Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1915-09-09
Shephedstown West Virginia. Thursday September 1915
Ants And People.

That the little red ants which swarm in
great numbers over our yards and fields
are more intelligent than the average dog
or cat, and that some OF the most intelli-
gent kinds of ants think in much the same
way that people think, is the conclusion
reached since the discoveries OF DR..
Rudolf Brun, naturalist of Zurich, have
been made public. The ant has always
been an object of considerable curiosity
in the scientific world. Scientists have
never been able 10 understand, for in
stance, how an ant was enabled to find
IFS way home when all landmarks which
il might have observed have been re-
moved. Nor have they been able to
understand what instinct enables an ant
to recognize members of its own colony
while it fights instantly and to the death
such members OF other colonies as may
cross its path. The ants may be OF the
same species, alike in form, color and
size, as far as the examination OF them
under powerful microscope shows, and
vet when a member of one colony is
placed with a member OF another they
Immediately fall 10 fighting. Apparently
they have some delicate sense OF percep-
ton with which science has not become
acquainted.
In an account Of DR.. Bruins work pub
lished in the New York Sun il is stated
that ants are no more alike in intelligence
than persons. Certain ants are possessed
OF what is known a "muScle sense.
This is the instinct which enables a rat
to run through pitch dark passages at full
speed, taking corners, which he can not
see, with hardly perceptible decrease
OF speed, and yet never striking obstruc-
tions or running into walls. This sense
enables him to get about in the dark as
freely as in broad daylight. There is
kird of ant, which lives principally in the
interior OF wood, hardly ever appearing
in lhe light, thatha this muscle sense de-
veloped to high degree. 1t has been
shown that other ants depend on their
sense OF smell fully as much as highly
trained hunting dogs. Miss Fielde, an
American investigator, has shown that
these ants have long, iointed nose, and
that each joint has function. The outer
most joint recognizes only the nest smell,
the next the odor that is common to all
members OF the colony while with the
next ant follows its track back home.
1t has also been shown that when fol-
lowing return scent these "dog ants"
exercise certain power which enables
them TO tell which way the trail is lead
ing, whether toward the nest or away
from it. Experimenters have mounted
sections OF ant trails on trays and inter
changed them, but this occasions no con-
fusion. But if one section is changed
end for end the ant loses his way. In
this case it is said that they act like men
who, starting TO 90 down into the cellar
10 fix the furnace, should suddenly find
themselves ascending their attic stairs.
II has also been shown that the more
intelligent ants know up and down. Alter
they had grown accustomed to going
down tilted table top TO get honey, the
top was tilted the other way, and they
took the wrong direction home. The
ants OF higher intelligence, however, have
a system OF conducting their affairs which
in many respects resembles humon meth
DDS. There is one kind which makes
slaves of another kind, stores grain for
the winter, and keeps its slaves in barn
apart from the main nest.
DR.. Brun found that these ants were
able to keep the general location OF their
nest in mind by the sun. Catching one
far from home, he imprisoned it for two
hours. The sun moved thirty degrees in
that time, and when the ant was released
il explored for a minute and then started
homeward in a line about thirty degrees
from the direction OF the sun, thus prov
ing that it must have known instinctively
the relation between the sun and time.
These ants will go far from home and ap-
parently remember about how far they
have gone, for upon the return trip they
will travel at top speed until within few
yards Of the nest, where they will spend
five or ten minutes going around in cir
cles as if looking for familiar landmark.
This method is like that OF the woods
man, who follows an unbeaten trail by the
sun until his sense OF distances tells him
he is nearly at his destination, then he
begins TO look for some familiar stone or
tree. Its these phenomena OF ant life
which lead to the conclusion that in many
respects DR.. Brun seems 10 have proved
that ants are very much like people.
A well-known business man in Law
| renee Massachusetts. once had a cnS-