The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-05-15
REASON AND FUN IN ANIMALS.
Performances of Beetles That Hint
at Possessing Human Traits.

at Possessing Human Traits.
The sagati:N Of ants is SO we'll
known that il has lei Few natural
ISIS to suspcr! that many are end,w-
ed with reason. In Il recent issue Of
Nature, w. Galloway describes tla
behavior of S'nr tiny black beetle;
which seems tn point in the same di-
rcction. and even tn il sense Of fun.
also.
The insects were about three-rigI.-
tbs Of All :ncl long, and were cn"a"cd
IN rolling en- y gcntl" slope balls Of
material, haas IN Inch III ilianr,cr.
which they "vii"r: v meant to store
fGr'fnoh. GrnrraiIv they wnul work
in pairs, one b""tl. in front o. the
ball. pullin" on ii, and lh;: other BE-
hind. pushing. OrraSinuolIy The bail
would run away, but :hc beetles
would follow and recover it, aud con-
duet it to it's destination. Oncc ball
that had escaped changed its course
abruptly. The pursuing beetles went
down the grade to its foot beside
water course. Failing to tinl il. they
traverscd the route up AMI down sev-
cral times, but without discovering
where it had gone. This behavior
was not so very wonderful. perhaps,
but an additional incident mention
ed by Mr. Galloway is certainly lit
tie more SO.
y solitary beetle rolling compura-
lively new ball had reached distance
of nine or ten inches from the npap
when Il second moccupied beetle, COM
ing from the opposite direction. stood
up in front Of the rolling ball as if
with the intention Of pulling it for
ward and assisting the first. Instead
of doing so however, it brought the
ball to dead stop. In vain the first
beetle tried to move the ball; the sec
ond held it fast. The first then got
down and pccrcd round the side of
the ball, apparently with the object
of ascertaini1lg the nature OF the OBJ
stacle. While this examination was
proceeding the second, with it's fore
feet still resting upon the upper part
of the ball, neither pushed nor moved
in any way.
The first then stood up again be-
hind the ball and pushed it as before,
but still the ball did not move. For
the second time the beetle got down,
made an examination as before, then,
crouching with it's back well under
the lower curve of the ball, heaved
with all its might-in the same way
as workman does in similar circum-
stanccs--but the ball remained sta
tionary. The first beetle then came
out from under the ball, and was pro-
ceeding round it's right hand side
with some new intention, when the
two seemed to catch sight Of each
other. The second beetle threw it.
self on the. ground with the quickness
of thought, and fled, pursued by the
other, both running at their utmost
speed.
Fear, and sense Of guilt, seemed
to spur the flight Of the one, resent
ment and anger the pursuit Of the
other. In chase which was contin-
ued for a distance Of six inches the
fleeing beetle, which had started with
All advantage Of about an inch and
a half, increased the distance be-
tween it's pursuer and itself to more
than two inches, when the former,
seeing the futility Of further pursuit,
stopped, returned to the ball, and re-
sumed it's occupation Of rolling it.
The reason why the second beetle
stopped the ball, remained absolutely
mo.ionl@ss when the ether got down
to reconnoitre, and ran away when
it saw it was discovered, is not ap-
parent. Mr.. Galloway suspects,
though, that the performance was in
spired by a love Of amusement, 81