ANT

ANT (Heb. נְמָלָה, nemalah). The ant most frequent in Israel is the "harvest ant," the Messor semirufus. It is this ant which is described as the symbol of diligence and wisdom, preparing for the future by storing food during the harvest, and having no "guide, overseer, or ruler" (Prov. 6:6–7; 30:24–25). Rabbinic literature contains further details of their habits. They gnaw at the corn to extract the ears (Pe'ah 2:7). They cause extensive damage to harvested grain, and as a result R. Simeon b. Gamaliel permitted the destruction of antheaps during the intermediate days of festivals. He put forward an original method for their destruction: "Soil is brought from one heap, placed in the other, and they strangle one another" (MK 6b). This procedure is based on the belief that every antheap has its own peculiar odor which acts as a deterrent to the entry of ants from other heaps. Simeon b. Ḥalafta\>\> also refers to their developed sense of smell. Undertaking experiments to determine their social life, he came to the conclusion that one ant does not take an ear of corn dropped by another since it recognizes its smell (Ḥul. 57b; Yal., Prov. 938). Large amounts of grain are gathered in their nests; according to one statement "three hundred kor" were once found (ibid.). The antheap consists of three chambers; the grain is stored in the upper one and the insects live in the middle, while the lower one is their summer habitat. The same Midrash actually refers to these compartments, but regards the middle one as the storehouse. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lewysohn, Zool, 328–30; Tristram, Nat Hist, 319–21; S. Bodenheimer, Ha-Ḥai be-Arẓot ha-Mikrah, 2 (1956), index; J. Feliks, Animal World of the Bible (1962), 122. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Feliks, Ha-Ẓome'aḥ, 252. (Jehuda Feliks)