The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-22
KNOWING ANTS.
Sir John Lubbock's Colony of the Bus
Ones.

observations he has made on ants and
other insects. There are at least a
thousand species of ants, no two of
which have the same habits In this
country there are more than thirty
species, most of which Sir John Lub-
book has kept in confinement He has
queen lived in one of his nests for 6f.
teen years.
Solomon was, so far as we know,
quite correct in describing ants as hav-
ing neither guide, overseer nor ruler
The so-called queens are really mothers
Nevertheless, it is true and it is curious
that the working ants and bees always
turn their heads toward the queen. It
seems as if the sight of her gave them
pleasure On one occasion, while NOV
ing some ants from one next to another
for exhibition at the Royal Institution,
l unfortunately crushed the queen and
killed her. The others, however, did
not desert her or draw her out as they
do dead workers, but, on the contrary,
carried her into the new nest and sub
sequently into larger one with which
l supplied them, congregating round
her for weeks, just as if she had been
alive. One could hardly help fancying
that they were mourning her loss
or hoping anxiously for her
recovery. The communities of
ants are sometimes very large.
numbering even up to five hundred
thousand individuals; and it Is lesson
TO US that no one has ever yet seen a
quarrel between any two ants belong
ing to the same community. On the
other hand, it must be admitted that
they are in hostility not only with most
other insects, including ants of differ
ent species, but even with those of the
same species If belonging to different
communities I have again and again
introduced ants from one of my nests
into another nest OF the same species,
and they were invariably attacked,
seized by a leg or an antenna and
dragged out"
This last experiment proves that the
ants of each community all recognize
each other. Even after separation of
a year and nine months it was found
that they knew one another, and were
perfectly friendly. 1t had been sup
posed that this recognition was accom-
plished by password or sign, but this
supposition Sir John Lubbock has in
geniously disproved:
ITO test this l made some insensible.
First l tried chloroform, but this was
fatal to them; and as therefore they
were practically dead, 1 did not consider
the test satisfactory. l decided there
fore to intoxicate them. This was less
easy than l had expected None of my
ants would voluntarily degrade them
selves by getting drunk. However,
got over the difficulty by putting them
into whisky for few moments took
fifty specimens, twenty-five from one
nest and twenty-five from another,
made them dead drunk, marked each
with a spot of paint and put them on
a table close to where other ants from
one of the nests were feeding. The
table was surrounded, as usual, with
a moat of water to prevent them from
straying. The ants which were feeding
soon noticed those which l had made
drunk. They seemed quite astonished
to find their comrades in such a dis
graceful condition, and as much at
loss to know what to do with their
drunkards as we are. After awhile,
however, to cut my story short, they
carried them all away; the strangers
they took to the edge of the moat and
dropped into the water, while they
bore their friends home into the nest,
where by degrees they slept off the
of the spirits Thus it is evil
dent that they know their friends even
when incapable of giving any sign or
password"
This little experiment. proves that
ants help comrades in distress. If
wolf or rock is injured its comrades are
said to drive it away or to kill it But
in one of Sir John Lubbock's nests an
ant, in emerging from her chrysalis
skin, injured her legs SO much that she
was helpless For three months this
ant was carefully tended by the other
ants. In another case an ant had in
jured her antennae. For some days she
did not leave her nest. Then she went
out and a stranger ant attacked her
In separating them the injured insect
was seriously hurt and lay helplessly
ON her side Several ants passed and
took no notice. Presently one came up
who carefully examined her with her
and then carried her off ten
DERBY to her nest
How far can ants communicate? Can
an ant who has found food, for exam
pie, 90 home and send others to it, or
must she bring them? Here is test
One cold day my ants were almost
all in their nests. One only was out
hunting, and bout six feet from home.
| took dead blue bottle fly, pinned il
on to piece of cork and put it down
lust in front of her She at once tried
to carry off the hy, but to her surprise
found il immovable. She tuEged and
tugged, first one way and then another
for almost twenty minutes, and then
went straight off 10 the nest During
that time not a single ant had come
out; in fact she was the only ant of that
nest out at the time She went
straight in, but in a few seconds-less
than half a minute-came out again
with no less than twelve friends, who
trooped off with her, and eventually
tore up the dead fy, carrying it OF in
triumph Now the first ant took moth
ing home with her; she must there
fore, somehow have made her friends
understand she had found some food.
and wanted them 20 come and help her
to secure it In all such cases, how
ever. so far as my experience goes, the
ants brought their friends, ana some Of
my experiments indicated that they
are unable TO send them London