Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-08-25

their own mouths into the mouths of the
honey-bearers whose bodies become greatly
distended with the delicious food. In other
cases he perceived hungry ants seeking for
a meal from the food thus generously stored
up. The honey-bearer seemed to slightly
contract the muscles of the abdominal skin,
forcing from its mouth minute glObules OF
honey; these chung to the hairs of the I'M
der lip, and were eagerly Tapped up by the
hungry ants waiting to be fed. 1T is proba-
BILE, however that these supplies are princi
pally intended as winter stores for the
workers, for the feeding of Larvae, and for
the dinner-table of the queen, who is, as
usual, too proud or too dignihed to do her
own foraging.
The working ants take great care of
their helpless honey-bearers When one,
through some CONFUSION of nature-occas-
Toned perhaps 10y the tap of gigantic hui
man finger-looses its hold and drops to
the floor of its chamber, it is at once
picked ND by a worker and carried back to
its old foothold on the roof of the apart
ment How this minute creature can drag
I'D perpendicular wall mass twenty
times its own size and weight is only less
SURPRISING than it would be to see an adroit
climber of the human race ascending the
| face of precipice and pulling after him a
/
ton weight.
With regard to the source of honey, these
ants are not known to feast on flowers, like
bees and some of our home ants, nor could
any evidence be found of the Aphis, or ant
cow, which many Of our ants milk for its
] honey.
The honev-gatherer is difficult to observe
1t is nocturnal ant, keeping out of sight
of the sun during the day, and only ventur-
ing forth at nightfa1l in search of food. Dr.
McCook observed Them in the summer
| twilight, marching outward from the nest
in long columns, and pursuing night after
night the same paths. He watched them
| for a considerable time before he succeeded
in finding the goal of these nightly eNpedi-
| tiOns At length discovering some ants on
! the twigs of a species of Scrub-Oak, which
grew a5undantly at the foot of the ridge,
he observed that they showed a marked
| preference for certain small Oak-galls which
were ranged along the sides of the twigs.
The next thing to be done was to ex-
anime these gals. We are accustomed to
associate gals with the idea of bitterness
only, yet they proved to be the true honey
! yielders. On the round, green masses,
minute drops of sweet juice were found
this the ants eagerly licked up, passing
from gall to gall until fully laden, or re-
turning to the original gall at a later hour
when fresh sweetness had eXuded from it.
The gall-nut. it is well known, is an eX-
crescence upon the leaves of a species of
oak; it is produced by the puncture of a
small hymenOpterouS insect for the purpose
| of depOSiting its eggs. A minute grub lies
| III the center of the soft mass which COM
! poses the gall. Whether the sweet juice
came from this grub, or from the sap of the
! tree was not readily to be discovered,
! though it was most likely an emulation OF
! the sap.
All night the busy gatherers of sweets
We're occupied in collecting honey from the
| gals. Toward morning they were seen i'll
| great numbers returning to the nest, their
| bodies swollen with the nights harvest of
honey, which, as we have said, is given to
the living honey-combs within, being fore
ed from. the bodies of the workers and into
the mouths of the honey-bearers, until by
the time the season is over, they present a
remarkable distention.
This is about all that is known at pres
ent concerning the habits of these strange
lnts They very likely have other sources
Of honey at other seasons; but the most
/ interesting fact is the surprising mode of
| forage OF this sweet food
| In New Mexico the inhabitants put these
ants to a very peculiar use, supplementing
| their dinners with a plateful of honey-ants
! for desert. The overladen insects wait in
enforced patience while the preceding
courses of the dinner are being eaten. The
mode of partaking Of this strange dessert
is to pick up al ant, nip the honey-bag
with the teeth, forcing its sweet contents
into the mouth, while the remainder is
| thrown away. We are told that this is not
so disagreeable habit as it might at first
seem, the skin surrounding the honey be-
ing reduced to thin, transparent mem
brane, with nothing necessarily unpleasant
in its character. Nevertheless most of us
will prefer to continue indebted to the bee
! for our supply OF honey, leaving the ants
i to enjoy the fruits of their own labors.-
Journal Of Science.