The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-24
Experiments with Ants.

Sir John Lubbock, in his interesting
work, "The Beauties of Nature" says.
"It has been suggested that the ants
Of each nest have some sign or pass
word by which they recognize one an
other. To test this made some insen-
sible. First I tried chloroform, but this
was fatal to them, and as therefore they
were practically dead, I did not con-
slider the test satisfactory. I decided,
therefore, to intoxicate them. This
was less easy than I expected. None
of my ants would voluntarily degrade
themselves by getting drunk. How
ever, T got over the difficulty by put
ting them into whiskey for few mo-
ments. I took fifty specimens, twenty
five from one nest and twenty-five from
another, marked them with spot Of
white paint, and put them close 10
where other ants from one Of the nests
were feeding. The ants which were
feeding soon noticed those that were
lying drunk. They seemed quite as
tonished to find their companions in
such disgraceful condition, and as
much at a loss to know what to do with
their drunkards as we are. After a
while, however, 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 effects of the spirit.
Thus it is evident that they know
their friends even when incapable of
giving any signs or password. This
little experiment also shows that they
help comrades in distress. If wolf or
rook be i'll or Injured, we are told that
1t is driven away or even killed by its
comrades. Not so with ants. For in
stance, in one of my nests an unfortun-
ate ant, in emerging from the chrysa-
lis skin, injured her legs so much that
she lay upon her back quite helpless.
For three months, however, she was
carefullyfed and tended by the other
ants. In another case an ant had in
jured her antenne. watched her also
carefully, to see what would happen.
For some days she did not leave the
nest. At last one day she ventured out
side, and after while met stranger
ant of the same species, but belonging
to another nest, by whom she was at
once attacked. I tried to separate them,
but whether by the enemy, or perhaps
by my well meant but clumsy kind
ness, she was evidently much hurt and
lay helplessly on her side. Several
other ants passed her without notice,
but soon one came up, examined her
carefully with her antennae, and carried
her off tenderly to her nest. No one,
think. who saw it, could have denied
to that ant one attribute of humanity,
the quality of kindness.
One cold day my ants were almost all
in their nests. One only was out hunt
ing, and about six feet from home.
[ took a dead blueboltle fly, pinned it
on to piece of cork, and put it down
just in front of her. She at once tried
to carry off the fly, but to her surprise
found it immovable. She tugged and
tugged, first one way and then another,
for about twenty minutes, and then
went straight off to 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 8 few seconds-less
than half minute, came out again
with no less than twelve friends, who
trooped off with her, and eventually
tore up the dead fly, carrying it off in
triumph. Now the first ant took no.
thing home with her; she must have
somehow made her friends understand
that she had found some food, and
wanted them to come and help secure
it. In all such cases, however, so far
as my experience goes, the ants brought
their friends, and some of my expert
ments indicated that they are unable
to send them.
If uncovered one Of my nests of the