The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-09-20

|or. some days 70 honey, anu saw tnnt
after feeding she was on her way 70 the
nest when she met some friends, whom
he fed. and Their returned alone 70 the
honey. On her way back she met some
other friends, whom shs fed, and then
Eve OF them went back with her 70 the
honey. In due course they. no doubt,
others.
He believed they were able TO distin-
cuish between q large and small guam
tity. To test this, he put some Of the
Laesius Niger species into small store,
and othersinto a large one, and, having
watched for fifty hours, found that the \
ants with the small quantity brought 81 4
friends 70 share it, and the ants with
the large store brought 255. To try
whether they could send their friends
to 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 10 the nest II
was hard to say whether there were diff
ferences ofcharacter in ants of the same
species, As they behaved differently I'M
der different conditions, but there were
great differences of character and hab-
its between those of different species,
putting aside the sIave-making species,
which be thought would find it impos-
sible To compete with the self-depend-
emit 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 q
higher type of social life. They demon
strated certain species Of aphides like
fiocks and herbs. They were immense,
and acted in concert. He thought they
would probably exterminate' the first
type, lust as the white man exterminat-
ed tie savages. OF the agricultural
class-the harvest ants-he would not
speak. as there were none in this coun-
try. When he first began to keep ants
he isolated the nests by water, but it
was necessary to change that often, and
observing that the hairs on the stems of
flowers prevented the ants from climb
ing them, ne had since used ferns One
of the most surprising points connected
with ants was that while there was one
nest they never appeared 70 quarrel, all
others, even of the same species, being
treated, as strangers and enemies. There
was no n:istaking the treatment. If an
ant (fnsca) wanted to carry away a
friend 70 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 long absence,
or rather their acquaintances, for
although he saw they attacked and
killed their enemies, he could not find
any trace Of warm affection for their
friends. He lssted this BY taking some
out Of a nest and suspending them in a
bottle covered with muslin. Those in
the nest took no notice of them, but
when strangers we're put in they were
indignant, and never stopped until they
cut Through the muslin and attacked
them. He marked some ants in q 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. II would be inter-
esting IT, know how they recognize their
friends. 1t might be BY smell or some
sign, or By actual recognition.
In order to try whether they could
recognize them when insensible, he iirst
used chloroform; but that practically
killed them, and he then made them in
toxicated. He did 50 BY putting them
into whisky, not whisky into them, for
they we're too sensible TO take il. even on
week days. He tried an experiment
with rs friends and 30 strangers. The
sober ants coming ont 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 ~
into the nest, where, probably, they
soon slept of the effects. The other five
they dropped into the moat Of water
which then surrounded the nest Why
they did 80 he could not tell. Perhaps
they fell into the hands Of stern teeto-
talers. As to the 80 strangers. % were
thrown into the moat, and the other two
were taken no notice II.
He took some pupa out Of nest, and
on putting them back, after sems
months, fonnd that they were received
as friends, while some which were put
into different nest were attacked L
was generally stated that all the eggs II
nest Of ants or bees were laid b,
queens. That was not strictly 20. fol-
some were laid by workers, though thu
cases were exceptional. He had sons
nests in which there were no queens
and yet there we're eggs in tEem; bu
the eggs laid By workers always pro
duced males. lie had made some exper
irnenfs To test the senses Of ants III