182 THE MOST GIFTED INSECT RACE. 



by which it is broken up for the extraction of the 

 gold. 



The modes of obtaining and storing food are as varied 

 as the other habits of the insects. I have mentioned 

 n another volume how our British ants use the aphides 

 like milch cows, taking from them the sweet juice that 

 exudes from two little tubes on the abdomen. 



In our country the ants do not store up grain for 

 food, but in many parts of the world the ants not 

 only store up grain, but some of them actually plant it, 

 tend it, reap it, and carry it when ripe into their 

 nests. Mentone is one of the localities of a Harvesting 

 Ant, which is scientifically called Aphenogaster barbata. 

 About twenty species of Harvesting Ants are now 

 known. The present species is black, shining, and 

 larger than our wood ant. The most curious point in 

 the economy of this ant is, that it not only stores the 

 grain, but actually converts it into malt. The seeds are 

 allowed to begin sprouting, and the tiny cotyledons are 

 then bitten off, so as to stop the growth. Then the 

 seeds are brought out of the nests and laid in the sun to 

 dry, so that the starch is converted into sugar, and is 

 thus rendered suitable for food. 



Another and still more wonderful Harvesting Ant is 

 the Agricultural Ant (Myrmica barbata) of Texas. It is 

 about as large as the preceding insect, but is of a 

 yellowish brown colour instead of black. 



This insect begins by preparing a field for its intended 

 crop. It raises a flat-topped, circular mound, some seven 



