San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-19

fOr SOIue udyS W HoupySbpN 0"V ss.~S
after feeding she was on her way to the
nest when she met some friends, whom
she fed, and then returned alone to the
honey. On her way back she met some
other friends, whom she fed, and then
five of them went back with her to the
honey. In due course they, no doubt,
brought others. ,i,,,, moi o..e,.I /,
He believed they were able to distin-
guish between large and small guam
tity. To test this, he put some Of the
Laesius Niger species into a small store,
and others into large one, and, having
watched for fifty hours. found that the
ants with the small quantity brought 80
friends to share it, and the ants with
the large store brought 257.aaTo try
whether they could send their friends
to a store, he put an ant (Niger) to
some honey, which he placed near her
nest. She fed, returned to the nest,
and came out with ten friends. He took
her up, however, and put her into the
honey, and her friends. then, wandered
about, and then returned to the nest. 1t
was hard to say whether there were diff
ferences of character in ants OF the same
species, as they behaved differently un-
der different conditions, but there were
great differences of character and hab.
its between those of different species,
putting aside the slave-making species,
which he thought would find it impos-
sible to compete with the lself-depend-
ent and freezer species. These commu-
mites even showed curious analogies to
the earlier stages of human progress.
There were, the hunting, the pastoral,
and even the agricultural ants. The
first lived. chiefly by the chase, and
hunted alone. Their battles were sin
Gle combats, like those described by the
ancient poets. The second were a
higher type of sociallife.l They demon
strated certain species Of aphides like
flocks and herbs. They were immense,
and acted in concert! He thought they
would probably exterminate the first
type, Just as the,white man externinat-
ed the -savagesali Of the agricultural
class-the harvest ants-he would not
speak, as there were none in this coun-
try. q When. he first began to keep ants
he isolated the nests by water, but 1t
was necessary to change that often, and
observing that the hairs on the, stems of
flowers prevented the ants from climb
ing them, he had since used ferns. One
of the most surprising points connected
with ants was that while there was one
hest they never appeared to quarrel, all
others, even of the same species, being
treated as strangers and enemies. There
was no installing the treatment. If an
ant (tusca) wanted to carry away a
friend to place of security, she took
her by the mandible, and her friend
rolled herself into ball, but an enemy
is seized by the leg or an antenna.
He confirmed the experiments of HUI
Der as to their being able to recognize
their friends, even after a long absence,
or rather their acquaintance, for
although he saw they attacked and
killed their enemies, he could not find
any trace of warm affection for their
friends. He tested this by taking some
out of nest and suspending them in a
bottle covered with muslin. Those in
the nest took no notice of them, but
when strangers were put in they were
indignant, and never stopped until they
cut through the muslin and attacked
them. He marked SOME ants in a nest
with paint, and found that their friends
removed it, but stranger going into
the nest was restless, and got out as
quickly as possible. 1t would be inter-
esting to know how they recognize their
friends. 1t might be by smell or some
sign, or by actual recognition. sm'g. 90
90 In order to try whether they could
recognize them when insensible, he first
used chloroform but that practically
killed them, and he then made them in
toxicated. He did so by putting them
into whisky, not whisky into them, for
they we're too sensible to take it even on
week days! He tried an experiment
with rs friends and 80 strangers. The
sober ants. coming out of the nests and
finding the intoxicated ants lying help
less on their backs in ludicrous attitudes,
proceeded to take them up and carry
them of OF the 25 they brought 90
into the nest, where, probably, they
soon slept off the effects. The other five
they dropped into the moat of water
which then surrounded the nest. Why
they did so he could not tell. Perhaps
they fell into the hands of stern teeto-
talers. AS to the 80 strangers, % were
thrown into the ihoat, and the other two
were taken no notice of. .,-
He took some pupn out of a nest, and
on putting them back, after some
months, found that they were received
AS friends, while some which were put
into different nest were attacked. 1t
was generally stated that all the eggs in
u nest of ants or bees were laid by
queens. That was not strictly so, for
some were laid by workers, though the
cases were exceptional. He had some
nests in which there were no queens,
aud yet there were eggs in them; but
tho apCrs laid hy workers ALWAYS DrO-