HARVESTING ANTS. 11 



creatures more narrowly, it was found, at least with 

 respect to the European species of ants, that no such 

 hoards of grain were made by them ; and, in fact, that 

 they had no magazines in their nests in which provi- 

 sions of any kinds were stored up." 



They then proceed to explain how easily the white 

 pupa^, which the ants carry about in their jaws, may 

 have been mistaken for grains of wheat, and to inform 

 us that the accurate observations of Mr. Gould, pub- 

 lished in 1747, were among the first which led to the 

 correction of this error. " However," they continue, 

 " it may be otherwise with exotic ants, for although 

 during the cold of our winters they are generally 

 torpid and need scarcely any food, yet in warmer 

 regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are pro- 

 bably confined to their nests, a store of provisions may 

 be necessary for them." 



The author of the article on ants in Smith's Dic- 

 tionary of the Bible says, in reference to the assertion 

 that ants store seed, that " observation of the habits 

 of ants does not confirm this belief." 



Latreille* denies it in the following emphatic terms : 

 *'!N'attribuons pas a la fourmi une prevoyance inutile: 

 engourdie pendant I'hiver, pourquoi formeroit elle des 

 greniers pour cette saison ?" 



Huber again throws the weight of his great autho- 

 rity into the scale against the ants, when he says,t " I 

 am naturally led to speak in this place of the manner 

 in which ants subsist in the winter, since we have 

 relinquished the opinion that they amass wheat and 

 other grain, and that they gnaw the corn to prevent 



* Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 1802. 

 + Huber, on Ants, translated by J. E. Johnson, 1S20. 



