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amount of pain as that caused by honey bees. There are three sets of neuters in each 

 colony — major and minor workers and soldiers, and one wingless queen. 



"Early in December, 1877," Miss Treat relates, "I brought a large colony of these 

 ants from one of the hills, including the workers, major and minor, and soldiers, and estab- 

 lished them in a glass jar which I placed in my study. They very soon commenced work, 

 tunnelling the earth and erecting a formicary, as nearly as they could after the pattern 

 of their home on the barrens. The mining was done entirely by the small workers. At 

 first they refused all animal food, but ate greedily fruit and sugar ; and all kinds of seeds 

 which I gave them were immediately taken below, out of sight. I now visited the mounds 

 on the barrens, and found abundant indications of their food supplies. At the base of 

 each mound was a heap of chaff and shells of various kinds of seeds. The chaff was of Aris- 

 tida specifomiis, which grew plentifully all about. I also found many seeds of Euphorbia 

 and Croton, and several species of leguminous seeds. But the ants were not bringing 

 seeds in at this time of the year ; they were only carrying out the discarded seeds and 

 chaff ; and only on the warmest days were they very active. But they do not wholly 

 hibernate. Even after a frosty night, by ten o'clock in the morning many of the hills 

 would be quite active. 



"^On excavating a nest, I found chambers, or store-rooms, filled with] various kinds of 

 seeds. But, so far as I have observed, the seeds are not eaten until they are swollen or 

 sprouted, when the outer covering bursts of itself. At this stage the starch is being con- 

 verted into sugar, and this seems to be what the ants are after. They also seemed to be 

 very fond of the yellow pollen-dust of the pine. The catkins of the long-leaved pine com- 

 menced falling in February, and I noticed ants congregated on them ; so I took those 

 just ready to discharge the pollen, and shook the dust on the mound in little heaps, which 

 were soon surrounded by ants, crowding and jostling each other in their eagerness to ob- 

 tain a share. 



"The colony in the glass jar seemed perfectly contented, not trying to make their 

 escape at all. The earth was originally a little more than two inches in depth, but by the 

 first of February these wonderful architects had reared their domicile to the height of 

 six inches. They raised tier upon tier of chambers in so substantial a manner that they 

 never fell in. One of the store-rooms in which they deposited the seeds I gave them was 

 at the bottom of the jar, and the seeds were stored against the glass with no intervening 

 earth between ; it contained about a teaspoonful of millet. I gave this chamber the right 

 degree of heat and moisture to sprout the seed by pouring a little water down the side of 

 the jar until it penetrated the chamber, and then setting it near the lire. The ants soon 

 appreciated the condition of;this store-room, and many congregated there and seemed to be 

 enjoying a feast. The next day the seeds were all brought to the surface and deposited in a 

 little heap on one side of the jar, where many of them grew, making a pretty little green 

 forest, which the ants soon cut down and destroyed. This chamber remained empty for 

 three or four days, and was then again filled with fresh millet and apple and croton 

 seeds. " 



On excavating some nests of the same species (Attn crudelis) in their native haunts 

 on the barrens, she found granaries of seeds scattered irregularly throughout to the depth 

 of twenty-two inches below the surface of the ground ; some were near the surface, and a 

 few scattered about in the mound had sprouted. The mound is usually not more than 

 four to six inches above the level of the ground. 



"The great majority of nests," she adds, 4 'that I have found are in the low pine 

 barrens — so low that on reaching the depth of two feet the water runs into the cavity like 

 a spring, and stands above some of the granaries. Notwithstanding this wet locality, I 

 found no sprouted seeds in the deeper store-rooms, but only in the warmer mound. On 

 sunny days the larvae are brought up into the mound and deposited in chambers near the 

 surface, where they receive the benefit of the sun's rays. On cool, cloudy days and in the 

 early morning I found no larva? near the surface. If the ants are intelligent enough to 

 treat the larvae in this way, why should they not store seeds where they will not sprout ? 

 And when they need to sprout them in order to obtain the sugar they contain, it would 

 take no more wisdom to treat the seed as they do the larvae — bringing them near the 

 surface to obtain the right degree of heat for the required result." 



