TINY? BUILDERS 
31 
her food in the harvest.’ Surely we can believe 
almost anything of a little creature that is wise 
enough to store grain in the ground so that it 
neither rots nor germinates! 
“ Almost as clever as the agriculturist ants are 
the little gardeners which grow mushrooms. 
These enterprising little people are the parasol 
ants of tropical countries. To be sure, the mush¬ 
rooms which they grow are not the kind pre¬ 
ferred by man. They are a sort of spongy mold 
growth, ant mushrooms y if you please, and the 
little creatures are so fond of them that they will 
sacrifice their lives to protect their mushroom 
beds, which are made in numerous little tunnel- 
connected underground chambers, about the size 
of a man’s head. The fertilizer for these beds is 
composed of leaves specially treated, and it is 
from their manner of carrying parasol-style the 
bits of leaves which they cut from the trees that 
the little creatures get their name of parasol ant. 
But alas! often in their zeal to stock their beds 
these ants quite strip a tree; so that their presence 
in a neighborhood is a menace. 
“ Among the parasol ants, as in all colonies of 
the insect world, there is a careful division of 
labor. The ants which do the carrying do not 
make the beds. This work is in charge of ex¬ 
perts. First the bits of leaves go to the leaf- 
cutters who cut them into tiny fragments. A 
