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Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10765, 13 May 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

Ono of the most striking insects of tropical America is the loaf-rutting ant. Thev occur in enormous colonies, and Mill' in a short time completely strip a. tree of its leaves. They form long underground paths to the tree they select, and bite out pieces of leaf as large as a small coin, which they carrv hack with them. A case is mentioned in which the underground path was 600 feet long, and it is said to have deviated onlv slightly from a straight line. After being carried to the nest, the pieces of leaf are cut into small fragments bv another set of workers, and formed into balls, which are stacked awav.' In the decaying leaf the mycelium of a fungus ramifies. This nmaas the ants then cultivate with great skill, and it-forms their staple food.