Evening star., 1901-05-31
NEW FEATURES IN ANT LIFE
SHOWS THEIR INTELLI-
GENCE Is ALMOST HUMAN.
A Species That Employ Giant Soldier
Ants as Movable DOorways to Their
HOmes-Sentry and Barrier.
From the Scientific American.

The recent discoveries of Wasman, Florei,
Belt and others, added to the wonderful re-
suits of the Investigations made few
years ago by McCook, Moggridge and
Bates, have deservedly awakened a new
interest N everything connected with the
lives and habits of ants. The remarkable
evidences they exhibit of something which,
notwithstanding It's limitations, seems akin
to human intelligence; the perfection, as
compared with other insects, of it's physical
structure; the greater proportion borne by
the brain to the rest of the body, and its
wonderful social life, so much more highly
developed than that of the bees or of the
wasps. have inclined those who study it the
closest to believe that, making allowance
for the great inferiority of the class of
invertebrates. the Formicadae certainly
hold among invert ebrateS a rank COmmen-
surable with that sustained by Primates,
including man, among verteDrates.
Taking into account the comparatively
enormous masses of brain matter belonging
to number of large animals which ex-
hibit a marked degree of incogitance, ana
the Intelligence manifested by members of
this division of Hymenoptera, the claim
made by Darwin that the anterior ganglion
in the head of ant constituting its brain
lis the most marvellous atom of matter in
the world" is justified.
The hppOpOtamuS, In the tremendous
lapse of time which has attended it's evo-
luton. has learned scarcely more than to
fulfill the simplest and most obvious re
qulrements OF nature, while the ant has de-
Veloped competence that In some instances
has anticipated mankind in acquiring arts
and Industries indispensable to the we'll
being of social life, and a practical wisdom
in adjusting the conditions which govern
them in their association in communities
quite beyond anything mankind has yet
been able to achieve.
1t is interesting to notice how diverse
a1trs,f TO
Intelligence from that of man in attaining
a desired result. Man looks entirely to the
outside world about him for the means of
accomplishing his purposes; insects, on the
contrary, drawing upon the resources OF
their own natural constitutions, often
adapt themselves to the conditions and re.
qurements of their lives by structural
notifications. For instance, men make the
foods they require for carving or for dig
ging. insects grow them; vessels being
needed. as receptacies for liquid food. man
learns the art of the potter, but the curl
Gus honey ants transform themselves into
living bottles, to which the working mem
bers of the commune resort for refresh
ment.
The tools of insects, exquistely fash
icned and finished, are much more perfect
ly adapted for the purposes they serve than
are any contriVad and manufactured by
human beings, but there is disadvantage
connected with Ihem-they cannot be laid
aside. The tools dominate the tool-bearers
connected with their use.
This leads to the extreme specialization
We find among insects. Species or Var1e-
ties among species become mere functional
organs in the sense that the liver or the
kidneys are such. devoted and limited to
some one particular use, and In some cases
scarcely retaining a suggestion OF possible
action in any other. The egg producer.
the queen of the. ternaites, although she
possesses the usual number of limbs be-
longing to her species, is totally incapable
of locOmot1On, as are the living bottles OF
the honey ants. The queen lays eggs; she
can do nothing else; the living bottles store
up and yield food to other members of
the formicary, and are as incapable of per-
forming other uses as if they were mere
lifeless cells in honeycomb.
Among the Formidable this tendency to
specialization has resulted in establishing
species limited to particular Industries or
to particular methods of living. Some spe-
c1es of savemaking ants, for instance.
contine themselves so entirely to military
affairs, and have entirely lost the arts or
peace and efficiency in domestic matters,
that they are not only Obliged to depend
upon their slaves to care for the young In
the formicary, but to have the food placed
in their own warlfke mouths. and would
starve In the midst of plenty were this not
done.
The mandibes of these ants are entirely
untitled for work. They can neither crush
cut nor saw; but, being sharply pointed and
curved, they make most serviceable wea-
pOUSp with lHeiH III dlldChiIlS eleHS,
Polyergus seizes the head of her foes be-
tween the points of these curved poignards
and penetrates the brain at once.
1t sometimes happens, however. that
either the conditions are such that the In
stncts common in greater or less de-
gree to all species Of FOrm1cans cannot be
followed out in any ordinary manner or
that nature has failed to provide in the
structural development of the Insect proper
appliances necessary TO its domestic econ
omy.
Such instances, when they occur. are not
only extremely interesting, showing as they
do the Formidable capable of utilizing in
the most ingenious ways whatever can be
made to answer their purposes, but the ex-
traordnary and unexpected manner IN
which this is done is apt to awaken in the
observer, if he saw some comical trick
performed, a mingled sense Of admiration
and amusement. number OF ants among
those of very different species are disttn-
guished by possessing relatively large
heads, the use of which is extremely prob
lematical The workers of the East In
dian Pheidologeton diversus for instance.
Spiteful little things that bite venOmOuSly,
have among them giant soldier ants,
hundred times as large as themselves. and
IT would naturally be supposed that these
big creatures with enormous heads would
prove formidable defenders of the formi-
cary. while the truth Is that. so far from
this being the case, they cannot bite at
all, even when provoked to do so.
And yet the smaller members of the Phel-
dologetOn commemorative find use for the
great creatures. Numbers of them may
often be seen riding about as human be-
lngs do upon elephants. upon the backs
and heads of their gigantic confreres. Even
this use. however. does not account for
the disproportionately large heads of the
giants But the Colobopsis ants which
burrow in branches. seem to have discov
cred how to profitably employ the big-heads
among them. They are placed at the en-
frances of the Formican dwellings, their
great heads fitting in and filing the door
ways AS a worker belonging to the house
hold approaches she Is recognized by the
animated and intelligent front door," which
draws back sufficiently to admit the en-
trance of its friend and then resumes it's
double office of sentry and of barrier.
The Eciton are the Arabs Of the ant
tribes, always at war with all other ami
mails, with no settled places of abode, but
ever wandering in journeys that have no
end. Yet in their temporary resting places
the necessities and instincts common to the
whole Formican family impel these no.
mads to build habitations which conform
to the character and style of the fixed and
permanent abodes of ordinary ants. AS.
however. both the time and natural ap-
paratus for digging possessed by the latter
are wanting to excavate galleries and