174 The Book of Bugs. 



did, one gnawing at the peduncle and the other twisting 

 off and casting ' to the peop.e below ' the seedpod of 

 shepherd's purse, which we Americans often call pepper- 

 grass and twine among the birdcage wires for the canary. 



He played a little joke on these ants. He strewed 

 porcelain beads in their way. With high triumph they 

 fell upon the pretty shining seeds and carried them home. 

 He never found out who it was that told them: ''Well, 

 aint you the big fools to be luggin' them things into the 

 house! For half a cent I'd make you eat 'em. Why, 

 them aint seeds ; them's stones, you gumps. T'row 'em 

 out, every one of 'em. Here, you ! Come back here and 

 carry out that stone you jist now brung in." But some- 

 body must have spoken words of wisdom of this import, 

 for they immediately brought out the beads and dumped 

 them far from the nest, and when, thereafter, an ant went 

 by a bead she never let on she saw it. 



Other observers in warm climates soon verified Mog- 

 gridge's discovery. Dr. Lincecum, McCook, Mrs. Treat, 

 and others found that ants not only collect and thresh 

 out the seeds of Aristides stricta, or ant rice, but that they 

 weed out all other growing things from the garden spot 

 about their nests. When the crops are gathered in they 

 clear away the stubble. Dr. Lincecum is convinced that 

 they seed down their gardens, but other observers shake 

 their heads and say that is a little too much. They are 

 willing to admit that the harvester ants pave the top of 

 their nests with little white stones, and that they cut roads 

 through the grass so as to facilitate commerce, because 

 they have seen the emmets do that, but planting the ant 

 rice for next year is more than they will subscribe to. It 

 is pretty certain that, in order to make the hard grains 

 edible, they are allowed to sprout a little and then are 

 stopped by nibbling away the root tip. The ants can keep 



