132 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
They were agricultural ! So also were the other nests shown. 
The reason for this confounding of the two ants on the part of 
the people hereabouts, and the reason for the 4 cutting ’ operations 
of our harvesters, will be explained farther on. It is oidy in 
point here to say that the farmer affirmed that the ants under 
the peach tree had stripped off the first tender leaves last spring, 
so that scarcely one had been left upon the limbs. I am con- 
vinced that the reason for this onslaught was the desire to be rid 
of the obnoxious shade, and open the formicary to the full light 
of the sun. 
From this account it is not very clear whether the 
writer himself saw evidence of the former denudation of 
the tree, and if so whether there was any indication, 
other than the word of the farmer, that the denudation 
had been effected by the ants. To make this conclusion 
credible the best conceivable evidence would be required, 
and this, unfortunately, is just what we find wanting. 
Somewhat the same remarks may be made on the follow-*' 
ing quotation from the same writer, though in this case 
his view is to some extent supported by an observation of 
Moggridge, as well as by that of Ebrard already quoted 
He:e I observed what appeared to be a new mode of opera- 
tion. The workers, in several cases, left the point at which 
they had begun a cutting, ascended the blade, and passed as 
far out toward the point as possible. The blade was thus borne 
downward, and as the ant swayed up and down it really 
seemed that she was taking advantage of the leverage thus 
gained, and was bringing the augmented force to bear upon the 
fracture. In two or three cases there appeared to be a division 
of labour ; that is to say, while the cutter at the roots kept on 
with her work, another ant climbed the grass blade and applied 
the power at the opposite end of the lever. This position may 
have been quite accidental, but it certainly had the appearance 
of a voluntary co-operation. I was sorry not to be able to es- 
tablish this last inference by a series of observations, as the 
facts were only observed in this one nest. 
The observation of Moggridge, to which I have alluded 
as in some measure rendering support to the foregoing, is 
as follows. Speaking of European harvesters which he 
kept in an artificial nest for the purposes of close obser- 
vat ion, he says : 
