21 8 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



London, and the facts are recorded in the first 

 volume of the Proceedings of that body. 



But the horticultural ants proper are the terrible 

 Leaf-cutting Ants {Atta cephalotes), also variously 

 styled Parasol Ants and (the native name) Saiiba 

 Ants. They are natives of Tropical America, and 

 are the pests of those in that part of the world 

 who have established plantations of coffee and 

 orange. The Saiiba in some districts makes culti- 

 vation impossible for the human horticulturist, in 

 order that she may have plenty of material for her 

 own speciality, which is mushroom-growing. Bates, 

 who gave an account of what he had observed of 

 their operations in Brazil, says they mount the 

 tree in multitudes, the individuals engaged in this 

 work being all workers minor. 



" Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, 

 and cuts with its sharp scissor-like jaws a nearly 

 semicircular incision on the upper side; it then 

 takes the edge between its jaws, and by a sharp 

 jerk detaches the piece. Sometimes they let the 

 leaf drop to the ground, where a little heap accu- 

 mulates, until carried off by another relay of 

 workers ; but, generally, each marches off with 

 the piece it has operated upon, and as all take the 

 same road to their colony, the path they follow be- 

 comes in a short time smooth and bare, looking like 

 the impression of a cart-wheel through the herbage." 



Bates was not able to discover for what purpose 

 the ants went to all this trouble. He thought he 

 had found the reason, and supposed the leaves were 



