212 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



take their statements as to the non-storing habits 

 of the ants they knew as indicative of the custom 

 of ants all over the world in this respect, and 

 contended that Solomon's words, " prepares her 

 bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the 

 harvest," simply implied that she " with commend- 

 able prudence and foresight, makes use of the 

 proper seasons to collect a supply of provision 

 sufficient for her purposes. There is not a word in 

 them implying that she stores up grain or other 

 provision." 



So the matter stood until 1873, when John T. 

 Moggridge published a book called Harvesting Ants 

 and Trap-door Spiders. Being an invalid without 

 hope of recovery, he had wintered for several 

 years at Mentone, and occupied his leisure in the 

 investigation of the flora and fauna of the sur- 

 rounding country. 



Among the insects that attracted his attention 

 were the ants Aphenogaster barbara and A. structor. 

 He found that these ants — common to the Mediter- 

 ranean region, and therefore possibly the kind that 

 the Wise King had in view — do store up grain, 

 though not the large seeds of wheat and barley 

 that the farmer has cultivated, but those of wild 

 plants such as fumitory, nettle, veronica, oat, etc. 

 These they gather in autumn, and store them in 

 underground chambers about three inches in 

 diameter. Some of these seeds are collected from 

 the surface of the soil where they have dropped 

 from the plants on the splitting of the ripe seed- 



