HARVESTING ANTS. 17 



meadows or terraced land, before I was met by a long 

 train of ants, forming two continuous lines, hurrying 

 in opposite directions, the one with their mouths full, 

 the others with their mouths empty. 



It was easy enough to find the nest to which these 

 ants belonged, for it was only necessary to follow 

 the line of ants burdened with seeds, grain, or entire 

 capsules, which had their heads turned homewards, 

 and there, sure enough, at about ten yards distance, 

 and partly shaded by some small Cistus bushes, 

 lay the nest, to and from the entrances of which 

 the incessant stream of incomers and outgoers kept 

 flowing. 



The proceedings of the ants were the same as those 

 previously observed in the late spring (April and 

 May), the workers usually seeking their harvest at 

 some distance from the nest, and going in search of 

 it as far as the cultivated ground, where the crops of 

 weeds were more abundant and more varied. 



In a few cases, however, where the terraces were too 

 far distant, they contented themselves with plundering 

 the grasses, pea-flowers, honeywort, and the other 

 denizens of the garrigue. In one case I was able to 

 follow the thread-like column of workers from the 

 nest to the weedy terrace where the plants grew from 

 which they were gathering the seeds, and found that 

 the nearly continuous double line measured twenty- 

 four yards. Even this gives but an inadequate idea 

 of the number of ants actively employed in the 

 service of this colony, for hundreds of them were 

 dispersed among the weeds on the terrace, and many 

 were also employed in sorting the materials and in 

 attending to the internal economy of tlie nest. Still 



