have been told that this is the case by my friend Dr. Bornet, who complains of the depredations committed by the ants in the gardens of the Villa Thuret, at Antibes. They go so far as to plunder the seed bags which are hung from the branches of the trees and shrubs, unless these are securely closed and tied with string; they carry off wholesale the grass and anemone seeds,[1] which are scattered when the lawns are resown; and Dr. Bornet has seen the seeds of Acacia retinoides lie heaped up by the handful at the entrances of their nests, and disappear below after a few hours.
M. Germain de St. Pierre has observed similar facts at Hyères, where he has detected large stores of cereals in the granaries of the ants, and considers that the robberies committed by these creatures are sufficient in extent to cause a serious loss to cultivators.
It is difficult to estimate the amount of seed stored in a single nest by a colony of ants both on account of the extent of these nests, and because of the number of seeds which are always lost in digging. The nests themselves also vary greatly in size. Perhaps I shall not be very far from the mark however, if I conjecture that average-sized nests contain during the winter months about half a pint of seeds.
Atta structor is more frequently found near houses and in gardens than A. barbara, the latter usually living on wild ground adjoining cultivation. There was a flourishing colony of structor in the main street of Mentone, cleverly placed at the lintel of the door of a corn chandler's store, where they were ever on the look out for stray grains of oats and wheat, which
- ↑ Properly grass grain and anemone achenes.
