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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77638 ***
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 833
+Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
+
+Life Among
+the Ants
+
+Vance Randolph
+
+Drawings by Peter Quinn
+
+
+HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
+GIRARD, KANSAS
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1925,
+Haldeman-Julius Company
+
+
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+Chapter                                  Page
+
+   1.  Books About Ants                     4
+
+   2.  The Ant’s Body                       5
+
+   3.  Reproduction and Metamorphosis      12
+
+   4.  The Harvesting Ants                 20
+
+   5.  The Mushroom Growers                25
+
+   6.  The Honey Ants                      30
+
+   7.  The Legionary Ants                  36
+
+   8.  The Red Slave Makers                46
+
+   9.  The Amazons and Their Slaves        51
+
+  10. Dairies and Guests                   54
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AMONG THE ANTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BOOKS ABOUT ANTS
+
+
+There are many references to ants in the works of the ancients (Aesop,
+Plutarch, Horace, Ovid and Pliny), and these were quoted and elaborated
+by the mediaeval authors, but modern scientific investigation may be
+said to begin with the nineteenth century. Since then an enormous
+amount of work has been done by European scientists, but their papers
+are scattered through the files of obscure scientific journals in a
+great variety of continental languages, and are usually inaccessible or
+useless to the American student who wishes to make a serious (but not
+_too_ serious) study of ant life and behavior.
+
+The first general treatise in English was doubtless Sir John Lubbock’s
+famous work entitled _Ants, Bees and Wasps_, first published in 1881.
+This work was for many years a sort of standard textbook on the
+subject, and is still well worth looking into.
+
+Another book which may be of use is _Animal Intelligence_, by George
+Romanes. The sixth edition, which appeared in 1895, devotes more than
+one hundred pages to the habits of ants.
+
+Eric Wasmann has written a great number of books and papers about ants,
+one of the best of which has appeared in English as _The Psychology
+of Ants and of Higher Animals_, published in 1905. All of Wasmann’s
+works are valuable and well worth reading, but they are marred by his
+constant references to philosophical and theological matters which are
+of no great interest to the general reader. Father Wasmann feels called
+upon to demonstrate that ants, as regards their psychical powers,
+are much nearer to man than are the anthropoid apes, and is forever
+interrupting himself to defend his vitalistic biology and condemn the
+theory of organic evolution.
+
+By all odds the best work available on the subject is the large volume
+called _Ants_, written by Professor William Morton Wheeler of Harvard
+University, and published in 1910. This book is, in fact, not merely
+the best but the only book required by the average student. There is,
+of course, a great deal of material which is uncomprehensible to one
+who has no particular technical background, but the whole thing is so
+admirably arranged that the student has only to glance through the
+table of contents to locate matter suited to his taste and training. I
+have made a very free use of _Ants_ in the preparation of this booklet,
+some sections of which are little more than epitomes or abstracts of
+Wheeler’s chapters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ANT’S BODY
+
+
+The body of the ant, like those of other insects, is segmented, and
+covered with a hard chitinous external skeleton. It is separated by
+constrictions into three distinct parts, the head, which bears the eyes
+and mouth-parts; the thorax, to which the wings and legs are attached;
+and the abdomen, which contains most of the entrails and the sexual
+apparatus.
+
+_The Head, Eyes, and Mouth-parts._ The head varies greatly in shape
+and size, but always bears a frontal plate or _clypeus_, just above
+which the two jointed _antennae_ or feelers are attached. The antennae
+contain a great number of minute structures which are supposed to be
+connected with the sense of smell. Three small simple eyes or _ocelli_
+are set in the top of the head, and two large _compound eyes_ are
+located one on either side. The eyes are always very well developed in
+the males, and somewhat less so in the females; the eyes of the workers
+are relatively small, and the ocelli are sometimes lacking altogether.
+The compound eyes are the principal organs of vision, while the ocelli
+are supposed to register only very near objects.
