ANTS AND THEIR HELPLESS CHILDREN. 593 
out the next March, and place on the daisy stalks, 
which are their natural home. In warm countries, 
however, such as the shores of the Mediterranean, and 
the Southern States of North America, there is no 
chillinsr influence to make the ants hibernate, while 
o * 
at the same time for some part of the year they 
cannot find their accustomed food in the fields and 
meadows. And so in these warm countries, it comes 
to pass that the ant " provideth her meat in the sum- 
mer, and gathereth her food in the harvest," although 
many writers have denied the truth of this, because 
they had only studied the ants of colder countries. 
It was among the lemon terraces of the warm 
sheltered valley of Mentone, that Mr. Traherne 
Moggridge, during the last years of an invalid life, 
set himself to watch these little harvesters,"" which all 
belong to the two-knobbed ants (see p. 271). There 
they were to be found in the early spring, as soon 
as any seeds were ripe, hard at work on the rough 
slope of the terrace, tearing off the seed-vessels of 
the Shepherd's Purse and the Chickweed, and plun- 
dering Pea-flowers, Honey-worts, and grasses of their 
seeds, and then carrying them in their mandibles to 
the nest. Sometimes a young and fcolish ant 
brought in rubbish, and not a few were deceived by 
some small white beads strewn by Mr. Moggridge on 
the path. But these no sooner reached the nest than 
they were hustled out by their elders, to throw the 
useless burden away, so that in a very short time 
they all learnt to leave the beads alone. 
Meanwhile another set of workers within the 
ant-city were busy stripping off the husks of the seeds 
* Ada structor and Atta barbara, 
20 
