Belt’s conclusions have been since amply verified, and the actual process of preparing the leaves and laying down the mushroom-beds, as well as the clipping and—if I mistake not—eating of the mushrooms, has been observed. Herr Möller—a German observer who resided for some years in tropical America—is usually referred to in this connection; but such extracts from his writings as I have come across are to me less _convincing_ than the following account of Mr. Edward Tanner, which is contained in the _Journal of the Trinidad Field Club_.[61] The observations were made with ants in confinement, as were Herr Möller’s also, I believe. “Each forager,” says Mr. Tanner, “drops her portion of leaf in the nest, which is taken up as required by the small workers, and carried to a clear space in the nest to be cleaned. This is done with their mandibles, and if considered too large, it is cut into smaller pieces. It is then taken in hand by the larger workers, who lick it with their tongues. Then comes the most important part, which is almost always done by the larger workers, who manipulate it between their mandibles, the ant using her palpi, tongue, three of her legs, and her antennæ while doing so. It now becomes a small, almost black ball, varying in size from a mustard-seed to the finest dust-shot, according to the size of the piece of leaf that has been manipulated, which varies from ⅛ by ⅛ to ¼ by ¼ of an inch. These balls, really pulp, are then built on to an edge of the fungus-bed by the larger workers, and are slightly smoothed down as the work proceeds. The new surface is then planted by the smaller workers with slips of the fungus brought from the older part of the nest. Each plant is planted separately, and they know exactly how far apart the plants should be. It sometimes looks as if the plants had been put in too scantily in places, yet in about forty hours, if the humidity is regulated, it is all evenly covered with a mantle as if of very fine snow. It is this fungus they eat, and with small portions of it the workers feed the larvæ.”