Morning journal and courier., 1893-11-20
The Instinct of Industry in Anima ais.


A recent and interesting contribution to
the sum Of popular knowledge of animal
instinct is N. Frederic Heusssy's work on
1.-THE Industries of Animals" Published
in the Contemporary Science Series by
Mr.. Walter Scott. 1t is an ingenious at
tempt to bring man and animals into I'ne
on the common ground Of thsir provision
by industry of the necessities of life. The
arte of collecting provisions, storing and
preserving food, demonstrating and man
aging hocks, and capturing slaves, are
quite as we'll understood by animals and
insects as by man in the earlier stages of
his civilization, and shsw a curious analo-
gy in their development in the case of the
more backward among human conmuni-
ties.
Ants of the same species both have and
have not learned to keep "csttle." Lespes
found t.ibe of black ants which had a
flock of Cows" which they MIXED daily.
But he also discovered nest of the same
species which he'd no aocks. These he
presented with some of the aphides used
by their cow keeping relations. The ants
| Instantly attack /, killed and ate them,
manner as tribe of Australian "blsok-
fellows" when presented with a fcok of
sheep. A little known and striking in
stance of foresight and industry exhibit ID
by a bird Is that of the Californian wood
pecker. Like others of it's kind, this bird
is an tnseot-eator- Yet in view OF the sp-
p!oach of winter, 1t prepares q store of
food of wholly different character, and
| arranges this with as much care as an cpl
cure might devote to the storage of his
wine in cellar. In the summer the woot-
pecker lives on ants. For the winter 1t
| stores up eoorns. To hold each acorn 1t
hollows g small hole in a tree, into which
| the acorn is exactly fitted, and is ready t.
be split by the strong bsak of the climb
ing woodracker, though too tightly held
to be stolen either by squirrels or other
birds. A relation of this woodpssker In
habits the driest parts of Mexico, where
during the droughts 1t must die of stsrva-
ton unless 1t made q store. To prevent
this it selects the hollow st.m of a spscies
of eloe, the bore of which is just large
enough to hold nut. The woodpecker
drills holes at intervals in the stem, and
fills 1t from bot On to top with the nuts,
the separate holes being apparently ms1 lie
for convenience of access to the column of
nuts within. The intelligence which not
only constructs a 81 ocial st ore house, hut
teaches the VIC :lpecker to lay by only the
nuts which will keep, and not the insects
which would decay, is perhaps the highest
form of bird csoping whicn has yet been
observed
The ommon Pnts OF Italy-inopioe me-
tuens formica seuootos of the Romans-if
not so strangely ingenious as the gardener
ants of the tropics, which prepare a par
ticular soil on which TO grow within their
nests the fungus on which alone they feed,
exhibits what Is probably the most COM
ple1 form Of instructive Ind ustry shown
oy an European animal. They store up
oats and various kids of grain, making
hundreds of little re ,ms as granaiies, of
about the size of watch. But grain ly
ing in the ground naturally germinat IS.
How the ants prevent this ia not know.
Probably by ventilation, as bees ventiIate
their hives by artificial drsuyht. All that
Is certain is, that if the ants ale removed
the grain sprouts. When the ants wish 70
US, the store they GLOW the grains to GER
inmate until the chemical change takes
place in the mater ial, which makes its fer
menting juice food suitable for their d.
gestion. Thsy then arrest the process of
change by destroying the sprout, and use
the stock of glutiDous sugar and starch so
left as their main food 10 winter NJ
Houssay might have drawn his parallel be-
tween human and animal Industries still
closer, if he had referred to the curious
partnership which modern observation has
made possible between men aud bees. By
giving the bees q foundation of wax
stamped with the shape Of the celia, the
bee keeper saves the hive the time and
trouble spent in this non prod labor,
aud the purpose of the artificial aid 30
given is at once Compounded and TUNED
to use by the otherwise stereotyped intelli-
gencs of the bee.