In the former notes “On the growth of soil,” I omitted to speak of the labours of the ants—these workers, although such pigmys in this country, and, therefore, compared with the earth-worms, less capable, individually, of work, are so numerous and energetic, that in the special places to which they resort, their yearly work is much more conspicuous than the annual worm-work; but the animals operate in different places, for while the earth-worm luxuriates in rich highly-cultivated land, the hill-building-ant loves a dry, sandy or peaty soil. In the spring the ants may be observed beginning their work, and from that time they carry on their operations all through the summer, to the late autumn, or early winter. On a moor they raise hillocks scattered promiscuously about over the ground, getting closer and closer together as the colonies increase. But where the ants are most useful is in places where crags and large stones are mixed up with patches of sandy peat. In such a locality they will always build on a rock, the foundation of their habitation being at its junction with the soil. These ants seldom raise their structures as high as the moorland ants, but they make up in extent for absence in height, and by this means the rocks are gradually covered with soil and vegetation; for, on account of the season of the year at which they build, the growth of the plants keeps pace with the formation of the ant-soil, and protects it in a great measure from “Meteoric abrasion.” During the winter, however, the shape of the ant-hills is somewhat modified, but the matted roots of the plants preserve the major part of the soil which will thus remain, forming an envelope for the rock.