. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. though by no means exclu-sively, on grass seeds, and since, moreover, the seeds of Aristida area very common and favorite article of food, it is easy to see why thisgrass should predominate in the circle. In reality, however, only a THE HARVESTING ANTS. 287 small percentage of the nests, and only those situated in grassy locali-ties, present such circles. Now to state that the inolefacicns, like aprovident farmer, sows this cereal and guards and weeds it for the sakeof garnering its grain, is as absurd as to say that the family cook isplanting
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. though by no means exclu-sively, on grass seeds, and since, moreover, the seeds of Aristida area very common and favorite article of food, it is easy to see why thisgrass should predominate in the circle. In reality, however, only a THE HARVESTING ANTS. 287 small percentage of the nests, and only those situated in grassy locali-ties, present such circles. Now to state that the inolefacicns, like aprovident farmer, sows this cereal and guards and weeds it for the sakeof garnering its grain, is as absurd as to say that the family cook isplanting and maintaining an orchard when some of the peach stones,which she has carelessly thrown into the backyard with the otherkitchen refuse, chance to grow into peach trees. There are several other facts that go to show that the circle ofgrass about the inolefacicns nests is an unintentional and inconstantby-product of the activities of the ant-colony. First, the Aristida oftengrows in flourishing patches far from the nests of inolefacicns. Second,. •*~ -*. FIG. 163. Mound of occidentnlis at Las Vegas, New Mexico, show-ing large cleared area around cone. (Original.) one often finds very flourishing ant colonies that have existed for yearsin the midst of much travelled roads or in stone side-walks thirtymeters or more from any vegetation whatsoever. In these casesthe ants simply resort for their supply of seeds to the nearest field orlawn, or pilfer the oat-bin of the nearest stable. Third, it is evidentthat even a complete circle of grass like that described by Lincecnmand McCook would be entirely inadequate to supply more than a verysmall fraction of the grain necessary for the support of a flourishing-colony of these ants. Hence they are always obliged to make longtrips into the surrounding vegetation, and thereby wear out regular ANTS. paths which radiate tnun the cleared disk in different directions, oftento a distance of 1O-2O in. from the nest. These paths, i
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
