Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-09-20
The Communicating Power of Ants.

IioH lhe fopular Science monthly.
Huber, Forel, Kirby and Spence, Duiardin.
Purmeister Franklin and other observers have
all expressed themselves as holding the opinion
that ants are able to communicate information
TO one another by some system of language or
signs. The facts. however, on which the opinion
OF these earlier observers rested, have not been
stated with that degree of caution and detail
which the acceptance of their opinion would re-
CURE. But the more recent observations of
Bates, Belt Moggridge. Hague. Lincecum, Nc
Cook and Lubbock, leave no doubt upon the
subject. Two or three instances will be
enough to select in order to prove the general
fact. Hague, the geOlogist, kept upon his
mantel-shelf vase of flowers, and he noticed
file of small red ants on the wall above the
Shell passing upward and downward between
the latter and a small hole near the ceiling. The
ants whose object was to get at the flowers
were at first few; but they increased in number
during several successive days, until an I'M
or Ken succession was formed all the way down
tn wall. To get rid of the ants Hague then
led frequently brushing them off the wall
- pom the floor in great numbers: but the only
result was that another train was formed to
The flowers ascending from the floor He
.hefetCre took more severe measures, and
TRUCK the end of his fling er lightly upon the de-
scendlng train near the fOwer-vase. so KILN o
ssome and disabling others. s'The effect of this
was Immediate and unexpected As soon as
Ihose ants which were approaching arrived near
! to where their fellows Law dead and SUFFERING
they turned and fled with all possible haste and
in half an hour the wall above the mantel- shelf
was cleared of ants" The stream from helow
continued to ascend for an hour or two the ants
advancing 'hestatingly just to the edge of the
Shelf. when, extending their antennn and
| stretching their necks, they seemed to peep
cautiously over the edge until beholding their
suffering companions, when they too, turned
expressing by their behavior great excitement
and terror" Both columns of ants thus entirely
disappeared. For several days there was a COM
plete absence of ants; then a few began to re-
appear; but. instead of visiting the vase which
had been the scene of the disaster they avoided
it altogether" and made for another vessel con-
Hague here repeated the same experiment, wit h
exactly the same result. After this for several
Gays no ants re-appeared, and during the next
three months it was only when fresh and partic-
uarly fragrant flowers were put into the vases
that few of the more daring ants ventured to
struggle toward them
The correspondent of the London Times at
Hanover, writing of the great military man9u-
vers in progress there, says nothing is more re-
markable, somehow, than the total invisibility
of German infantry before it opens fire. You
know you are in the immediate neighborhood of
nearly O,OO0 men, but perceive no sign of their
existence save O few scattered stationary and
moving objects which the glass enables you to
recognize as uhlans with lances demi-couched.
peering round the corner of farm house or
hussars and dragons (both light horse) with
sabres drawn, picking their careful way across o
potato field, or dashing inquisitively up to q
mysterious clump.