ants. They rushed to the seeds in a warlike attitude, and began
carrying them off, depositing them two or three feet away. But as soon
as the excitement caused by the sudden pouring down of the seeds had
subsided, they seemed to comprehend that they had been throwing away
good seeds; and now, changing their tactics, not only carried the
remainder into the nest, but finally brought back and stored all those
that had been thrown away.

On excavating the nests we found granaries of seed scattered irregularly
throughout to the depth of twenty-two inches below the surface of the
ground: some were near the surface, and a few sprouted seeds were
scattered about in the mound. The mound is usually not more than four to
six inches above the level of the ground.

The great majority of nests that I have found are in the low pine
barrens--so low that on reaching the depth of two feet the water runs
into the cavity like a spring, and stands above some of the granaries.
Notwithstanding this wet locality, I found no sprouted seeds in the
deeper store-rooms, but only in the warmer mound. On sunny days the
larvae are brought up into the mound and deposited in chambers near the
surface, where they receive the benefit of the sun's rays. On cool,
cloudy days and in the early morning I found no larvae near the surface.
If the ants are intelligent enough to treat the larvae in this way, why
should they not store seeds where they will not sprout? And when they
need to sprout them in order to obtain the sugar they contain, it would
take no more wisdom to treat the seed as they do the larvae--bringing
them near the surface to obtain the right degree of heat for the
required result.

The little workers seem very determined not to allow any green thing to
grow on their mounds. Cassia and croton and many other plants start to
grow from seeds which the ants have dropped, but they are always cut
down and destroyed if too near the mound, though allowed to grow at a
little distance; so that a botanist would be astonished at the great
variety of plants within a small area if not aware of the source from
which they came. I sometimes found small shrubs of _Kalmia hirsuta_ and
_Hypericums_ entirely dead on the mounds, the roots completely girdled
in many places. It is very amusing to watch them in their efforts to
destroy grass and other plants. Their determined persistence is
remarkable: they cut off the tender blades and throw them away. But they
do n