Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1884-12-25

every guyrope above had 6eenseparated
from. the shrub. and was floating loosely
inthe air. The ant was nipping each
anchorage from its fastenings. After
unmooring the web from the one shrub, |
it hurried to the-other, and, ascending
it,in frantic, haste, .cut every guy on that |
side as we'll, and in a few seconds the
web and its coveted contents were
swinging to and fro in the air, held aloft
only by the two strong strands from the
branch above.
ssThat the ant was now at work on
some systematic plan there could be no
possible doubt; but what advantage Fad
itgained, asked myself, by thus letting
the web swing free, like hammock, at
the sport of the windp The-ant SOON
answered the question. 1t had mo-
sooner cut the last silken mooring OF
the web than it rushed back to the
ground. Once down, IL started wildly
for the tree from which 1T had~come'
The space+between it and the tree was
soon covered, and i'm less than five min
utes from the time the ant left the shrub
it had reascended the tree and disap-'
| peared for moment from view. 10
saw that the manner and place OF its re-,
appearance were startling is but feeble
statement, for when l saw it again 1T
had made its way out on the branch to-
one of the strands to which the spiders
web now hung suspended, and proceeded
at once to make the descent of the Cos
samer cable 1t came down deliber-
ately, head first, and with as much ease
as if the cable of SPIDERS web was its
natural line of travel. When the ant
came to the net it turned about on the
strand, fastened its powerful hind legs
| in the edge, and then began topull itself
upward on the cable with its fore feet.
1.-The ants plan was now plain to me.
Its nest, of course, was somewhere in the
tree, probably at the crotch of the first
branch. If it could by any possibility
have taken the caterpillar from the web
on the ground, the ant would have
dragged it up the tree to its nest; but
as that was not possible, and as III
had suddenly discovered the strands
connecting the net with the branch, it.
had seen at once that they could be
utilized, and the ant drawn by them up
into the tree. Was it instinct that told
the ant that before this could be done
the web must be cut loose from its
moorings to the shrubs and groundP
Or was it instinct that suggested the
plan itself to the ant, and sent it sour
rying in all haste from the web it had
set ahoat in the air to the tree, and up
it, and along the branch to where the
cables were fastened, and then down
the metz No; it was genuine reason
ing, and nothing short of it.
"Well, hand over hand went the ant,
Juggling at the mass of web and weight
! of worm below. Its progress was slow,
,, SO SLOW. that it. had raised the web to-
,, to awaken all of sudden to the fact
, that some new danger threatened it,
and it began to squirm and struggle
, anew. This caused the cable to sway
to and fro, and the web to jump up and
down in such manner that the ant,
to save itself from being pulled from its
hold, loosened the web and it fell back.
This seemed to discomfort and discour-
, age the ant for a moment. 1t ran up
and down the strand as if it didn' t
, know exactly what to do. Suddenly it
went up the cable and disappeared. In
, short time l saw it coming down the
cable again, and, most wonderful thing
of all, down the other cable came an
other ant, as big and strong as the one
that had been trying to get along with
the job alone. The first ant had simply
gone back to the nest, explained the
situation, and got companion to re-
turn and help it through the work.
And the two soon finished it. They
fastened on to the net, and, working in
unison, the one pulling itself up in one
cable and its companion tugging away
on the other, in twenty-five minutes
they had drawn the web and the worm
to the branch, and thence to their nest.
81 don't know what the spider
thought when he came home, if he ever
did, and found his residence removed
bodily, but 1 know what thought, and
that was that the action of that ant in
engineering the capture of the caterpil-
lar was an evidence of more than in
stinct. IN Y Sun.