51�Թ�

On the plant side, those include phragmites, meadow grass, shepherd’s-purse; weeds, all of them, and seemingly spread by European colonization.

On the shepherd's-purse, for example, the ant climbs up, selects a well-filled pod which is not sufficiently dried to have had its seeds threshed out by the winds, takes the pod in its little jaws and then—watch him—turns round and round on his hind legs until he twists it off!

If that sluggard had gone to the ant, as wise King Solomon told him to, and learned all their ways, he would have found, among other things, how one species harvests the seeds of the plant known as the "shepherd's-purse," by twisting off the pods with its hind legs.

An ant will, for instance, ascend the stem of a fruiting plant, of shepherd’s-purse, let us say, and select a  well-filled but green pod, mid-way up the stem, those below being ready to shed their seeds at a touch.

Simple honesty shows in vain A fashion few seek to robe in, While the poor SHEPHERD'S-PURSE is ta'en By rascally RAGGED-ROBIN.