The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-17

for them to be abroad, but everything is
strangely advanced this spring. / had
spilled some grain the day before and a
whole legion of communists had descended
upon the scattered wealth and were bear
ing it away. One by one the little crea-
lures filed along the pathway to an ant
heap by the border, each carrying kernel
of oats. l saw one toiler roll over and over
with huge kernel, quite unable to get
away with it. In her struggles she fell
against a comrade who was returning
empty handed to the grain pile. The two
consulted together and presently each took
hold of the kernel and together they pro-
ceeded to the common storehouse with it.
Had they been spiders, now, they would
have fought. The victor would have first
eaten his opponent and then made off with
the spoils.
If the spider is a typical anarchist the
ants are equally typical communists. How
they build and store keep cattle and slaves,
go forth to battle and bring back spoils, are
matters familiar to students of natural
history, but / doubt if any student ever
considered their ways so diligently as to
cease wondering at them. They are SO
nearly akin to man in their economic en-
terprises.
1t is in the ants that we first come upon
something in the insect world akin to
brain. Microscopists tell us that at the ends
of the antenn@ or feelers Of these insects is
substance exactly analogous to the brain
matter In our own brains. 1t acts in them
through the sense of smell, for they are
both Blind and deaf In the line of march
of the troops OF ants saw carrying grain
was a tiny twig. Each ant, bearing its
burden, crept laboriously over this OBJ
struction until at last, thinking to aid
them, removed it. Instantly all was con-
fusion. One after another the next corners
left the trail and began running madly
III j.
of them struck the trial and they all fell
into line again, following the first one, and
they kept to the new trail, although to do
so they added some ten inches to the length
of their journey. Plainly it was their
sense of smell alone that guided them.
The ants must all have been seeing Great
ures at one time. Certain of them still re-
tain their sight. These are the winged
males and females. The little creatures
saw running on the ground were the neu-
tiers, really undeveloped females, the work
ers of the community. These have no
wings-the earth is the scene of their activ-
ity and eyes would be of little use to them
in their work underground. For transit
over the earth their sense of smell is sutfi-
cient. The winged males and females, on
the other hand, require to see in order to
fly, and they have retained, in less de-
gree than their cousins, the bees, the
power of vision. They do their love-mak-
ing in the air and Immediately after the
males perish, the females lose their wings
and retire to the ant village, there to &C.
cupy honorable positions as the mothers
of the coming generation. Unlike the bees
the ants have no queen. They are commun-
lists, holding everything in common. There
NAV be many mothers in each village.
They lay the eggs and the neuters do
the work and look after the young. This
latter is a tremendous task The eggs
must be nourished by being breathed upon
by the nurses The larve must be fed and
the young ones must be assisted to break
through the shell that contains them.
They must be carried out into the sunlight
and carried back should the air become
humid. If they venture forth alone they
are caught by watchful nurses and brought
back. When strong enough they must be
taught the way about the city, they are in
structed in the arts of hunting and, in fact,
receive thorough education in all the
duties of anthood. The neuters, too, must
be provided with different kind OF food
from that on which the males and the true
females are nourished. On the whole,
the care-taking ants must often feel as did
that woman, who declared, patheticaliy
that ''it's real chore to bring up
children"
Their care of the young is truly wonder
full. Michelet relates witnessing terrible
battle between two different varieties of
ants, carpenters and masons, / believe.
The big fellows were defeated and the next
day he found single survivor wandering
about the ruins of the vanquished city. 1t
was carrying one of the young ones of its
race that it had rescued from the general
carnage.
The cattle of the ants are certain plant
lice that have on the under side of the alb
demen,a glandular structure which secretes