best examples of architecture among fishes are those which are produced by the Sticklebacks, those well-known little beings whose spiny bodies, brilliant colors, and dashing courage make them such favorites with all who study nature. These fishes make their nests of the delicate vegetation that is found in fresh water, and will carry materials from some little distance in order to complete the home. The materials of which the nest is made are extremely variable, but they are always constructed so as to harmonize with the surrounding objects, and thus to escape ordinary observation. Sometimes it is made of bits of grass which have been blown into the river, sometimes of straws, and sometimes of growing plants. The object of the nest is evident enough, when the habits of the Stickle-back are considered. As is the case with many other fish, there are no more determined destroyers of Stickle-back eggs than the Stickle-backs themselves, and the nests are evidently constructed for the purpose of affording a resting-place for the eggs until they are hatched. If a few of these nests be removed from the water in a net, and the eggs thrown into the stream, the Sticklebacks rush at them from all sides, and fight for them like boys scrambling for half-pence. The eggs are very small, barely the size of dustshot, and are yellow when first placed in the nest, but deepen in color as they approach maturity. The wonderful creatures which are classed together under the general term of Corals, are familiar to us either in a manufactured state or as ornaments for the drawing-room. How vast are their submarine labors is evident from the enormous "coral-reefs" which they raise, and which form great islands whereon an army can live, and inlets wherein a fleet can ride securely at anchor. The young Coral animal passes through various changes, gradually developing new and remarkable powers, until it arrives at its perfection. The precise connection which exists between the animal and its coral habitation may not be generally understood. If the reader will take up a branch of the ordinary coral of commerce, he will see that it is slightly grooved or fluted throughout its extent, and that its surface is studded with little projections having star-like discs. Now, if this piece of coral could be again clothed with the living creature by which it was deposited, we should see a beautiful and a wonderful sight. Next to the stony core lie a series of longitudinal vessels, each vessel corresponding with a groove, and above them lies a confused mass of irregular vessels communicating with each other. At |