+
+Just below the clypeus are the mouth-parts, consisting of the _labrum_
+or upper lip, a pair of powerful _mandibles_, another pair of jaws
+called _maxillae_, and the _labium_ or lower lip. Both maxillae and
+labium bear little _palpi_ or feelers, and are plentifully supplied
+with taste-buds containing the gustatory cells. The tongue or _glossa_
+with which the ant laps up its food is attached to the upper part of
+the labium.
+
+_The Thorax, Legs and Wings._ The ant’s thorax consists of four
+segments. The first segment is known as the _prothorax_; it is quite
+small, and bears the first pair of legs. The next segment, the
+_mesothorax_, carries the second pair of legs and the front wings--when
+wings are present. The third segment or _metathorax_ bears the
+third pair of legs and the hind wings--if there are any wings. The
+fourth segment is really a part of the abdomen, and is known as the
+_epinotum_. On each side of the thorax are two breathing-holes or
+_stigmata_, which communicate directly with the _tracheae_ or windpipes
+which supply air to the interior tissues.
+
+The ant has six legs, one pair attached to each of the three segments
+of the thorax proper. Each leg consists of five parts, the _coxa_, the
+_trochanter_, the _femur_, the _tibia_, and the _tarsus_ or foot. The
+wings are four in number, and the venation is similar to that found
+in other members of the order Hymenoptera, but the wings are not much
+used in classification because the workers are always wingless, and the
+females wear wings only for a part of their lives.
+
+_The Abdomen and Its Appendages._ The ant’s abdomen is divided into two
+parts, the slender _pedicel_ which articulates with the last segment
+of the thorax, and the larger part of the abdomen called the _gaster_.
+The pedicel is provided with a file-like structure, which by rubbing
+against a non-striated segment produces a sound of very high pitch.
+In some species the females and workers bear stings and poison glands
+in the last segment of the gaster. The female has no ovipositor. In
+the male the tip of the gaster usually bears three pairs of sexual
+appendages; the two outer pairs are used in clasping the female during
+copulation, and the inner pair, when held tightly together, form a
+tube which functions as a penis.
+
+_The Alimentary Canal._ The mouth is located between the maxillae,
+and is provided with a little pouch called the _infrabuccal cavity_,
+which is used to hold solid matter while the liquid nutriment is
+being sucked out of it. When this has been accomplished the pellet
+is thrown out. The liquid food passes back into the _pharynx_, and
+then on through a slender tube called the _esophagus_, which is lined
+with fine hairs. In the gaster the esophagus expands into the _crop_,
+which acts as a reservoir; no food is absorbed through its walls,
+but is often regurgitated to feed the young. Just back of the crop
+is the _proventriculus_ or gizzard, the movements of which provide
+the suction by which liquid is drawn up the esophagus and into the
+crop, and the force by which food is regurgitated. The true _stomach_
+is rather small, and it is here that the food is both digested and
+absorbed. The _small intestine_ communicates with the stomach by a
+valve, and is connected with a number of _Malpighian tubes_ which act
+as kidneys, absorbing liquid waste from the blood and pouring it into
+the intestine. The large intestine or _rectum_ receives the feces and
+urine from the small intestine and expels them from the body by way of
+the _anal opening_.
+
+_The Circulatory System._ The _blood_ of the ant, like that of other
+insects, is colorless, and contains several kinds of corpuscles. Its
+function is to carry food from the stomach where it is absorbed to
+other parts of the body where it is needed. The blood of insects has
+no red corpuscles, and does not carry oxygen about. The blood is not
+confined in definite veins and arteries as in the higher animals, but
+percolates about through the entire body cavity. There is a simple
+_heart_ in the dorsal part of the abdomen which pulsates and forces
+blood forward through an _aorta_ into the head, from which it seeps
+gradually back into the abdomen, to be pumped forward through the aorta
+again. Thus a sluggish circulation is maintained.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. I. Diagram showing internal structure. 1, mouth; 2,
+pharynx; 3, infrabuccal cavity; 4, aorta; 5, esophagus; 6, heart; 7,
+crop; 8, small intestine; 9, stomach; 10, Malpighian tubes; 11, large
+intestines or rectum; 12, anal opening.]
