PROVISIONS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. IO3 



found it to their advantage to permit the Aristida to 

 grow upon their disks, while they clear off all other 

 herbage; that the crop is seeded yearly in a natural 

 way by droppings from the plant, or by seeds cast out 

 by the ants, or dropped by them ; that the probable 

 reason for protecting the Aristida is the greater con- 

 venience of harvesting the seed; but, finally, that 

 there is nothing unreasonable, nor beyond the prob- 

 able capacity of the emmet intellect, in the supposi- 

 tion that the crop is actually sown. Simply, it is the 

 Scotch verdict — Not proven."^ However it may be, 

 they certainly allow no other plant to grow in the 

 neighbourhood of their grain, to withdraw the nourish- 

 ment which they wish to reserve entirely for it. 

 Properly speaking, they weed their field, cutting off 

 with their jaws all the troublesome plants which 

 appear above the soil. They pursue this labour very 

 diligently, and no strange shoot escapes their in- 

 vestigations. Thus cared for, their culture flourishes, 

 and at the epoch of maturity the grains are collected 

 one by one and carried within. Like all harvesters, 

 these Hymenoptera are at the mercy of a shower that 

 may fall during the harvest. They are well aware 

 that in this case their provisions would be damaged, 

 and that they would run the risk of germination or 

 decay in the barns. Therefore, on the first sunny 

 day all the ants, as observed by Lincecum and 

 Buckley, may be seen carrying their grains outside, 

 only bringing them back when they have been 

 thoroughly dried, and always leaving behind those 

 that have sprouted.^ 



' H. C. McCook, Natural History of the Agricultural Ants of 

 Texas, Philadelphia, 1879, pp. 33-39- 

 2 McCook, Agricultural Ants of Texas, pp. 105-107. 



