''SERMONS IJV'—ANTS. 34.5 



ered with husks, others further down were shelled, so 

 that I could account for the heaps of husks which were 

 placed around the margin of the yard. 



"The seeds were stored in small caverns or pockets 

 several inches long and about an inch high. Some 

 were circular, others semi-circular in shape. Here is a 

 view of a group of these granaries (Fig. 110.) You are 

 looking down from the yard into them, remember, and 

 of course the roof has been omitted from the picture 

 to show you the stores of grain garnered within. Here 

 then was proof number four^the ants do store away 

 the ant-rice and other seeds, for I found more than one 

 kind within their little store-houses and barns. 



"But what do they do with these seeds? Are they 

 really provided as 'meat' and gathered for 'food,' as 

 the inspired writer says ? I had no doubt about that 

 myself; but I wanted to prove it beyond question. Of 

 course I could not creep down into the nest and live 

 there long enough to see the insects at their meals ; nor 

 would they come out-of-doors and have an emmet pic- 

 nic in the open just to show me how they did. What, 

 then, should I do ? I did this : I had a large number 

 of the ants shipped to me from Texas, built for them 

 small artificial formicaries in my library, and kept 

 them during an entire winter under observation, I 

 saw many interesting and cunning habits, which I have 

 not time to relate to you, but among these was their 

 food-habit. I observed that they did eat the seeds 

 which I had taken from their nests, as well as other 

 grains, such as oats. They lapped up the oily substance 



