304 



ZOOLOGY 



Fungus 

 gardens 



Honey ants 



where they are reduced to fragments and serve as 

 culture beds for the growth of particular kinds of fungi 

 or, as it were, miniature mushrooms. The fungus in 

 each case starts from material brought by the queen 

 founder of the colony from her home nest in a special 

 pocket or pouch in the head. Each kind of leaf- 

 cutting ant cultivates a particular species of fungus, 

 and takes every precaution to keep the underground 

 gardens free from contamination by useless sorts. Thus 

 these animals have a genuine system of horticulture, 

 with all regard for the principles of manuring, pure seed, 

 and clean cultivation. 



6. Ants not only store seeds, but there are some 

 species which know how to put up preserves. The 

 honey ants, especially to be found in the Southwest, 

 have peculiar forms of workers whose function it is to 

 serve as living honey jars. Many kinds of ants eat 

 nectar and honey dew, and after storing it in some 

 quantity in their crops, regurgitate it to feed the larvae 

 in the nests. The honey ants exhibit an extreme exag- 

 geration of this function. Special workers, destined to 

 be "repletes," are fed by the others while food is 

 abundant, and the material accumulates in their 

 abdomens. After a time the hind part of the body be- 

 comes swelled and globular, shaped like a pea and of 

 about the same size. These repletes, thus filled with 

 so-called honey, never leave the nest, and are to be 

 found only by digging. The ordinary workers, long- 

 legged and agile, go forth at night, and are quite un- 

 like the repletes in appearance. In this strange manner 

 food is stored up, to serve the whole colony in times of 

 scarcity. It is a curious fact that this method of ac- 

 cumulation has developed quite independently in dif- 

 ferent groups of ants, in localities as far apart as North 

 America and Australia. 



