The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-08-06
Ants and Their Polity,

AnVS Wuu AVOlx 4 WING
Mr.. j. &. Romanes gives ! very clear !
Ind terse summary in the London Nine-
|eenM Century Of the points which are
clearly established in relation to the in
telligence Of ants; and those who read
it may, we think, be well assured that
there is not single exaggeration in that
account-that it describes accurately
and plainly the sort of civilization Of
which the most social of the insects are
capable. What is quite certain is that
ants have great organizing power,
that they have carried the subdivision of
labor much further than any earthly |
creature known to us, outside our own
race; that they beat US altogether in
their power of discriminating with GER
tainty blood relations, even when they
have never seen them, nor seen the
grubs, nor even the eggs from which
they sprang; that they feel nothing but
enmity to mere anthood, as such, and
even for the very pecies-physiologi
cally considered-to which they them.
selves belong, except so far as regards
those members of that species who are
the descendants of one and the same
family; and yet, that they will freely
avail themselves of the domestic
services of quite different species of
ants, where they themselves have be-
come so far specialized in their powers
that they can not conveniently do both
the working and the fighting for their
own nest. Further, many species of
ants are clearly pastoral; that is, they
keep focks of .aphides, some of which
they feed in their own stables, while they
turn out others of these fl ,cks to Craze
on the food most suited to
them outside their nests. They
know exactly when the time is
come for these flocks to 60 out to pas
ture, and will guide them to the right
pasture. Lastly, the more military Of
the ant tribes actually send out pickets
to explore the ground before they invade
u nest of the species of which they make
slaves, and organize the attack on the
nests in admirable style, always bring
ing away apparently only the grubs for
their future slaves, and not attempting
to make slaves of those who have reach.
ed maturity without being educated in
the air Of slavery. Some ants, too,
practice sort Of agriculture; they
store their food in large storehouses, and
even bring it out to sun it at fixed peri
DDS; and in adapting their tactics to
sudden emergencies they are ex1F3ely
skillful, tunneling, for instance, beNath
tramways, when they have hi Weir
numbers thinned by wagons pasins
over the rails and crushing thenl 4nd
removing their stores from nests injured
by floods, or other unwholesoms stpa'
: tons, to drier and more secur@i rNga'
|. zines. On the whole, this is par6ctly
, clear-that the ants have a civilization
Of their own; that some OF their races
are as much superior in intelligence &c
{ others of them as, man in European
countries is to the Esluimaux; that the
/ more specialized races have q very elab
e crate system of caste, a professional
( army, so to speak, which is so militar..
that it can not even feed itself, and j
i dependent on its slaves for its very life
8 that other ants keep separate burial
O places, one for the masters and one 10
i, Slaves, and that others indulge in some
= thing very like games and pastimes, a
y we'll as useful labors, while there ar
q tribes which take intense delight in tn
> luxury of being cleaned, and brushed
q and combed by each other. ., MOL
Now, thus much being, as we think
e really well established by all who hav
+ compared the very careful testimony
, the different observers of the varlou
d species of ant-ife in different localitie:
!. the most natural question that occurs t
" one is why creatures which have got S
10 high civilization have not got higher
why, with such marvellous adaptatio
y for society and social well-beingthel
.. has not been q constant tendency
70 evolve higher forms Of social INTEL
>. gence, leading at last, perhaps, even
r. the accumulation of knowledge and Il
" direct study of the secrets Of Nature.
I is not so easy to explain why, if Il
IL processes of evolution, and the process
K. Of evolution alone, have brought ants
t. far, these processes have never broug
nr them further If they have got W,
3. into the pastoral stage, and as Mr.. NJ
4 Cook thinks, at least so far into the a
v. ricultural stage that they clear aw
nj stumps of grass, while they allow t
= Growth round their nests Of those pal
- whose seeds they use as food, why pa
,ts they not passed on into higher exerci:
no of intelligence? Why have they ?
al proved capable Of some kind OF mar
.se featuring industry, and, perhaps, ev
to of small feats of navigation, in the Lit
cir ponds or streams in the neighbolr,htvo'