94 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
both of Belt and Muller — that the object of all this labour 
is highly interesting and remarkable. The leaves when 
gathered do not themselves appear to be of any service to 
the ants as food ; but when cut into small fragments and 
stored away in the nests, they become suited as a nidus 
for the growth of a minute kind of fungus on which the 
ants feed. We may therefore call these insects the 
6 gardening ants,’ inasmuch as all their labour is given to 
the rearing of nutritious vegetables on artificially prepared 
soil. They are not particular as to the material which they 
collect and store up for soil, provided that it is a material 
on which the fungus will grow. Thus they are very partial 
to the inside white rind of oranges, and wall carry off the 
flowers of certain shrubs while leaving the leaves untouched. 
But, to quote again from Bates, — 
They are very particular about the ventilation of their Under- 
ground chambers, and have numerous holes leading up to the 
surface from them. These they open out or close up, apparently 
to keep up a regular degree of temperature below. The great 
care they take that the pieces of leaves they carry into the 
nest should be neither too dry nor too damp, is also consistent 
with the idea that the object is the growth of a fungus that re- 
quires particular conditions of temperature and moisture to 
ensure its vigorous growth. If a sudden shower should come 
on, the ants do not carry the wet pieces into the burrows, but 
throw them down near the entrances. Should the weather 
clear up again, these pieces are picked up when nearly dried, 
and taken inside : should the rain, however, continue, they get 
sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On the con- 
trary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried 
up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in 
exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but 
bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during 
the night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they 
must be cut up by the small class of workers into little pieces. 
Some of the ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. 
Thus gr&ss is alw r ays rejected by them, but I have seen some 
ants, perhaps young ones, carrying leaves of grass ; but after a 
while these pieces are always brought out again and thrown 
away. I can imagine a young ant getting a severe ear- wigging 
from one of the major-domos for its stupidity. 
When a nest is disturbed and the masses of ant-food spread 
