| Show P sak t i ANTS THAT GROW MUSHROOMS insects make excellent gardeners in south america I 1 prof J R ainsworth davist Davis sg gives 1 ves latest proofs of the ants right to our I 1 applause says the philadelphia record he says in tropical america the traveler in their native region oft en sees thousands of ants marching in column of route each holding in its powerful jaws a piece of green leat leaf about the size of a sixpence these they take to their nests the material is used as an elaborate sort ot of mushroom culture requiring much more skill and intelligence than that in which human beings engage the mushroom grower sets spawn in the beds he prepares but the ant does not need to do this the desired spa spawn wil soon makes its appearance in tho the chewed leat leaf but in its natural sta state stae e it Is inedible and must undergo careful treatment before it yields the mushroom which the art act desires the necessary work Is done by a special caste of gardener ants these weed out the obnoxious germs etc and pruning off the tips of the threads preventing them from growing into the air and producing useless toad stools As a result of this the threads swell into innumerable little rounded white thickenings thicken ings each of which to la about one fiftieth of an inch across it Is these which are the mushrooms these curious bodies constitute the th sole gole food of the ant or at any rate the chief food |
