GO TO THE ANT 239 



nothing to grow except a particular kind of grain, known 

 as ant-rice. Dr. Lincecurn maintains that the tiny farmers 

 actually sow and cultivate the ant-rice. Dr. McCook, on 

 the other hand, is of opinion that the rice sows itself, and 

 that the insects' part is limited to preventing any other 

 plants or weeds from encroaching on the appropriated area. 

 In any case, be they squatters or planters, it is certain that 

 the rice, when ripe, is duly harvested, and that it is, to say 

 the least, encouraged by the ants, to the exclusion of all 

 other competitors. ' After the maturing and harvesting of 

 the seed,' says Dr. Lincecum, ' the dry stubble is cut away 

 and removed from the pavement, which is thus left fallow 

 until the ensuing autumn, when the same species of grass, 

 and in the same circle, appears again, and receives the 

 same agricultural care as did the previous crop.' Sir 

 John Luibbock, indeed, goes so far as to say that the three 

 stages of human progress the hunter, the herdsman, and 

 the agriculturist are all to be found among various species 

 of existing ants. 



The Saiiba ants of tropical America carry their agricul- 

 tural operations a step further. Dwelling in underground 

 nests, they sally forth upon the trees, and cut out of the 

 leaves large round pieces, about as big as a shilling. These 

 pieces they drop upon the ground, where another detach- 

 ment is in waiting to convey them to the galleries of the 

 nest. There they store enormous quantities of these 

 round pieces, which they allow to decay in the dark, so 

 as to form a sort of miniature mushroom bed. On the 

 mouldering vegetable heap they have thus piled up, they 

 induce a fungus to grow, and with this fungus they feed 

 their young grubs during their helpless infancy. Mr. Belt, 

 the ' Naturalist in Nicaragua,' found that native trees 

 suffered far less from their depredations than imported 

 ones. The ants hardly touched the local forests, but they 



