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©11 a Curious Maut of Jnoenuit^ lu tbe 

 Ibarveeting Hute of 3frana\ 



By G. H. Bryan, B.A. 



'^T^HE custom which prevails among certain kinds of ants mostly 

 X inhabiting warm climates, of collecting seeds and of storing 

 them in subterranean granaries to be used for food at a 

 future time, presents many points of interest. It seems to have 

 been well known to the ancients, as is abundantly proved by their 

 writings. Not only is the ant frequently set up as an example of 

 " providence," but its custom of stonng com is explicitly mentioned 

 in many old writings, as, for example, where Virgil compares the 

 march of the Trojan army to ants plundering grain. This simile 

 may doubtless seem far-fetched to many readers, for there is not 

 much resemblance between a train of ants and an English 

 regiment. But in Italy, where I saw a troop of the rifles or 

 " Bersagliere " marching through the town at five miles an hour 

 with their knapsacks on their backs, I at once thought of the 

 resemblance to ants rushing along, and only afterwards found that 

 I had been forestalled in this idea. 



These statements were nevertheless discredited for some time 

 by observers living in temperate climates that do not allow of seeds 

 being prepared underground by the ants, but later observations 

 proved that Virgil and company were right after all. 



While in tropical countries the ravages committed by the 

 harvesting ants in plundering corn became a serious nuisance, 

 several European species of Formicidae store seeds in their nests, 

 to a greater or lesser extent, and on the shores of the Gulf of 

 Genoa no less than four " harvesters " were observed by the late 

 Mr. Moggridge. It was after reading his interesting account of 

 their habits during a visit to Mentone in 1878 that my attention 

 very naturally turned to these insects, and within a short distance 

 of our villa I was able to watch them storing the achenes of the 

 Oriental Plane tree. My astonishment may readily be imagined 

 when I found that in getting the little fruits into their nests, these 



