INSTINCTS OF HARVESTING ANTS 39 



In such ways do the harvesters err, yet they share 

 their errors with every other insect. I give them 

 credit for a greater degree of discrimination than is 

 possessed by certain other ants. I know of one 

 carnivorous species which if given pebbles moistened 

 with the juice of insects, will foolishly carry off the 

 pebbles and store them as provender in the nest. 

 The harvester can make a nicer distinction than this. 

 I mingled with chopped walnuts some pieces of 

 blotting-paper soaked in the walnut juice, in the hope 

 of deceiving the husbandmen as I did the carnivorous 

 ants. But there was no cheating the harvesters. 

 They eagerly sucked up the juice from the blotting- 

 paper, but made no attempt to store the worthless 

 fragments in their nest. 



It is very usual to hear from one who has not paid 

 special attention to the habits of these ants an ex- 

 pression of surprise at their extraordinary cleverness. 

 And there is no doubt that when one first observes 

 their wonderful organization, their law and order, their 

 indefatigable industry, the skilful methods by which 

 they overcome all obstacles, and to see in every act 

 the subservience of the will of the individual to the 

 general good of the whole community, one is tempted 

 to exclaim " they are amongst the most intelligent of 

 living beings." But as observations increase, it 

 becomes more and more evident that such a conclusion 

 would be hopelessly at fault, and that behind all this 

 wonderful social organization there lies but the faintest 

 glimmer of an individual intelligence. 



I will give a few observations illustrating the 

 poverty of their intelligence. On one occasion I 

 discovered a nest situated just above a large smooth 



