12 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



tions ; those returning to the nest are laden with 

 seeds which they carry to the hidden granaries ; those 

 leaving the nest are hastening empty-handed to the 

 foraging-ground in search of a fresh burden. 



Messor barbarus is an industrious though not a very 

 agile ant. It is a dark red insect with a smooth and 

 polished surface. Its head is square and strong, its 

 thorax massive, and its large abdomen oval, black 

 and shining. The members of the same community 

 vary greatly in size. In the same nest are seen large 

 workers one-third of an inch in length and smaller 

 workers only one-sixth of an inch in length, and 

 connecting the two extremes are many intermediate 

 forms. The largest workers, though twice the length 

 of the smallest, yet still more exceed them in their 

 robust build. A dense multitude must throng each 

 nest, for the roads are often crowded with their 

 numbers. 



The nests at these elevations, an altitude of 4000 

 feet, do not contain such large numbers of individuals 

 as those seen in the plains of the Punjab. At higher 

 altitudes the communities are still less populous, and 

 in these smaller nests the common red species, Messor 

 barbarus, tends to be replaced by a blackish form 

 dignified by a distinct specific name, Messor himala- 

 yanus. A few thousand feet higher the harvester 

 entirely disappears. I have occasionally seen them at 

 6000 feet far away on the extreme frontier. And 

 once I found an impoverished nest of M. himala- 

 yanus on a mountain summit at 8000 feet, an altitude 

 which, I think, must mark the extreme limits to which 

 they ascend. 



This ant commences active operations early in 



