CARNIVOROUS ANTS 49 



was certainly untrue, and there could have been 

 no design or choice about their actions, for when I 

 blocked the aperture of their nest with insect shells, 

 the ants dealt with them in the same way as they 

 would treat an obstacle of earth, and deposited the 

 fragments, not on the shelly heap, but just outside 

 the mouth of the nest. I have no doubt that it is 

 a valuable habit for the ants to collect the remains 

 of their carnivorous food all in the same place some 

 distance from the formicary, and to pitch the earth 

 just outside the gate. But it is all unconscious. It 

 illustrates how strange is instinct in its thoughtless 

 action. The ants find the nest blocked with the 

 shells of insects, an unusual discovery. They clear 

 away the obstruction, but they are unable to place 

 the shells on the refuse heap for shells. All their 

 experience tells them that the only material that 

 blocks the gate is earth, and therefore the shells must 

 be treated as such and thrown out on to the earth 

 heap. 



Grasshoppers are the chief prey of this ant. But 

 bees, beetles, larvae of all kinds, terrestrial shells, ants 

 of other species, particles of dung, even their own 

 dead comrades are carried into the nest. Unlike 

 many other carnivorous ants, they do not combine in 

 vast numbers to overwhelm their prey. They are not, 

 like the harvesters, of a tranquil and peace-loving 

 temperament, but are strong, ferocious and determined 

 ants, and are capable of overwhelming so many 

 insects, each by its own individual efforts, that com- 

 bination is not very essential to the capture of their 

 prey. 



Harvesters, like civilized human beings, remove 



£ 



