446 INSECTS ABROAD. 



crops of young plants, such as fumitory, pellitory, Polygonum 

 aviculare, and grasses, from seeds taken out of granaries. 



" I have frequently remarked that it is the seeds last collected 

 before a fall of rain which are brought out in a sprouting con- 

 dition from the nest ; for I have observed that it is these which 

 are cai-ried out from the nest and placed to dry after a wet 

 night. And so, in the case of a nest which I kept in captivity, 

 when a variety of different seeds had been successively supplied 

 to the Ants, it was the cabbage, lettuce, and chicory seeds given 

 the day before the nest was watered, that reappeared after being 

 carried below, and not tlie hemp, canary, and mixed seeds of 

 wild plants previously strewed on the nest. 



" It seems possible that the process, whatever it may be, to 

 which the Ants submit the seeds which are to remain dormant, 

 may require some time, and the construction of the granary 

 chambers is doubtless a long affair ; so that when unusually 

 large supplies of grain, &c., are brought in by the w^orkers, some 

 part of them may not find the necessary accommodation and 

 attention. 



"When the seeds do germinate in the nests — and it is my 

 belief that they are usually softened and made to sprout before 

 they are consumed by the Ants — it is very curious to see how 

 the growth is checked in its earliest stage, and how, after the 

 rudicle or fibril — the first growing root of dicotyledonous and 

 monocotyledonous seeds — has been gnawed off, they are brought 

 out from the nest and placed in the sun to dry, and then, after 

 a sufficient exposure, carried below into the nest. 



"The seeds are thus in effect malted, the starch being 

 changed into sugar ; and I have myself witnessed the avidity 

 with which the contents of seeds thus treated are devoured by 

 the Ants." 



It seems almost a pity that creatures possessing such excel- 

 lent qualities should be thieves, but thieves they are — robbing 

 not only the nests of other insects, but those of their own species. 

 In the course of these raids there are always severe combats, 

 often terminating with loss of life. The antennae being the most 

 sensitive portion of the Ant, each combatant uses its utmost 

 endeavours to seize one of the antennte of the opponent, and 

 when that is done the enemy always succumbs. Should, how- 

 ever, both parties succeed in evading tlie fatal grasp, they fight 



