Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1874 — Agricultural Ants. [ARTICLE]

Agricultural Ants.

Such marvelous stories are told of the sagacity of ants that one is prepared to hear almost anything concerning their intellectual achievements; but wlien we. are told that there is a species living down in Texas that actually sows, reaps, and hives grain for its winter use, the statement is almost too much for human credulity. However, we have it on the authority of Dr. Gideon Lincecum, a student of science whose observations are accepted by the savants as. careful and trustworthy. In a recent paper communicated by him to the Smithsonian Institute, and published by permission of Prof. Henry in the Naturalist, there are many interesting particulars of this singular ant, which, from its devotion to husbandry, is termed the Agricultural Ant. Its scientific name is Myrmica, molefaciens. ; This ant lives in populous communities, builds paved cities, constructs roads, and sustains large military forces ! For the first year and a half after a colony is lounded its operations are conducted underground. The ants then begin to appear above the surface, and begin to build their public works and cultivate their estates. All grass, herbage and other obstructions are cleared away to the distance of three or four feet around the entrance to their city; and a circular pavement, consisting, of a pretty hard crust about half an inch thick, is constructed of coarse sand and grit. This pavemefit is sometimes fifteen feet in diameter. To avoid the inundation which would be" likely to overflow this pavement in the rainy season, “at least six months previous to the coming of the rain” they commence the erection of a mound or pyramid, which rises a foot or more from the center of the pavement.

The mound is occupied with neatlyconstructed cells in which the “eggs, young ones and their stores of grain are carried in time of rainy seasons.” The pavement is kept clear of every growing herb except a grain-bearing grass, the Aristida strida. When ripe, this grain is harvested, the chaff removed, and then it is stored in the dry cells. The" grain from several other species of grass as well as seeds' frdtn various kinds of herbaceous plants” is also gathered and garnered. Dr. Lincecum declares that the ants even sow the grain of the Aristida strida, which he calls ant-rice. Despite their precautions, he says sometimes during rainy seasons the ground about their city becomes saturated, and the water penetrates into their granaries and sets their seeds to sprouting. Then there is a turmoil in the colony. All the damaged grain is brought out the first fine day and exposed to the sun. When night eomes every seed that has not actually sprouted is taken in‘again. Dr. Lincecum states -that one day he saw these ants ‘‘have out on a flat rock as much as a gallon of wheat, sunning.” He watched the operation of its return to the cells again, which the ants accomplished at nightfall in just five minutes. When Dr. Lincecum first went, in 1848, to Long Point, Tex —the place where he has studied these ants—there was but one of their cities within a mile of the town. —This was situated on the summit of % nearly barren knoll, where there was but scanty vegetation to interfere with the’peculiar industry of the little agriculturist. Their plantations of ant-rice were flourishing in a regular cir cle inside the pavement, and sthere were ‘‘patches of the same grass scattered around On a little glade, which had doubtless been planted there by some experienced atft, for it had nearly been

I cleared of all other vegetables.” The I country surrounding Long Point was I everywhere but in this single spot cov- , « red with a rich, black soil, Which bore f a heavy turf of grass, through which the ants could not travel, and they were therefore confined to their single city. But when, in the course of a couple of yearsl, a path passing near their pavement had got well trodden, they were able to run over it, and erect new cities op its borders. Three years after their cities were seen rising at intervals of eighty yards for the distance of a mile along this path. As we have said, for the first eighteen months.after a city is begun, its builders keep themselves hid from their enemies. At the end of that time they have gained suflicienL strength to sustain themselves in the struggle for existence with other tribes of their race, and dare announce their intentions in the above. When the ants wish to send off a new colony, they assemble in swarms from the surrounding cities and celebrate a grand marriage-festival, which continues for three or four hours. The Queen of the colony then spreads her wings and flies with the wind until she is tired, or is thrown to the ground by a countercurrent. She now runs about ip eager haste to select a proper location where to lay the foundations of the city. This she does by digging a small hole, from which, after it has reached a certain depth, she withdraws and deliberately bites off her wings with her sharp delihles. She then renews her digging until she has made an excavation of six or seven inches deep, with a small cell at the bottom, in which she ensconces herself, closes the aperture, and deposits twenty or thirty eggs. The inmates of these eggs are all workers, and when they have reached maturity they set about the labors of their lives. The Queen keeps them constantly employed, while she adds to their numbers. When her colony is numerous enough they commence their outer fortifications and the cultivation of their fields of grain.— Chicago Tribune.