The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-26
ANTS AT WORK and AT WAR
NEW Workers. SUMNER DAYS
SPENT IN WATCHING THEM.

Many Things About Then Tina He COULDN'T
Understand, but He Marveis at Their
InteIigence-Twice Gave battle to
Riyal Coiony-An Attack OH q Toad.
AT and around the foot Of an old apple
tree in our back yard said a New Yorker
who this year Ii leading the simple life in
the pleasant dairy country Of Orange
county, "we planted nasturtiums and other
flowers last spring. and as they began to
nppear above ground ! spent a good deal OF
my spare time watching them grow. Al
though the apple tree is in bearing its stem
Ia hollow at the butt. with a large. knotty
opening on one side three feet OF 80 from
the ground.
AS the season advanced I began to notice
that what I had at first supposed was a
little s%prinkling Of sawdrst that had in some
way been spilled at the foot Of the tree, be-
meath the opening in the side. was growing
and forming into a mound OF considerable
size, And then for the fint timeI began to
take notice Of numerous black ants. some
OF them a third Of an incl long, and with
enormous heads. whose travelling up and
down the stem of the old tree had not be-
fore attracted my attention. I was not long
In discovering that they were of a colony Of
ants that had taken possession Of the hollow
tree trunk and which was fixing up that
interior for its home. Then the mystery
Of the mound OF sawdust was cleared up.
Somewhere in the hidden depths OF that
hollow 1t was plain that members Of the ant
colony were busily mining away thedeoayed
wood to form such apartments as were
required. while Others were industriousiy
bearing the debris up from the depths and
casting it out at the opening. Ant after
ant appeared at the edge OF the opening,
in continuous procession, zach with a grain
Of wood in its jaws. which it would drop
to the ground. Little showers OF these
grains were in the air constantly.
About three inches below the opening
to the hollow trunk a bit Of the trees bark
was loose at the upper end and Jared out
from the wood 30 that it made q pocket
Q couple of inches wide and OF the same
depth. n this some Of the grains would
lodge. and by and by 1t was nearly filed.
Then one day an ant Of much larger size
and who acted to me as II he was a sort of
boss or inspector came up out OF the hollow
and went to looking around. The acoumu-
iation OF mine waste behind that bark ap-
peared to catch his eye and he hurried
down the trunk. passed around and over
u. inspected it from all sides, and then
hurried excitedly backtothe opening above.
] am not prepared to say what he did the
next few seconds. but when he reappeared
at the end Of hat timeNand came hurriedly
down the tree to the pocket he was accom-
panied by a dozen or more Of the smaller
ants. which. apparently under his orders.
went to work clearing the debris from that
pocket inc dropping 1t to the mound below
until 1t was all removed.
That's all exceedingly amasing!' I found
myself saying to myself. but what's to
hinder the ants from filing that pocket
from above the same as before? And
what difference does it make anyhow
Just what difference IL made /, Of course.
will never know. but the BOSS ant must
rave thought 1t made a difference or he
wouldn't nave ordered the pocket cleaned
out; but soon found out what would hinder
II from filing up again. From the time
the debris was removed from behind that
obstructing bit Of bark the procession of
ants that bore the mined wood from the
depths carried their burdens down below
the pocket before dumping them.
After l had watched this further ex-
hibition Of intelligent management a long
time. ! interfered to save the extra labor
and stripped the FARM piece Of bark OF
the tree. The ants made several trips
down to where it had been. though. before
they seemed to become aware Of the removal
Of the obstruction. Then they resumed
their old dumping place at the mouth Of
tha nn0pinn Tho hoaa q INT annaoraA an the
scene some time after those ants had found
that trip unnecessary and he acted to me as
il he was all put out because the Others were
not following orders. But he soon discov-
cred what had happened, and returned calm
and satisfied to his post. whatever 1t was,
down in the mining district Of the tree.
the work went on. days and days.
without further incident until the mound
from the hollow tree had risen three or
four inches in height and covered a foot
more Of ground. Then I noticed that
at intervals several Of the bigger ants,
the inspectors or bosses. as i classed them,
out of the works and made tours Of
the mound, going around it and over it and
evidently sizing it up. Then one day down
came half a dozen or so Of these big ants,
and with them a host Of the ants that seemed
10 DO DONG the mental labor.
These instantly threw off their coats
so to speak. and buckled in to the work Of
carrying that mound Of stuff away. Taking
it az grain by grain that army Of laboring
carried it of in all directions, spread
ing it around on the ground until after
several days the mound had been reduced
TO a level. ] couldn't see any reason for
this, but it wasn't for me to reason why.
When the work was done at last the laboring
ants returned to their places in the depth
of the tree.
'The work Of mining inside the tree
and the dumping Of the debris out of the
opening continued all through the month
Of June, and although another mound Of
duet was formed 1t was not disturbed.
hlt In the meantime there had been excit-
ing episodes in the life Of the colony. Our
nasturtups had come into bud and bios
som. and the radiant bank Of bloom at
tracted to 1t various winged things and
things that were not winged. And one day,
seeking these. came a solemn. big eyed toad.
sitting between the edge Of the refuse and
the inner border Of the nastu ri bed.
What vyao aithar m ,nanoa,.,- z-..--