132 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



They were agricultural ! So also were the other nests shown* 

 The reason for this confounding of the two ants on the part of 

 the people hereabouts, and the reason for the ' cutting ' operations 

 of our harvesters, will be explained farther on. It is only in 

 point here to say that the farmer affirmed that the ants under 

 the peach tree had stripped off the first tender leaves last spring, 

 so that scarcely one had been left upon the limbs. I am con- 

 vinced that the reason for this onslaught was the desire to be rid 

 of the obnoxious shade, and open the formicary to the full light 

 of the sun. 



From this account it is not very clear whether the 

 writer himself saw evidence of the former denudation of 

 the tree, and if so whether there was any indication, 

 other than the word of the farmer, that the denudation 

 had been effected by the ants. To make this conclusion 

 credible the best conceivable evidence would be required, 

 and this, unfortunately, is just what we find wanting. 

 Somewhat the same remarks may be made on the follow- 

 ing quotation from the same writer, though in this case 

 his view is to some extent supported by an observation of 

 Moggridge, as well as by that of Ebrard already quoted : 



Here I observed what appeared to be a new mode of opera- 

 tion. The workers, in several cases, left the point at which 

 they had begun a cutting, ascended the blade, and passed as 

 far out toward the point as possible. The blade was thus borne 

 downward, and as the ant swayed up and down it really 

 seemed that she was taking advantage of the leverage thus 

 gained, and was bringing the augmented force to bear upon the 

 fracture. In two or three cases there appeared to be a division 

 of labour ; that is to say, while the cutter at the roots kept on 

 with her work, another ant climbed the grass blade and applied 

 the power at the opposite end of the lever. This position may 

 have been quite accidental, but it certainly had the appearance 

 of a voluntary co-operation. I was sorry not to be able to es- 

 tablish this last inference by a series of observations, as the 

 facts were only observed in this one nest. 



The observation of Moggridge, to which I have alluded 

 as in some measure rendering support to the foregoing, is 

 as follows. Speaking of European harvesters which he 

 kept in an artificial nest for the purposes of close obser- 

 vation, he says :- 



