The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-10-22
Special Instances Of Ant Intelligence.

| shall conclude this brief resume az
the more important facts at present
known concerning the psychology Of
ants with few selected observations a
the display of high intelligence. 1t is
ALWAYS difficult to draw the line no
tween instinct and reason, between adj
iustive action due to hereditary or pur.
poseless habit and abusive action due
| to individual and purposeless adapta-
ton. But we may be least diffident Is
accepting as evidence of the latter eases
where animals exhibit power III
adapting their actions to meet the re-
ouirements of novel circumstances-or
circumstances which cannot be SUM-
posed to have been of sufficiently fire.
auent occurrence in the life-history Of
the species to have developed instincts
of mechanical response in the individu-
al. 1t is in view of this consideration
that the following instance are selected:
Ebrard records in his ''Etudes de
Meurs' an observation of his own on
r. tuScG. The ants were engaged in
building walls, and when the work was
nearly completed there still remained an
interspace of twelve or fifteen millime-
tres to be covered in. For moment
the ants were thrown out, and seemed
inclined to leave their work, but soon
turned instead to a grass-plant growing
near, the long, narrow leaves of which
ran close together. They chose the
nearest, and weighted its distals Il
with damp earth, until its apex n
bent down to the space to e-eove1ssk
Unfortunately, the bend was too close
to the extremity, and it threatened to
break. To prevent this misfortune the
ants gnawed at the base of the leaf UNI
til it bent its whole length and covered
the space required. But, as this does
not seem to be quite enough, they
heaped damp earth between the base of
the plant and that of the Leaf, until the
latter was sufficiently bert. After they
had attained their object, tley heaped
on the buttresslng leaf the materials
required for building the arcled roof.
This observation naturally leads to
two others by two different observers.
Thus, Moggridge says: "Iwas able to
watch the operation of removing roots
which had pierced through their gal
leries, belonging to seeding plants
growing on the surface, and which was
performed by two ants, one pulling at
the free end of the root, and the other
gnawing at its fibers where the strain
was greatest, until at length it gave
way' Again, as previously quoted in
another connection, he says that two
ants sometimes combine their efforts,
one stationing itself near the base of a
footstalk and gnawing at the point OF
greatest tension, while the other hauls
upon and twists it.
The other observer to whom have
referred is McCook, who says of the
harvesting ants of America that he has
seen the workers, in several cases,
leave the point at which they had be-
gun a cutting, ascend the blade, and
pass as far toward the pointas possible.
The blade was thus borne downward,
and, as the ant swayed up and down, it
really seemed that she was taking ad-
vantage of the leverage thus gained,
and was bringing the augmented force
to bear upon the fracture. In two or
three cases there appeared to be d.
vision of labor; that is to say. while the
cutter at the roots kept on with his
work., announcer amt clinat,ea .l..- s.ra.x.,s
blade and applied the power at the OPP
posite end of the lever. The position
may have been quite accidental, but it
certainly had the appearance OF volun-
tary cooperation. &C. j. Roma1aeS, in
Popular Science Monthly.