56 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



future want in subterranean granaries. If seeds 

 be placed in the soil at not too great a depth, 

 and be subjected to the requisite warmth and 

 moisture, they usually do one of two things after 

 an interval of time. Either they germinate or they 

 rot. Those gathered by these ants do not tend 

 to do any of these things. Yet they lie in damp 

 and moist chambers, and have been discovered 

 in genial weather, and often at a trifling distance 

 below the surface. The inference is that the ants 

 prevent the grains from germinating, exerting 

 some influence which checks the inherent power 

 of nature. It has been suggested that the little 

 radicle,* or first-growing rootlet of the future 

 plant, is gnawed away, which would effectually put 

 a stop to germination. The idea seems untenable, 

 for in the case of deserted granaries, or if the ants 

 are restrained from entering their granaries, the 

 seeds begin to sprout, a proof positive that the 

 power of growth is not destroyed, but merely hindered 

 for a season. The necessity for the action is obvious, 

 for else the seeds would have to be rapidly con- 

 sumed at stated periods and be frequently renewed. 



Of late years harvesting ants have been also 

 observed in America. The agricultural ant of 

 Texas {Myrmica Atta barbara] not only stores seeds, 

 especially those of a kind of grass-like rice (Aristida 

 stricta), the so-called " ant-rice," it maintains clean 

 disks of ground round the entrance to its nest, a 

 marvellous work considering the size of the labourer, 

 and the rich soil and hot climate. Many of the disks 

 are not perfectly clean,, usually round the edge a 