+
+_Respiration._ Ants have neither lungs nor gills, and the blood does
+not carry oxygen into the cells and carbon dioxide out as in the higher
+animals. As in most other insects, air is taken into the body through
+breathing-holes or _stigmata_, and brought into direct contact with the
+tissues. There are ten pairs of these stigmata in the ant--two pairs in
+the thorax and eight in the abdominal segments. Each opens through a
+sort of valve into a _trachea_ or wind-pipe, which branches until its
+ramifications extend to all parts of the body. When certain muscles
+contract the size of the body increases, and air is drawn in through
+the stigmata; when the size of the body is decreased the air is forced
+out. The incoming air brings in the necessary oxygen, and the outgoing
+current is laden with carbon dioxide waste from the tissues.
+
+_The Nervous System._ The _brain_ proper is a mass of nerve matter in
+the head just above the esophagus, but the _subesophageal ganglion_ is
+very close to it, and the two are connected by heavy fibers on each
+side of the esophagus, so that the whole thing has the appearance of
+a brain with the gullet running through the middle of it. The major
+part of the upper brain is connected with the compound eyes, but there
+are nerves also which supply the ocelli, the antennae, the pharynx,
+the labrum, and muscles in the head. The subesophageal ganglion gives
+off nerves to the mandibles, maxillae and labium. From the lower back
+part of the subesophageal ganglion the _ventral nerve cord_ arises, and
+runs through the thorax and far back into the abdomen. This cord bears
+three large _thoracic ganglia_ which innervate the muscles of the wings
+and legs. In the abdomen are eleven smaller _abdominal ganglia_, with
+nerves running out to supply all of the abdominal organs. The so-called
+_sympathetic system_ consists of a few very small ganglia and nerves
+not directly connected with the ventral nerve cord, which function in
+connection with the digestive organs.
+
+_The Reproductive Organs._ The _ovaries_ of the female or queen ant
+are located in the upper and front part of the gaster, and each is
+connected by a slender _oviduct_ with the _uterus_. The uterus is
+continuous with the _vagina_, the external opening of which is located
+near the tip of the abdomen. At the top of the uterus is a small pouch
+called the _seminal receptacle_, which receives the sperm from the male
+in copulation. The spermatozoa live in this pouch for several years,
+and meet and fertilize the eggs as they descend into the uterus from
+the ovaries.
+
+The organs of the worker are similar to those of the queen, except that
+they are very much smaller, and are usually incapable of functioning
+normally. Worker ants have never been seen to copulate. The _testes_
+of the male ant are located in the front part of the gaster, and are
+connected by the _vas deferens_ with the _seminal vesicles_. Tubes from
+the vesicles unite to form the _ejaculatory duct_, which is connected
+with the _penis_ at the tip of the abdomen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+REPRODUCTION AND METAMORPHOSIS
+
+
+Like their relatives the bees and wasps, ants have developed two
+types of females, so that a colony contains three distinct sorts of
+individuals, known as males, females, and workers.
+
+_The Male._ The male is less subject to variation than either the queen
+or the worker. The body is usually slender and graceful, the eyes and
+antennae are well developed, and the mouth parts rather small and weak.
+In most species the male is winged. As in the bees, the one great
+function of the male in the colony is to copulate with the female or
+queen, so as to supply her with sperm to fertilize future eggs. The
+male is not killed in the course of the sexual embrace, as the drone
+honeybee is, but usually dies soon afterward.
+
+_The Female._ The true female or queen is usually larger than either
+the male or the worker; the head, eyes, and mandibles are well
+developed, and the abdomen is very large to contain the reproductive
+organs. The female is usually winged at the time of mating, but the
+wings are loosely attached and she loses them as soon as the nuptial
+flight is over. The wings and legs are stouter and shorter than those
+of the male, in most cases. In a few species the females have no wings,
+and in others it is the males which are wingless. No case is known in
+which neither male nor female is provided with wings.
