ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 113 



of these ants in that country stretch over as wide an area 

 as the largest of those observed by himself in Mentone. 



But by far the most remarkable of these ants is found 

 in Mexico. This is the My r mica or Atta malefaciens sen 

 barbata, or agricultural ant ; it is a large brown ant which 

 incredible as it may sound not only gathers corn, but 

 also plants it and reaps it when ripe, so that practises a 

 regular and complete system of agriculture, whereby, like a 

 prudent husbandman, it makes suitable and appropriate 

 arrangements for the different seasons of the year. Dr. 

 Linecum and his daughters, without other help, watched 

 this remarkable creature during ten years in the neighbor- 

 hood of their home in Texas : and the famous Charles 

 Darwin laid the observations made before the Linnasan 

 Society in London. (See " Journ. of the Proceedings of the 

 Linnsean Soc. of London," 1861, vol. vi., p. 29. Compare 

 Buckley, " Proceedings of the Academy of Nat. Sc. of 

 Philadelphia," 1860, p. 44) : " The species which I have 

 named ' Agricultural ' is a large brownish ant. It lives 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 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 or twenty inches or more, and makes the entrance 

 near the summit. Around the mound in either case the 

 ant clears the ground 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 



