24 HARVESTING ANTS. 



moisture in the granaries, and it will usually be found 

 that, when they are recently taken out of the nest, 

 they are of a greenish colour and semi-transparent horn- 

 like texture, which changes on exposure to the air 

 to a chalky white and opaque appearance, due to the 

 drying of the coat of the seed. 



The fact of the sound condition of the seeds in 



these granaries seemed to me so very strange 



and difficult to explain that I determined to pay 



special attention to the subject, and with this view 



collected and carefully examined large quantities of 



the grain and seeds taken at different times from the 



stores of twenty-one distinct nests, the first of which 



was opened on October 29th, and the last on May 5th. 



In these twenty-one nests out of the thousands of 



seeds taken I only found twenty-seven in seven nests 



which showed trace of germination, and of these eleven 



had been mutilated in such a way as to arrest their 



growth. The sprouting seeds were found in the 



months from November to February, while in the 



nests opened in October, March, April, and May, no 



sprouted seeds were discovered, though these latter 



months are certainly highly favourable to germination. 



It is therefore extremely rare to find other than sound 



and intact seeds in the granaries, and we must conclude 



that the ants exercise some mysterious power over 



them which checks the tendency to germinate. 



Apparently it is not that moisture or warmth or 

 the influence of atmospheric air is denied to the 

 seeds, for we find them in damp soil, in genial weather, 

 and often at but a trifling distance below the surface 

 of the ground ; and I have proved that the vitality of 

 the seeds is not affected by raising crops of young 



