Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-12-08
HAS HEARD ANTS TALK.
So Thinks "A French Naturalist, and Gives
His Reasons for His Belief.

So Thinks "A French Naturalist, and Gives
His Reasons for His Belief.
Chicago Chronicle: Sir John Lus-
book, as well as many other scientists,
has OF course studied the ant, but 1t
has been given to a Frenchman. a NJ.
Ferel, to make a discovery as regards
ants that proves them to be possessed
of an intelligence far greater than has
been hitherto supposed.
And this discovery is nothing more
nor less tina that ants are capable Of
producing sounds ineligible to their
fellows, and even audible to our ears
In other words, that they converse
with one another.
The way M. Ferel proved this was as
follows:
He made a glass funnel, one end
smaller than the other, which he
placed, the small end downward i'm the
center of a square OF plain glass some
six inches wide, fitting closely enough
to prevent the little insect from crawl
ing out underneath.
He then took a number OF ants In a
bunch about the size OF an ordinary
horse chestnut, free from any foreign
substances, and, lifting up the funnel,
dropped the cluster of insects inside.
While he ants were still In a state
OF bewilderment, and before any OF
them could reach the edge OF the glass,
the experimenter covered 1t with an
other square, similar to the one already
in use, which had been surrounded a
short distance from It's edge by q rim
Of putty.
This effectually confined the little in
scots and prevented their being
crushed.
The two plates Of glass were then
pressed together to within, approx
mately the thickness OF an ants body,
but closer on one side than on the
other, so as to hold some fast and in
capable of moving, while others could
move abou in their narrow prison
where they liked.
On applying this box of ants to the
ear, as though it had been a watch, M.
Ferel was astoniShed TO hear a regular
and continuous buZZing noise, some
what similar to the sound made by
water when boiling in an open vessel,
though sometimes a higher note would
be struck by n or another OF the
ants.
Further study OF the box OF prison
ers revealed many interesting facts.
The free ants were seen to advance to
the sides OF the n that could not
move and to endeavor with all their
strength to release h prisoners. 1t
was hen that h ounds made by the
ants became louder and more stringent.
1t was evident that these sounds con
veyed some meaning, for a palpable
difference was to be found in the min
ute utterances, which must have been
ineligible to the tiny captives.
Then came the problem. How was
the sound made? M. Ferel proceeded
to at once make minute Investigations,
and submitted live ants to the scrutiny
OF a very powerful microscope.
Here, again, an interesting discov-
cry was in store for the investigator.
The sides of the little insects were
rough and scaly. resembling-though
a saw. 1t was by rubbing this that the
ant made the sound that had rewarded
the scientists research.
M. Ferel then took a couple Of ants
and confined them In the glass box al
ready described, imprisoning the one
and giving the other liberty to move.
The ant that had free use of his
limbs became at once intensely excited.
1t rushed about making what must
have been-taking into consideration
the comparative size OF a man and an
anita terrible noise. The modulations
of the insects mode of expression were
plainly heard by the scientist.
Then, having apparently exhausted
an exceedingly copious vocabulary, the
ant, II despair OF l~iberating its COM
panion, dashed at 1T and killed It. This
was evidently to the insect the only
course left open.