Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1882-07-11

To himself would gladly tie her
II she would:
Might he now go ask her sire?
And he thought he would expire,
When she said, to his desire,
That he could!
Burlington Hatokeye.
The Social Hymenoptera.
ANTS, BEES. AND wAsPs. A Record Of OBJ
servations Of the Habits OF the Social Hymen-
optera. By Sir JOHN LUBBOCK. Bart. New
York: D. Appleton & Co. 1882. Cloth, I'm,
DID. 448, with cOlOred plates.
TFrom the New York World.]
Sir John Lubbock has long been
known to the reading public as care
full and ingenious observer of insect life
and an excellent if an unpretentious
rnconteur, If his volume-the forty
second in the admirable international
Scientific Series"-is at the disadvan-
tage, when compared with its near prede'
cessor, Mr.. DarWin's remarkable book on
of having for its theme
q subject which has already attracted the
attention of several accomplished Wrl'
tiers, the reader need not therefore hes
itate to purchase and peruse 1t. In 1t he
will find the record of a series of expert
ments and observations more thorough
and ingenious than those instituted by
any of the accomplished authors pre-
decessors, and, however well-read he
may be in the literature of the insects
dear to 80 many successive generations
of moralists and poets, will discover
notable additions to his store of knowls
edge. The ant, Sir John thinks, when
we consider it's habits and social organi-
cation, the size of its communities, the
elaborateness of its dwellings. it's road
ways, its possession of domestic animals
and slaves, deserves to be ranked next
to man in the scale of intelligence. He
has been close observer of the habits OF
ants for many years, generally having
from thirty to forty communities under
his notice, and not only watching each
of these in its carefully isolated glass
house, but, by the use of paint-marks,
following the fortunes of individuals.
Herein will be found one of the main
observations and those of previous OBJ
average reader to learn that it is easier
to brand bee or wasp than to mark
an ant.) One notable result of this sys-
tenn has been the correction of previous
theories as to the age to which ants at
tain: instead of living merely year,
as the popular belief has been, some of
Sir Johns queens and workers are
thriving after being under observation
since 1874 and 1875.
Almost at the beginning of the book,
Sir John Lubbock recites the PECULIAR.
ties of different species of ants in their
modes of fighting: how the nayrmecenG
L0trellia never attack and scarcely de-
fend themselves, but merely roll them
selves into balls impervious from the
hardness of their skin, or close the small
entrances to their nests with their he'll
melted heads; how the FOrnaScd ruf0,
the familiar house-ant, attacks like Ma
poleon in formation of columns, single
ants scarcely ever making individual
attacks, rarely pursuing 4ylng roe,
but giving no quarter; how r. S0ng1s-
aea, In its slave h'aIlt1ng forays, seek on
the ccntrary TO terrrify rather than to
klu; how the delicate but active r.
when they come to close quarters bite
right and left, dancing about to avoid q
Tiposte with the agility of French fenc.
ing masters, and when engaging larger
ants jumping on their backs to seize
them by the neck or by an antenna,
three or four of them pulling their hulk.
ing antagonist about while the little
David on her back saws off her head
how the species of L0sius make up in
numbers for their lack of strength, sew
eral Selling an enemy at once and, like
the old British dogs, suffering them
sely es to be cut limb from limb ere they
will lose their hold how a small force
of Amszons, (polyergus rufescezs) will
fearfully charge and rout an army of
enemies, each ant selling her opponent
by the head and driving her mandibles
into the brain so as to paralyze the ner-
vous system, and 80 on. These slave
making ants never fly, but fight to the
death, unlike the N. scabrinodis, which
only appears on the battlefield to de-
your the fallen.
The industry of the ant is tremen-
dous. One of Sir Johns workers went
at the job of removing larvae to the nest
at 6 A M. and worked without inter-
mission till 9:45 P. NJ, carrying 1877 in
of the bottle in which he kept her dur
ing his absence from home she set to
work. Once after q captivity of six
days, being set down three feet from
the nest, she seized the larva and
"pointed" for home without moments
hesitation. Ants are very clearly, and
those Sir John painted for facility Of
recognition were promptly licked clean
by their friends. They seem to engage
in wrestling and fencing matches. They
tell off forages, and Sir John found that
the same ants returned daily to the
same work, fresh individuals being de-
tailed when he imprisoned one OF the
commissariat staff. Wesmael speaks of
Mexican ants which serve IS storehouses
for the community, receiving the honey
brought in by the foragers and retaining
1t in their enormously distended bodies
to redistribute it when required. The
English hunting.ants generally forage
alone, unlike those of warmer countries,
which hunt in packs or even armies.
Though none of the Northern ants store
up grain, more than one species of
Southern ants do collect seeds of various
kinds, thus approving the truth of Sol
omon's well known statement. Indeed,
the quantity of grain thus stored up is
so considerable that the
Mischna lays down rules with reference
such boards did not belong to the owner
cleaners. The harvesting-ants in some
cases bring out their grain and dry it
after severe storms. How they keep it
from sprouting is not quite clear, but
the alta structor allows the process of
to begin, so as to obtain |
the sugar. A Texas harvester farms on |
an extensive scale, clearing farms ten
or twelve feet in diameter round the
entrance to its nest, on which nothing
but the so.called ant-rice is allowed to
grow, the rice being duly cultivated
and, according to DR.. Lincecum, sown
0y our industrious fellow country ant.
The ants keep cows too-aphides, whom
hey literally milk, the aphis retaining
It's sweet secretions till the ant strokes
md caresses it with its antennse. In
his department of industry they dis
play their provident care, building
,arthen sheds over the aphides and rear.
ng the aphis from the egg. They also
and feed the claviger, a
hind beetle which has grown incapable
# feeding itself, for the sake of it's Sc
retions. The f. rufa and the allied r.
,ratensis, seem to keep cats and dogs in
he shape of the tiny Stendnama West
,oodii, which follow them when they