78 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



nninities of people, as do the puebla-builders of our 

 Southwestern Territories, we would have in mind a 

 state of things very much like that existing among 

 the greater number of species of ants. In another 

 respect also the ants approach very nearly to different 

 races of human beings in different phases of human 

 development ; for, while some of these little creatures, 

 like our North American Indians, live by hunting, 

 others are pastoral — that is, have their flocks and 

 herds, which they care for, defend, pasture, and shel- 

 ter during the inclement part of the year; others, 

 again, are agricultural — raising, cultivating, and har- 

 vesting crops of grain like farmers. 



These farmers, or harvesting ants, consist of nu- 

 merous species found in the warmer countries of the 

 world, but have been made the object of careful 

 study, more particularly in Texas and Florida. Dr. 

 Lincecum, the discoverer of the agricultural, or, as 

 Dr. McCook calls it, the harvesting ant, has written 

 an excellent description of the insect, an abstract of 

 which appears in the journal of an English entomo- 

 logical societ}'^ for 1861, and is as follows: 



" The species "which I have named agricultural 

 is a large brownish ant. It dwells in what may be 

 deemed paved cities, and, like a thrifty, diligent, 

 provident farmer, makes suitable and timely arrange- 

 ments for the changing seasons. It is, in short, en- 

 dowed with skill, ingenuity, and untiring patience, 

 sufficient to enable it to contend with the varying 

 exigencies which it may have to encounter in the 

 life-conflict. 