+
+_The Worker._ The worker is an undeveloped, wingless female. The eyes
+are small, and the ocelli are often lacking; the antennae, legs, and
+mouth parts are strong and well developed. There is a great deal
+of variation among workers; one common variant is the _dinergate_,
+or soldier--a form with a very large head and mandibles adapted to
+fighting. The sex organs of the worker are unquestionably female, but
+they do not ordinarily function, and a worker has never been seen to
+copulate.
+
+_Mating._ In species in which both the male and female are winged,
+mating occurs in the air, as in the nuptial flight of the queen bee. In
+the case of the honeybee, however, there is only one queen to a great
+number of drones, while with the ants there may be hundreds of queens
+and drones in the air, all copulating at once. Another difference is
+that the mated females do not often return to the parent colony, as the
+queen bee always does. When the mating hour draws near all the ants,
+even the nearly blind and wingless workers, rush out of the nest in
+great excitement, and the air is soon full of flying ants. Copulation
+usually begins high in the air, but the linked pairs often fall to
+the ground together. In the mating of bees the male is almost always
+instantly killed, the genital organs and entrails being torn out of
+his body. This mutilation never happens among ants, but the male’s
+life-work is ended with the sexual act, and he usually dies shortly
+afterward.
+
+_The New Colony._ As soon as the mated female is upon solid ground
+again she tears off her wings, or removes them by rubbing against
+some solid object. This done, condemned to a crawling, terrestrial
+existence for the rest of her days, she sets out alone to establish
+a new colony. She digs a hole in the ground, or in rotten wood, or
+under a flat stone, seals up the opening, and sits down in the dark
+until the eggs in her abdomen are mature. Sometimes this takes weeks
+or even months, and during this time the queen has nothing to eat,
+but lives by absorbing the large wing-muscles which she will never
+use again. Finally the eggs are deposited, being fertilized by some
+of the spermatozoa which were obtained from the male, and which are
+stored in the spermatheca, a little pouch just above the uterus. When
+the larvae hatch she feeds them with a secretion from her salivary
+glands. The resulting ants are normal workers, except that they are
+unusually small. Sometimes it takes nearly a year to rear this first
+brood, and all this time the queen has eaten absolutely nothing. As
+soon as the workers are old enough they dig passages to the open air,
+and enlarge the nest by adding galleries and runways. They drag in
+food and feed the exhausted female, who from this time forward does
+nothing but eat and lay eggs--the brood being cared for entirely by the
+workers. From now on the female is a timid, photophobic, rickety old
+egg-laying machine. During her long fast the great wing-muscles have
+been absorbed, leaving the thorax hollow, so that she floats if placed
+in water. Only a very few females can survive the ordeal necessary to
+found a new colony--probably only one of many thousands which undertake
+it. It is a beautiful example of the Darwinian phenomena of survival.
+
+The procedure described above is the usual one in most species of
+ants. It was guessed at by Huber in 1810, but the first man to watch
+the actual founding of a new colony was an American named Lincecum,
+about 1866. In 1879 Sir John Lubbock observed the whole process in an
+artificial nest, and his account of the process has since been verified
+by numerous other investigators.
+
+In certain species, however, the queen is unequal to the task of
+founding a family in this manner. In this case she must return to the
+parent colony, join a queenless colony of her own or an allied species,
+or raid a small colony of aliens. In this latter event she kills them
+all, and adopts their eggs and brood.
+
+_Complete Metamorphosis._ Like the butterflies and beetles, ants have
+a complete metamorphosis, that is, they pass through four distinct
+developmental stages. In many other insects--the grasshoppers for
+example--the metamorphosis is said to be incomplete, because the newly
+hatched young have the same general form as the adult, and their
+development is merely a matter of increase in bulk.
