HARVESTING ANTS. 57 



chambers, granaries, and almost all their galleries 

 away from the glass, and in the interior of the earth, 

 though I tried to tempt them to work in parts more 

 accessible to sight by swathing the jar in flannel. 



There is much to be learned, I do not doubt, about 

 the friends and enemies of harvesting ants ; and an- 

 other great desideratum is further information as to 

 the parts of the world in which they are found and 

 what causes may be assigned for the limitation of the 

 habit. 



What is the geographical distribution of the har- 

 vesting species, and what the geographical distribution, 

 of the habit? For instance, to quote Mr. F. Smith,* 

 jitfa structor, though not " found in England, is scat- 

 tered over a great part of Europe, having occurred in 

 France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Dalmatia, and Swit- 

 zerland ; it has also been found in Algeria" and Syria ; 

 and A. harhara is almost as widely spread. May we then 

 conclude that these species are harvesters wherever they 

 are found, and that they store seed in Germany and 

 Switzerland as freely as they do on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean? If this be really so, then Huber, whose 

 attention was specially directed to this point, and a host 

 of laborious and scrupulous observers of the Continent, 

 have had the very fact under their eyes, though they 

 have been at considerable pains expressly to deny it. 

 I cannot think that this is likely, but it is a matter 

 Nvhich could easily be settled by those who travel or 

 reside in Germany, Northern France, or Switzerland. 



It seems to me more probable, however, that tliey 

 do store in the south, but not in the north ; for all the 



* Mr. F. Smith, On Some New Species of Ants from the Holy Laud, in 

 Jouru. Linnean Soc, London, vol. vi. p. 35. 



