The sun., 1878-09-01
THE INTELLIeEscE or ANTS.
Interesting Experiments Made with them by
Sir j ohm Lubbork.
AZ the meeting nf the British Asaociatlon

paper on The Habits " Ants. A great dcslrr !
tc hear it was expressed. and the rending If it
was frequently iniorruutol ny tho Efforts ui |
crowd ~ disappointed reop'e 70 Ert INTO thc
room. which was complained Of as too small.
SirJnhu Iuil'aal, si..'.l thuth he had been for
some yrars watching the habits ~ ants and
ccs. Though living in captivity. they wcro in
good health. and he had In ono nest queen
which had lived with him since 1874 lie could
confirm tue statements when had bqsn, made
with respect ~ the architec'ura skill Of ants.
their attention 10 their young, thcir remarkable
organization. thoir ppss ession OF domestic ami
mails. and even the institution OF slavery. Ho
had also watched scNctn, other insects whicn
lived i'm association with them, OF which VI.
Andre calculated that there were 5S3 species.
In some cascs tho association was accidental,
in others 1t was because the nests afforded
sholtor to other insects. anu there were also
sonic uncomfortable companio ions which nttnched
themselves to ants and could not be got rid Of.
The common house ant was 70 be found some
times In association with other ants. but tho
cases were exceptional ana ne hhd never seen
any instance nearly allied species. how
ever, tho sauguinca was sometimes found in
association with others, generally the fusca. In
such cases the nest belonged To the snnguinoa.
Tho queen and the young were ot that species,
and the fuscas were slaves. though free to como
and go NJ there was no might've slave law and
they seemed To be quite re'OnciIcd To- TIER posi-
lion. They assisted In the household duties,
and in foragng for proysionsi Ihcy Kept We
nphidcs IN corn ami derived 'onsl ierahle
share OF thoir sustenance from thein. In INC
winter. when they were OF no us". they were
| sill tended with great care, unlil the spring,
when they became again u-etul nm insinnce oi
| prudence and forcihought uneXampled IN the
/ animal kingdom. There was one species which
took no part whatever iu the duties 81 the house:
| mold, aud would even starve Ia the midst OF
plenty II the food Were pot put into ihcir mouths.
lie had c9niirmeu huu,r = ii'haieaD cNi,iii Pill
and In health for months by allowing them
! slave for an hour dW to Iced anu clean, them.
| honey about half an inch over the nest, which
could only bo reached by pQper bridge ten
Ey' Ey whiich they Vt could reach it. Ihoy soon
swnrncd over the ear'h ana hesan to eat. but
/ when he removed some of tie earth Il never oc-
curred 10 them To hcat II NJ again, thnush they
! tried 10 stretch up 20 tho honey, and they went
round by the bridge. lie made a similar eH-
pertinent hy placng honcy which could only be
| reached by crossing chnsm over which hr had
laid ar a bridge bit 9f straw, lie slightly
moved the bridge. and thoy tried in vain 70
stretch over. but never thought " putting the
straw hack which they could easily have done.
| Every one knew that II an ant or bee found
~ but very little iutelIigci @ was implied II
the ants and bees oAiy accompanied their
TRe case was different II they could describe
| the locality md send their friends ~ H. Ihey
! did not however appear To- he able 10 commu-
| nlcatc IL much as That 20 tueir friends. II Il
fus as nest were disturbed and one Of them
that her friends should come To u. She went up
| tooue pi them and took % ~ tllr man llDlc. lh'
second mt ruleu hrrseV ul iht9 u.ii. an" Ms MS
second aut then went 10 % third, and the process
was repeated. II" put an ant whlch had hern
without food fQr some days 10 honey aud saw
that after feeding she WINS on her way 10 the
nest when she met some friends, whom she fol.
