1 895-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 307 



THE AGRICULTURAL ANT {Atta malefadens). 

 The habits of this Ant were studied in Texas by the late Dr. 

 Lincecum for the space of twelve years, and the result of his in- 

 vestigations was communicated to the Linnaean Society of Lon- 

 don by Charles Darwin. It is so extraordinary an account that 

 it must be given in the narrator's own words: 



"The species which I have named ' Agricultural' is a large brownish 

 ant. It dwells in what may be termed paved cities, and, like a thrifty, 

 diligent, provident farmer, makes suitable and timely arrangements for 

 the changing seasons. It is, in short, endowed with skill, ingenuity, and 

 untiring patience sufficient to enable it successfully to contend with the 

 varying exigencies which it may have to encounter in the life-conflict. 



" When it has selected a situation for its habitation, if on ordinary dry 

 ground, it bores a hole, around which it raises the surface three and 

 sometimes six inches, forming a low circular mound having a very gentle 

 inclination from the centre to the outer border, which, on an average, is 

 three or four feet from the entrance. But if the location is chosen on low, 

 flat, wet land liable to inundation, though the ground may be perfectly 

 dry at the time the ant sets to work, it nevertheless elevates the mound, 

 in the form of a pretty sharp cone, to the height of fifteen to twenty in- 

 ches or more, and makes the entrance near the summit. Around the 

 mound in either case theant clears the grownd of all obstructions, levels 

 and smooths the surface to the distance of three or four feet from the gate 

 of the city, giving the space the appearance of a handsome pavement, as 

 it really is. 



" Within this paved area not a blade of any green thing is allowed to 

 grow, except a single species of grain-bearing grass. " Having planted 

 this crop in a circle around, and two or three feet from the centre of the 

 mound, the insect tends and cultivates it with constant care, cutting away 

 all other grasses and weeds that may spring up amongst it and all around 

 outside of the farm-circle to the extent of one or two feet more. 



"The cultivated grass grown luxuriantly, and produces a heavy crop 

 of small, white, flinty seeds, which, under the microscope, very closely 

 resemble ordinary rice. When ripe it is carefully harvested, and carried 

 by the workers, chaff and all, into the granary cells, where it is divested 

 of the chaff and packed away. The chaff" is taken out and thrown beyond 

 the limits of the paved area. 



" During protracted wet weather it sometimes happens that the pro- 

 vision stores become damp and are liable to sprout and spoil. In this 

 case, on the first fine day the ants bring out the damp and damaged grain 

 and expose it to the sun till it is dry, when they carry it back and pack 

 away all the sound seeds, leaving those that had sprouted to waste. 



" In a peach-orchard not far from my house is a considerable elevation, 

 on which is an extensive bed of rock. In the sand-beds overlying por- 

 tions of this rock are five cities of the Agricultural Ant, evidently very 



