84 ONE-SIDEDNESS. 



only, and tliiB writers of the north right from their point of 

 view, and from that only ; but certainly the fault of the 

 southern writers, made when northern Europe was not in- 

 habited by civilized man, w^as more excusable than the error 

 committed by the northern writers, who thought themselves 

 on a pinnacle of civilization. 



Mr. Moggridge well puts this antithesis as follows : — 



" However, just as the ancient wa-ites, judging from their 

 " own experience, and from the reports of others, had erred 

 " in attributing to ants in general the habit of seed-storing 

 " possessed by certain species commonly found in the south, 

 " so have modern naturalists fallen into the mistake of deny- 

 " iug it to any of the European species. 



" The older authors who lived in Greece and Italy, 

 " and the media3val authors who drew their information, in 

 " great measure, from the former, being familiar with the 

 " fact that some ants habitually collect large supplies of seed, 

 " went so far as to assert, or to imply, that all European 

 '' ants do so ; the authors of the present day, on the other 

 " hand, generalizing too freely from the experience of ants 

 " found near their northern homes, maintained and main- 

 " tain the very reverse. 



" So long as Europe was taught natural history by 

 " southern writers the belief prevailed ; but no sooner did 

 " the tide begin to turn, and the current of information to 

 " flow from north to south, than the story became dis- 

 " credited." 



When at Mentone last spring, Mr. Moggridge on several 

 occasions produced trowels full of seeds (like that repre- 

 sented in his Plate II.), from the galleries of the nests of 

 Atta barbara, and frequently, I should say, I saw enough 

 seeds simultaneously exposed to have half-filled a wine-glass. 



