Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1922-07-21
ANTS ON MARCH
Seeming Proof That Instinct Is
Not InfalIibIe.
Small Creatures Dragged Themselves
to Death Because No One of Them
Had Any Initiative.

At six o'clock in the morning | was
starting for a swim in British
Guiana jungle when, at the foot OF the
laboratory steps | saw a swiftly NOV
ing, broad line Of army ants on saiarl,
passing through the compound to the
beach. | traced them back under the
servants quarters, through two clumps
Of bamboOs, to an clubhouse.
Later, l followed along the column
down to the river sand, through
a dense mass Of underbrush, through
a hollow log, up the bank, back
through light jungle-to the Clubhouse
again; and on large fallen log, few
| feet beyond the spot where their nest
had been, the ends of the circle actu-
ally came together. 1t was the most
astonishing thing, and l had to verify
J it again and again before l could be-
lieye the evidence of my eyes.
1t was a strong column, six lines
wide in many places, and the ants
fully believed that they were on their
way to a new home; for most were
carrying eggs or larvae, although many
had food. For an hour, at noon, during
heavy rain, the column weakened and
almost Disappeared but when the sun
returned, the lines rejoined and the
revolution Of the vicious circle con-
tinued.
Careful measurement of the great
circle showed a circumference Of 1,2OO
feet. We timed the laden ants and
found that they averaged two to two
and three-quarters inches a second. So
a given Individual would complete the
round in about two hours and half.
All the afternoon the insane circle
revoyd; at midnight, the hosts were
still moving; the second morning many
had weakened and dropped their bur
dens and the general pace had very
appreciably Slackened. But still the
blind grip of instinct held them. On,
on, on, they must go. Always before
in their nomadiC life there had been
a goal-a sanctuary Of hollow tree,
snug heart of bamboos; surely this
terrible grind must end somehow.
Through sun and cloud, day and
night. hour after hour, there was
found no ant with individual initiative
enough to turn aside an ants breadth
from the circle that he had traversed
perhaps Is times.
Fewer and fewer now came along
the wel-worn path; burdens Uttered
the line of march, like the arms and
accoutrements thrown down by re-
treating army. At last, a scanty single
line struggled past-tired, hopeless, be
wildered idiOtic and thOughtleSS to the
last.
Then some half-dead ant struggled
from the circle along the beach and
threw the line behind him into con
fusion. The desperation of total eX
haustion had accomplished what ne
ceSsity and opportunity and normal
life could not. Several others fol
lowed his scent instead of that lead
ing back toward the clubhouse; and
as an amoeba gradually flows into one
Of its own pseudopodia, 50 the forlOrr
hope of the great Eciton army passed
slowly down the beach and on into the
jungle.
Would they die singly and in be
wildered groups, or would the rem
nant draw together, and, again guild
ed by the Supermnd of its mentor la!
the foundation of another army anC
again come to nest in my outhOuse-
William Beebe in the Atlantic Monthly