+
+_The Egg._ Ant’s eggs are very small, rarely more than one-fiftieth of
+an inch in length, and are very seldom seen by the casual observer, who
+mistakes the comparatively large cocoons for eggs. The egg is usually
+elongated, and consists of the germinal spot, the yolk, and the thin
+transparent shell called the chorion. The eggs look very much alike,
+and one cannot predict whether a given egg will produce a male, a
+worker, or a queen. Some eggs are fertilized by sperm stored in the
+female’s spermatheca, others are deposited without fertilization, while
+those laid by workers are certainly not fertilized, since workers do
+not copulate. In bees and certain other related insects it has been
+found that unfertilized eggs always produce males, but whether this is
+always true in ants is still an open question.
+
+Very little is known of the embryological development of the ant, but
+the unhatched larva certainly has traces not only of antennae and legs,
+but remnants of certain abdominal appendages not present in the adult
+ant, and evidently harking back to more remote ancestors. The egg
+usually hatches about twenty days after it is laid, but the length of
+this period varies greatly with the temperature.
+
+_The Larva._ The newly hatched larva is a soft, semi-transparent grub,
+with a fat body, slender crooked neck and small head. There are no
+eyes, but the mouth-parts are fairly well developed, and ten pairs of
+stigmata are usually present. The body is covered with short fine
+hairs. The digestive system is well formed, but there is no connection
+between the stomach and the intestine, so that the larva has no
+movement of the bowels until it is about to transform into the next
+stage. The accumulated feces in the lower part of the stomach may often
+be seen as a black spot showing through the semi-transparent walls of
+the body.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. II. Cross-section of an ant-hill, showing the
+arrangement of larvae and pupae according to size. (Adapted from
+Andre.)]
+
+The larva is fed by the workers, the food being either regurgitated
+liquid food or pieces of fresh vegetable or animal matter. It has been
+found in the case of the bees that the kind of food given the larva
+determines whether it will develop into a queen or a worker, but we
+have no definite information about this matter among the ants.
+
+When the larva is fully grown, usually about a month after hatching, it
+is buried in the ground by the workers, and spins a silken cocoon about
+itself. All ant larvae have spinning organs in the head, but some do
+not spin cocoons, and in this case are not buried, but undergo their
+metamorphosis in the open chambers of the nest. The larva now voids its
+accumulated feces, sheds the larval skin, and appears as the pupa, the
+third stage in the ant’s development.
+
+_The Pupa._ In the pupal stage the ant has most of the appendages and
+organs of the adult, but they are small and folded close against the
+body. The pupa lies quietly, is not fed, and ordinarily gives no signs
+of life at all. Gradually the various parts develop, the darker color
+of the adult appears, until finally the mature pupa has very much the
+appearance of the imago. Then the cocoon is opened by the attendant
+workers, the young ant dragged out and fed, and begins its life as an
+adult. The pale, newly emerged ant is known as a _callow_. The pupal
+stage usually lasts from fifteen to twenty days, but is sometimes much
+longer in cold weather.
+
+_The Adult._ The general appearance and characteristics of the adult
+are described elsewhere in this book. The total time of development
+from the deposition of the egg to the appearance of the callow varies
+from about sixty days to five months, and is considerably longer than
+the corresponding period in most other insects. The queen bee, for
+example, passes through all three stages in about sixteen days, while
+some butterflies are developed in less than twenty-five days. Another
+interesting feature is the extreme longevity of the adult ant. The
+males are short-lived, but the workers of many species live for four
+or five years, and the queens for still longer periods. Janet kept one
+for fully ten years, and Sir John Lubbock had a queen in his possession
+from December, 1874 to August, 1888, “when she must have been nearly
+fifteen years old, and, of course, may have been more,” since he had no
+means of knowing her age at the beginning of her captivity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE HARVESTING ANTS
+
+
+The works of Pliny and other ancient writers contain references to ants
+which collected great stores of seeds, and these accounts were quoted
+by numerous mediaeval authors. Modern students of ants, however, worked
+mostly in northern and central Europe, and as they did not find any of
+these harvesting ants they were rather inclined to dismiss the classic
+stories as fiction pure and simple, and class the seed-gathering ants
+with the unicorn and the mermaid.
