136 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



western Texas. This species, which lias been carefully 

 studied by Dr. Lincecum for the space of twelve years, is, 

 save man, the only creature which does not depend for its 

 sustenance on the products of the chase or the spontaneous 

 fruits of the earth. As soon as a colony of these ants have 

 become sufficiently numerous they clear a tract of ground, 

 some four or five feet in width, around their city. In this 

 plot all existing plants are eradicated, all stones and rub- 

 bish removed, and a peculiar species of grass is sown, the 

 seeds of which resemble very minute grains of rice. The 

 field — for so we must call it — is carefully tended by the 

 ants, kept free from weeds, and guarded against marauding 

 insects. When mature, the crop is reaped, and the seeds 

 are carried into the nest. If they are found to be too 

 damp, they are carefully carried out, laid in the sunshine 

 till sufficiently dry, and then housed again. 



11. This formation of a plot of cleared land is a critical 

 point in the career of a young community. Any older and 

 larger city which may lie within some fifty or sixty paces 

 looks upon the step as a cause of war, and at once marches 

 its armies to the attack. After a combat ensues, which 

 may be prolonged for days, Providence declares in favor 

 of the largest battalions, and the less numerous community 

 is exterminated, fighting literally to the last ant. When a 

 colony is unmolested, it increases rapidly in population, 

 and undertakes to lay out roads : one of these, from two 

 to three inches in width, has been traced to one hundred 

 yards from the city. These ants are not very carnivorous, 

 nor do they damage the crops of the neighboring farmers. 



12. Persons who intrude upon their premises are bitten 

 with great zeal, but otherwise the species may be regarded 

 as harmless. One creature alone they seem to tolerate near 

 them, and that is the small, black "erratic ant," which 

 Dr. Lincecum conjectures may be of some use to them, and 

 which is therefore allowed to build its small cities in their 



