They then proceed to explain how easily the white pupæ, which the ants carry about in their jaws, may have been mistaken for grains of wheat, and to inform us that the accurate observations of Mr. Gould, published in 1747, were among the first which led to the correction of this error. "However," they continue, "it may be otherwise with exotic ants, for although during the cold of our winters they are generally torpid and need scarcely any food, yet in warmer regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are probably confined to their nests, a store of provisions may be necessary for them." The author of the article on ants in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible says, in reference to the assertion that ants store seed, that "observation of the habits of ants does not confirm this belief." Latreille[15] denies it in the following emphatic terms: "N'attribuons pas à la fourmi une prévoyance inutile: engourdie pendant l'hiver, pourquoi formeroit elle des greniers pour cette saison?" [Footnote 15: Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 1802.] Huber again throws the weight of his great authority into the scale against the ants, when he says,[16] "I am naturally led to speak in this place of the manner in which ants subsist in the winter, since we have relinquished the opinion that they amass wheat and other grain, and that they gnaw the corn to prevent it from germinating." He then goes on to show how the ants are frequently torpid during the winter, and that when it happens that a few warmer days wake them up to life, they can always find a few aphides also on the alert; for, strange to say, the same degree of warmth which rouses the ants calls forth the aphides also. It would appear that ants in the northern parts of Europe feed on the honey-dew of aphides, and on animal matter when they can get it; and up to the present time the belief prevails among our modern naturalists that they are limited to the same diet in all parts of Europe. [Footnote 16: Huber, on Ants, translated by J. R. Johnson, 1820.] It is now well known, however, that exceptions must probably be made in tropical countries, for the observations of Lieut.-Col. Sykes[17] and Dr. Jerdon[18] have shown that many ants in India collect grain in large quantities, robbing the crops and plants cultivated in gardens, and even stealing seeds put away in drawers, the inference being that they employ them for food. The same observers have recorded how the ants may be seen after wet weather bringing out the grain to dry in the sun. [Footnote 17: Lieut.-Col. Sykes, Description of New Indian Ants, in Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., i. 103 (1836), where a single species of ant, which he names _Atta providens_, is described, and its habit of harvesting recorded.]