PROVISIONS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 99 



well-filled but green pod, mid-way up the stem, those 

 below being ready to shed their seeds at a touch. 

 Then seizing it in its jaws, and fixing its hind legs 

 firmly as a pivot, it contrives to turn round and 

 round, and so to strain the fibres of the fruit-stalk 

 until they snap ; it then patiently backs down the 

 stem. Sometimes two ants combine their efforts; 

 one, at the base of the peduncle, gnaws at the point of 

 greatest tension, while the other hauls upon it and 

 twists it. And sometimes the ants drop the capsules 

 to their companions below, corresponding with the 

 curious account given by .iElian of the way the spike- 

 lets of corn are thrown down " to the people below.'' 

 In this labour they display the activity usual in their 

 race, and do not stop until they have carried away 

 to their barns the amount of provision they desire. 

 When their wealth is stored up in the nest, the ants 

 pile up the grains in some hundred little rooms 

 designed for this purpose, each measuring from seven 

 to eight centimetres in diameter, and three or four in 

 height ; the average granary being about the size of 

 a gentleman's gold watch. Adding up the quantities 

 of grain divided between these different barns, it is 

 found that they may be estimated at about 500 or 

 600 grammes, which represents a very large number 

 of meals for such small appetites, and must cost 

 colossal labour if we take into consideration the size 

 of the workers. But when the harvest is completed, 

 the Atta barbara have not completed their task; they 

 are too ingenious to limit themselves to waiting with 

 crossed legs for the moment to come when they may 

 enjoy their labour, without considering the damage 

 that may arise. Their first care is to prevent the grains 

 from germinating for some weeks. How they obtain 



