Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-05-25

! inc UOWcIS dSCcuullB lIolu llt HVOl' III
therefore took more severe measures, and
struck the end Of his finger lightly upon the
descending train near the flower vase, so kill
ing some and disabling others. "Thc effect
of this was immediate and unexpected. As
soon as those ants which were approaching
arrived near to where their fellows lay dead
and suffering, they turned and fled with all
possible haste, and in half an hour the wall
above the mantc shelf was cleared of ants
The stream from below continued to ascend
for an hour or two, the ants advancing ''hes-
tatingy just to the edge of the shelf, when,
extending their autcnnW and stretching their
nccks, they seemed to peep cautiously over
the edge until bcholding their suffering com
panons, when they too turned, expressing by
their behavior great excitement and terror
Both columns of ants thus entirely disappear
ed. For several days there was complete
absence Of ants; then few began to reap
pear; 'but instead of visiting the vase which
had been the scene Of the disaster they avoid
ed it altogether, ~ and made for another YES.
sci containing flowers at the other end of the
shelf. Hague here repeated the same expert
mcnt with exactly the same result. After
this for several days no ants reappearcd; and
during the next three months it was only
when fresh and particularly fragrant flowers
were put into the vases that few Of the
more daring ants ventured to struggle toward
them Hague concludes letter to Mr.. Oar
win, in which these observations are contain
ed, by saying:
"To turn back these stragglers and keep
them out Of sight for Il numberOf days, some
times for fortnight it is sufficient to kill one
or two ants ON the trail. The mo-
mcnt the spot is reached an ant turns abrupt
" and makes for home, and in little while
there is not an ant visible on the wall. 80
RECOGNITION.
| shall now pass on to consider class of
highly remarkable facts. 1t has been known
since the observations Of Huber that all the
ants of the same community recognize one
another as friends, while an ant introduced
from another nest, even though it be an ant
of the same spceiCs is known at once to be
foreigner, and is usually matrcatcd or put to
death. Huber found that when he removed
an ant from a nest and kept it away from its
companions for period of four months it
was still recognized as a friend, and caresscd
by its previous felOw-citizens after the man
ner in which ants show friendship, viz, by
stroking antennp. St John Lubbock, after
repeating and fully confirming these observa-
tions, extended them as follows:
lie first tried prolonging the period Of sep
aration beyond four months, and found that
it might be made more than three times as
long without the ants forgetting their absent
friends. Thinking that this fact could only
be explained either by all the ants knowing
each others personal appearance, or by their
all having distinctive smell peculiar to each
nest, or by their all having sign, like
a password different in different nests, Sir
John tried separating some ants from
nest while still in the condition Of Larvae,
and, when they emerged as perfect in
sccts, transferring them back to the nest from
which they had been taken as hryP. OF
course the ants in the nests could never have
ScoH those which had been removed, for IA
larval ant is as unlike the mature insect as a
caterpillar is unlike butterfly; neither can
il he supposed that the arvip, thus kept away
from the nest, should retain, when Matched
out rs perfect insects, any smell belonging to
their parent nest; nor, lastly, is it reasonable
to imagine that the animals, while still in the
condition Of larval grubs, can have been
taught any gesture or sign used as password
by the matuTed animals Yet, although all
these possible hypothesis seem to be thus full
ly excluded by the conditions Of the expert
ment, the result showed unequivocally that
Larvae as native-born members of their COM
munity.
Next, therefore, Sir John Lubbock tried
dividing nest into two parts before the
queen ants had become pregnant. Seven
months after the division the queens laid
their eggs, and five months later these eggs
had developed into perfect insects. He then
transferred some of these young ants from the
division of the nest in which they had been
born to the division in which they had never
been, even in the state of the egg. Yet these
ants also were received as friends, in marked
contrast to the reception accorded to ants
from any other nest II therefore seems to
be blood relationship that ants are able, in
some way that is as yet wholly ineXpliCable,
to recognize. 1t ought, however, to be re-
mcmbercd in this connection that in an cX-
pertinent made by Forel on slave-making
ants, it was proved that they almost insanta-
ncously recognize their own slaves from 9TH
cr slaves of the same species-and this after
their slaves had been kept away from the
nest for period Of four months,
NURSING.
This may appropriately be considered in
connection with the emotions, rs it seems to
imply something akin to maternal affection.
The eggs will not develop into larvae unless
nursed, and the nursing is effected by licking
the surface of the eggs, which under the in.
tluence of this process, increase in size, or
grow. In about fortnght-during which
time the workers carry the eggs from higher
to lower levels of the nest and vice versa,
according to the circumstances of the heat,
moisture etc.-the Larvae are hatcbed out,
and require no less careful nursing than the
eggs. The workers feed them by placing
mouths together-the larvae stretching out
their heads to receive the nourishment after
the manner of young birds. When fully
grown the larvae spin cocOons, and then pu.
pT, or the 'ants eggs of the pheasant
rearers. These require no food, but still
more incessant attention with reference to
warmth, moisture and cleanliness When
the time arrives for their emergence as per-
feet insects the workers assist them to get out
of their larval cases by biting through the
walls of the latter. When it emerges the
newly-born ant is enclosed in thin mem
brane like a shirt, which has to be pulled off.
"When we see, says Buchner, show neatly
and gently this is done, and how the young
creature is then washed, brushed and fed,
we are involuntarily reminded of the nurs-
ing of human babies. The young ants are
then educated They are led about the nest