130 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



operations which Mr. Belt described in the " Naturalist 

 in Nicaragua," and of which Herr Alfred Mollen 

 collected a number of similar examples among other 

 South American ants. They pulp the rose-leaves, 

 roll them into balls, and heap them in masses in the 

 nest. On these " mushroom-beds " grows a fungus or 

 mould, and on this the ants live. The mushroom- 

 bed, and the process of preparation and growth, could 

 be seen through the glass top of the box in which the 

 ants at the Zoological Gardens were kept. Mr. Belt, 

 after clearly describing the object of these labours, in 

 the book already referred to, reserves his opinion as to 

 the intelligence which directs them. " Many of these 

 actions," he writes, "such as those of two relays of 

 workmen to carry out the ant-food, can scarcely be 

 blind instinct ; " and he gives instances of the mis- 

 takes made by the ants and of their correction. But 

 he prefers to state the facts rather than to hazard a 

 theory to account for them. 



The interesting question suggested by the activities 

 of the gardener ant is whether it consciously uses its 

 intelligence, or, if not, how far " instinct " and reason 

 are working side by side. In endeavouring to solve 

 it, we are confronted at the outset with this difficulty, 

 that the insect mind works on lines remote from our 

 own experience, and exhibits its methods by indica- 

 tions very hard for us to interpret. The aloofness 

 of the insect mind from apprehension by vertebrates' 

 brains perplexes all inquirers. We can range ourselves 

 side by side with the constructive bird, or the engineer- 

 ing beaver. There is sympathy between us and them 



