AGRICULTURAL ANTS, 61 
to October. On one occasion he even observed the 
ants bringing up their stores of grain to dry them 
after the closing thunderstorms of the monsoon; an 
observation which has been since confirmed by other 
naturalists. 
It is now known that harvesting ants occur in the 
warmer part of Europe, where their habits have been 
observed with care, especially by Moggridge and Lespés. 
It does not yet seem quite clear in what manner the 
ants prevent the grains from germinating. Moggridge 
found that if the ants were prevented from entering 
the granaries, the seeds began to sprout, and that this 
was also the case in deserted granaries. It would ap- 
pear therefore that the power of germination was not 
destroyed. , 
On the other hand, Lespés confirms the statement 
long ago made by Aldrovandus that the ants gnaw off 
the radicle, while Forel asserts that Alta structor 
allows the seeds in its granaries to commence the pro- 
cess of germination for the sake of the sugar. 
A Texan ant, Pogonomymex barbatus, is also a 
harvesting species, storing up especially the grains of 
Aristida oligantha, the so-called ‘ant rice,’ and of a 
grass, Buchle dactyloides. These ants clear disks, ten 
or twelve feet in diameter, round the entrance to their 
nest, a work of no small labour in the rich soil, and 
under the hot sun, of Texas. I say ‘clear disks,’ but 
some, though not all, of these disks are occupied, espe- 
cially round the edge, by a growth of ant rice. These 
