20 HARVESTING ANTS. 



unconcernedly by and over the beads which lay 

 where I had strewn them in apparently undiminished 

 quantities ; and I conclude from this that they had 

 found out their mistake, and had wisely returned to 

 their accustomed occupations. 



I have often amused myself by strewing hemp 

 and canary seed or oats, all of which form heavy 

 burdens for the ants, near their nests ; and it is a 

 curious sight to watch the eagerness and determina- 

 tion with which they will drag them away. It is 

 interesting also to note how on the following day 

 the husks of these seeds will appear on the rubbish- 

 heaj), or sometimes, after a shower of rain, they will 

 be brought out by the ants with the point of the 

 little root (the radicle or fibril as the case may be) 

 gnawed ofi" (see Figs. A, B, C, Plate VI., p. 35). 



It frequently happens that on the wild hillside the 

 position of a nest of Jtta harhara is indicated by the 

 presence of a number of plants growing on or round 

 the kitchen midden, which are properly weeds of cul- 

 tivation, and strangers to the cistus- and lavender- 

 covered banks of the garrigue. These have sprung 

 from seeds accidentally dropped by the ants, and which 

 they had obtained from the lemon terraces. Thus 

 when you see little patches of ground from one to 

 three feet long and broad, covered with such plants as 

 fumitory [Fumaria), oats [Avena), nettles {JJrtica mem- 

 hrariacea), four species of Veronica, chickweed {Alsine 

 media), goosefoot {CUenopodiwii), Riimex Bucephale- 

 phoriis, wild vnSiYi^oXdi {Calendi/la arvensis), Antirrhinum 

 Oroniiurn, Linaria simplex, and Cardamine kirsuta, you 

 may confidently expect to find a colony of these ants 

 close at hand. 