WAY back she me, some other friends whom she
fed and then i've - them went back with her TO
the honey, Ia duo course they' No doubt
H"b,lieyed they were ahle 10 distinguish be-
tween large Ani a small quantity. To tost
this he put some Of the Laesius Niger species
into small store. and others into arge ono.
and. having watched for my hours, found that
| friends L. sharr II. and tho ants Will the lafge
store brought 2j1; To Try whether they could
send their friends to store. he tut an ant
Niger TO some honey which lie placed near
hor nest She fed. rcturhcd y the nest anu
! however and put her into III" money. ana h"I
friends then wandered about. andthen returned
to the nest Il was hard to say whether there
species. as they behaved differently under dif.
feront conditions: but there were great dilier,
different species, putting aside the save-mak'
ny species which he Thought would find II i'm.
possihle 10 compete MiA the seli-deuehden'
showed curious analogies io tho carlier stages
There were tho hunting. the. pastoral, and
even t,o agrl uNurh. an. NE nta' ,mtYCsI
battles were single conhat-. like those described
10y the ancient poets. The second wer" "a higher
,ytc,o - ie e- AMI herd. T6e,
were immense. and actei IN concert He thought
they would probably eNt.rminate The first type
Of tic agricultural cass-the harvest ants-h'
would not speak NJ there were none In thi'
country. Mifn llN Ik~k hfEhu 10 he'I illlh lit
isolated the nests iy water but Il was ne essarl
o. change thRt often and observing That th'
hairs gn the stem- oi loWer- prevented ,hs ant
from climbing them. he ha4 since used i"ru@
. one ot the most surprising points eonne'tc'
with ants WAS that while th"r" was ono nos
they never appeared {" quarrel. az others, ever
of the same species, being treated u7 -tFhnErr
and oncmie-. There WAS hp ul-ttklhE ui'
( treatment. l. an ant lr,srd wanted T. carr,
, away friend ipa pince 20 security she tool
3 her los tie uundtblv. AMI her friend rolled hcr
self into hall. hut al enemy i seized by III
H. ec"nfrmod the experiments Of Huber rs L
, thor he ns able 90 rerosn 20 ih'!r friends. rEei
! after u loug als 'nco, or rNih"r thrlr hriuulnt
I | anccs for although Il" -iw thoy attacked au'
q Killed their enemies hp could not find any trac
! II warm affection for thelr friends. lie te,tc.
: this by taking SOM out ~ a nest and suspend
I ing them In bottle covered with mus i'm
% Those in the nest took n notice oi them. hU
j when strangers wer" Put IA iAey W.r. mug
: nant. and never 81 lppeI uA ~ Nhr} GU thln nllSl
I the muslin and attacked them. H. marke,
q some ants in nest with paint, and i'unith
1 ihcir friends removed u. llt stranger ~ o..
s into Nh nns wa- re-ilr7 and H'i1ut h- pul'kl
% ~ possible. II Wpul %" !n''t,7tlhE tp hn9N
e how thoy recognize their iri'nl-. II might b
n By mell or some sign or 10y actual rrcogniioi
4 In order t. try whether they could ecoEni1
- them when in-en-i Bile Le first used rhluroform
- hut that practically killed them, and he the
T. mnln them iniox cntod H. lid 80 by pGttin
. them into whi-key, not hl-kcy INTO them. T.
L. they were too sensible Co tuse u even on We"
= days. lie trind AN experiment With twenly-hy
= friends nud thirty strangers. The ~1hrr ant
!. coming out of the nests and indlug ~" lnt'Nl
/, cated ants lying helpless on thrir backs Il
T. and carry them IN OF the twenty-five he
n brought twenty into The nesi where tr9uatall
5. they dropped into the mont 4 water which the
De- surrounded the nest. Why they DID 50 he cOul
= not tell. PERHAPS they iell inio the hands ,
iwenty-eight wero thrown into the moat, al
z thu other two Were taken no notice -.
J, Ilo took sonle pupN out oi n'St, ahd on IN
II ting them back after some months, found TIA
Is which were put into n different nest were a
pl II generally stated fllut an tllf tEA