INSECTIVOKOUS ANTS. 59 



fork, and with them also smooth sm:faced masses of a 

 species of Hydnophytum.'' 



There are, of com-se, many eases in which the action 

 of ants is very beneficial to plants. They kill off a 

 great number of small caterpillars and other insects. 

 Forel found in one large nest that more than twenty- 

 eight dead insects were brought in per minute ; which 

 would give during the period of greatest energy more 

 than 100,000 insects destroyed in a day by the 

 inhabitants of one nest alone. 



Our English hunting ants generally forage alone, 

 but in warmer countries they hunt in packs, or even 

 troops. 



As already mentioned, none of our northern ants 

 store up grain, and hence there has been much dis- 

 cussion as to the well-known passage of Solomon. I 

 have indeed observed that the small brown ants, Lasius 

 niger, sometimes carry seeds of the violet into their 

 nests, but for what purpose is not clear.^ It is, however, 

 now a well-established fact that more than one species 

 of southern ants do collect seeds of various kinds. The 

 fact, of course, has long been known in those regions. 



Indeed, the quantity of grain thus stored up is some- 

 times so considerable, that in the ' Mischna,' rules are 

 laid down with reference to it ; and various com- 

 mentators, including the celebrated Maimonides, have 

 discussed at length the question whether such grain 

 belonged to the owner of the land, or might be taken 

 • See also Appendix, p. 416. 



