ANT COMMUNITIES 



from the nests, they store the kernels in large granaries 

 excavated in the ground, where they are kept for food. 

 It has been noticed that these seed-eating ants are 

 marked by the presence of large-headed workers, whose 

 unusual development of the muscles of head and jaws 

 particularly fits them to crack and crush the seeds, so 

 that from the meaty kernels may be rasped or squeezed 

 the edible starchy or oily parts. 



A remarkable example of the unexpected way in 

 which Nature varies her methods of feeding her children 

 is seen in habits of the Attidse, the "parasol" or "leaf- 

 cutting" ants. This popular name is due to their 

 manner of sending out expeditions of workers, who cut 

 from the leaves of certain trees and bushes small pieces 

 which they bring into their nest to convert into food. 

 These leaf-cutting excursions are striking sights to the 

 novice, and are not apt to lose their interest even to 

 familiars. The author's chief studies of Atta fervens 1 

 were made in the vicinity of Austin, Texas. [McC. 10, p. 

 33 sq.] Most of their nests were "beds" (as the natives 

 called them), or spots of denuded surface in the flat 

 open prairie, eight or nine feet long and of almost 

 equal width. Over this barren space were thrown up 

 twenty or thirty circular, semicircular, and s-shaped 

 elevations of fresh earth pellets. The circular mound- 

 lets were about the size and form of a "pound-cake "- 

 pan, or spittoon, the resemblance being emphasized by 

 a round open entrance in the centre. All these had been 

 naturally formed by the gradual accumulation of the 



1 I have used throughout this, the old and well-known name of 

 this species, although Professor Wheeler has restored the yet 

 older specific name of Buckley, by which it will doubtless be known 

 hereafter. 



86 



