HARVESTING ANTS. 31 



found stored with, seeds, and lying at depths below the 

 surface, varying from one to twenty inches. 



A diagram is given in the preceding woodcut 

 of a vertical section of a nest of barhara lying in soil 

 sixteen inches deep, the granaries being at 1^, 2, 4, 

 6, 9, and 12^ inchesj as determined by actual measure- 

 ment on the spot. 



In some cases, and especially where the soil is 

 shallow, the galleries and granaries are much crowded 

 together, as is shown in Plate IV., which represents a 

 small mass of earth, pierced by the roots of plants, 

 taken out of a nest of harbara, lying at two inches 

 below the surface. When first opened all these 

 granaries were filled with seeds. 



The shape of the granary chambers varies con- 

 siderably, as may be seen by reference to the draw- 

 ing of three floors given in Plate III., p. 23, and that 

 shown diagrammatically in the woodcut on next page, 

 where the white space represents the granary floor, 

 and the dark circular spot in the centre, the aper- 

 ture of a gallery leading downwards. 



I once had an opportunity of seeing a large portion 

 of a nest of the red-headed variety of barbara laid bare 

 by a cutting recently made through a bank at Cannes in 

 digging the foundations of a house, which exposed 

 a very extensive and complicated series of galleries and 

 granaries. The lowest point at which I detected the 

 workings of the ants was at twenty inches below the 

 surface of the ground, and here granaries containing 

 seeds in abundance were present, and the galleries and 

 granaries extended over a space measuring 5ft. 9in. in 

 a horizontal direction. In two cases I have found 

 nests of Alt a barbara at Mentone which were carried 



