NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



old belief in harvesting ants was not re-established until 

 the publication in 1880 of my book (now out of print), 

 entitled The Agricultural Ant of Texas. 



The author's interest was awakened by a number of 

 old manuscripts placed in his hands by the eminent 

 hymenopterist Ezra T. Cresson. They were written by 

 Dr. Gideon Lincecum, of Texas, and had been kept in 

 the archives of the American Entomological Society, 

 but under the shadow of serious doubt as to their accu- 

 racy. Nevertheless, the papers impressed me as having 

 a basis of truth, and in the summer of 1877 I visited 

 Texas, prepared to investigate and, if possible, solve 

 the old question which science had negatived, but 

 which had thus again been raised : Do ants har- 

 vest grain? And, if so, what are their agricultural 

 habits ? 



Camp was made in a live-oak grove on the Barton 

 Creek hills, three miles southwest of Austin, in easy 

 reach of numerous nests of the insects to be studied. 

 The tent door was a half-dozen steps from several large 

 communities, and the tent itself was a gangway for the 

 busy creatures. They are large ants, about the size of 

 our common black Pennsylvania carpenter ants {Cam- 

 ponotus Herculeanus-Pennsylvanicus), and of a uniform 

 bright mahogany color. There are two forms of work- 

 ers, the worker-major and worker-minor, the former 

 being seven-sixteenths, the latter five-sixteenths of an 

 inch long. The females and males are winged, the for- 

 mer ten-sixteenths, the latter eight-sixteenths of an 

 inch long. The males, as is usual among ants, are 

 drones, and, like the females, are dependants. At the 

 pairing season they leave the gates, to return no more. 

 A tuft of reddish hair beneath the face gives the ant its 



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