The Strength of Ant Mounds

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Abstract
Observations upon Formica exsectoides F., in the open and in special glass-tube formicaries, show the chief activities of the ant in nest building to be mining of earth in pellets, collecting of mineral and vegetable fragments, and the deposition of these materials in the form of a mound, the strength and permanence of which depend largely upon the action of water and sun. This conclusion is supported by tests of the pressure per sq. in. required to break through the roof and to penetrate into mounds, found in three different regions of Maryland, in which the differences in soil seem sufficient to account mechanically for the differences of strength.

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