The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-07-12
Written trr the WosslvsNAS's Al, o. ara
Habits and Instincts of Ants.

Y, uN , AciNpRE
/ Many curious and interesting anecdotes
are recorded of the habits and instincts Of
ants and ~ the sagacity and reasoning
which they seem To possess They appear
also o. have some power of communicating
with each other. IT, during the predatory
excursions NJ South American species
an intervening space occurs which they can
not cross, som@ Of the creatures link them
selves together a. monkeys iu Ike cIrcum
stances have been known to du forming a
bridge over which the main body passes
Ants arr m general very courageous ana
puguaclous. MANY battles take place
among them. both between individuals
and large parties ana after a battle com
batants may he found locked ia each others
embrace as having died together ln the
struggle More extraordinary than any
thing NJ this Kind. however. l. the fact sui
hclentIy ascertamed that some species Of
ants gn On regular fOrays. t. carry Of the
idrrd, w DUy,t, III certain other species
which they carry To their own habitatlons
% rear and keep As slaves IN the work which
might b. regarded as properly belonging to
the workers Ot their own race fact to
which no other at all analogous has pre-
sented i,self III natural history The spe-
cies known thus to make and keep slaves
are called the Amazon ants Ii has been
noted As curious circumstance, that the
kIdnappers are red or pale colored ants, and
the slaves are JET black The kidnapping
excursions take place only at a particular
period Of the year when the nest II the
negro ants contain the neuter brood. The
army nf red ants then marches forth, the
vanguard which consists of eight or ten
only, continually changing ANA on their
arriving at the village Of the negro ants. a
desperate conflict ensues, which ends III the
defeat ut the negroes and thereupon the
red ants, with their powerful mandibles
tear open the now undefended Notifications
enter It and emerge, carrying the p'tpde IN
their mouth, and start for home as fast as
ant legs will carry them, where the young
there are treated with the greatest Of care
and spend their lives among the red ants
eNcavatlng passages, collecting food. car
ryin9 larvae, &c., as If this had been their
original destination II is thoroughly TN
derstOod among the colony Of red ants to
not seize the breeding ants nothing but
neuters. The labors and policy Of the ants
Y are, when more closely examined, still more
wonderful than those Of the bees. The
habitation they build Is n city consisting Of
7 dwelling places, halls, streets and squares,
into which the streets open, proving be-
/ yOnd doubt that there exists among their
| community some fixed social Law not to BE
transgressed without punishment.
\ Honey-dew - the saccharine secretion
Of aphides IA small animal that Sc
secretes honey like the beeJ Il favorite
\ food Of the ants and with this are connect
ed some Of their most extraordinary in
stincts for not only do they climb the
| plants On which the aphides live, but they
have been seen to wait beside them for new
drops, and even 10 touch them with their
attennae two small thread-like substances
extending from their head which keep con
tinually mOviDg) in order to cause the
drops to flow, pattlng the belly of the little
animal on each side alternately and rapid
\ ly the ant after the drop has been OBJ
tanned, passes on to another aphis The
whole process has been likened to the milk
ing 0f cows. Even the ants regard partic-
ular aphides as their own property and are
ready to fight in defence 81 their rights to
them that to secure them for themsel YES
they carry them from one place 10 another
and the ant cows are kept IN large num-
bers throughout the winter ana summer IN
the villages Of the ants, III order that there
may be always on hand full supply Of
| food, the ant sharing the same sohcitude
for the aphides and their young as they DO
with their OVID
What a multitude Of ideas occur to the
human intellect contemplating these won
derful mysteries enshrouding our life II
would recur to mind on reflection, seem
ingly, that an infinite power had for some
incomprehenslble purpose, gwen from him
self these wonderful and mysterious prin-
ciples Life and Intelligence to human
ana brute maintaining themselves by one
continual struggle 70 achieve the object des
tined by Him.
II cannot be that the infinite wisdom u
experimenting or tritiing, for He who is all
powerful understandeth his work froIn the
beginning when he imbued his spirit into
the first organic atom t. the dissolution Ut
life perfected on this planet, OF throughout
eternal space though countless ages il has
and may consume to our finite mind for
the accomplishment Of this grand work
Yet to the Infinite those ages will be but A.
/ a moment.
lITTIF arirl at a hrea fast table MAN