HARVESTING A^NTS. 167 



rence to the claims of the poor upon these ant stores. 

 If the lieaps of grain were found among the standing 

 corn before the reapers reached the spot or while 

 they were still at work, the proprietor might claim 

 them without any hesitation ; but, if they were dis- 

 covered after the passing of the reapers, then it was 

 conceivable that the ants, which during the whole time 

 had never ceased their labours, might have collected 

 some of the grain from the fallen ears of corn which 

 lay upon the ground, and v/ere the property of the 

 gleaners. These grains would be those which the 

 ants had collected most recently, and would therefore 

 lie on the surface of each granary heap. Thus it was 

 settled that the upper portion of each heap should 

 belong to the poor, and the lower, that collected from 

 the standing crop, to the proprietor. 



We may perhaps laugh at the notion of critically 

 discussing and legislating upon such a subject, and 

 think that such a pitiful matter might have been 

 allowed to pass among those minima about which even 

 the Jewish law need not care. 



Be this as it may, it is interesting for us to learn 

 that a custom of the kind had its place among the 

 recognised traditions of the people, and that the 

 harvesting ants of Syria had earned a place in these 

 records by amassing stores of sufficient size, and so 

 disposed as to make them worth collecting. 



Tliis reminds us of what M. Germain de St. Pierre 

 has related {/ints and Spiders, p. 29) of the extent of 

 the depredations made among the corn crops at 

 Hyeres by these ants ; and doubtless other observ^ers 

 who have opportunities for watching the ants 