+
+In 1829, however, one W. H. Sykes, an Englishman located in India,
+reported that certain ants near his station not only collected great
+quantities of grass seed, but after a heavy rain could always be
+seen bringing their cereal out of the underground granaries to dry
+it in the sun. These observations went far to vindicate the ancient
+naturalists, and the work of J. T. Moggridge, in 1873, completed the
+vindication. Moggridge watched the workers bring in the seeds, bite
+off the germinating part to prevent the seeds from sprouting, and
+store them in the nests, which often contain a pint or so of grain. By
+examination of these hoards he identified as many as eighteen different
+families of plants represented in a single nest. Despite the efforts to
+prevent germination by biting off the radicles (a fact noted by Pliny
+some sixteen hundred years before) many of the seeds do sprout, and
+thus the harvesting ants play a part in the distribution of plants. Of
+this subject Moggridge says: “As the ants often travel some distance
+from their nest in search of food, they may certainly be said to be,
+in a limited sense, agents in the dispersal of seeds, for they not
+infrequently drop seeds by the way, which they fail to find again,
+and often also among the refuse matter which forms the kitchen hidden
+in front of their entrances, a few sound seeds are often present, and
+these in many instances grow up and form a little colony of strange
+plants. This presence of seedlings foreign to the wild grounds in which
+the nest is usually placed, is quite a feature where there are old
+established colonies of _Atta barbara_, where young plants of fumitory,
+chickweed, cranesbill, Arabis thaleana, etc., may be seen on or near
+the rubbish heap.... One can imagine cases in which the ants during
+the lapse of long periods of time might pass the seeds of plants from
+colony to colony, until after a journey of many stages, the descendants
+of the ant-borne seedlings might find themselves transported to places
+far removed from the original home of their immediate ancestors.”
+
+There are many species of harvester ants in America; one of the most
+interesting is _Solenopsis geminata_, popularly known as the fire-ant
+because of its readiness to use its painful sting. Although the
+fire-ant certainly stores up seeds, often to the extent of damaging
+crops of soft fruits like strawberries, it will also eat insects, or
+almost anything else that it can get. The nests are usually found
+beneath flat stones, and in some localities are so common and so
+populous that Wheeler refers to the fire-ant as being “in possession
+of a large portion of the soil of the American tropics.” In Louisiana
+and other southern states these ants nest along the shores of lagoons
+and bayous; when the floods come and the nest is submerged the workers
+cling together in a ball as much as eight inches in diameter, with the
+brood in the center. This ball floats in the water, the ants constantly
+shifting about so that very few are drowned, and very little brood
+lost, until they are able to effect a landing.
+
+The so-called Texas harvester (_Pogonomyrmex molefaciens_) has become
+famous because a man named Lincecum, about 1862, published a paper in
+which he claimed that this ant actually _plants_ seeds in the ground,
+weeds and cultivates its fields all summer, gathers the crop, dries
+it in the sun, and finally stores it away in subterranian granaries.
+This story was accepted and promulgated by Charles Darwin, and so was
+believed in many quarters. It seems to rest solely upon the fact that
+ant-rice (_Aristida_) is usually found growing about the nest, although
+it may occur nowhere else in the immediate vicinity. “Four years of
+nearly continuous observation,” writes Wheeler, “enable me to suggest
+the probable source of Lincecum’s misconception. If the nests of this
+ant can be studied during the cool winter months--and this is the only
+time to study them leisurely, as the cold subdues the fiery stings of
+their inhabitants--the seeds, which the ants have garnered in many
+of their chambers will often be found to have sprouted. Sometimes, in
+fact, the chambers are literally stuffed with dense wads of seedling
+grasses and other plants. On sunny days the ants may often be seen
+removing these seeds when they have sprouted too far to be fit for food
+and carrying them to the refuse heap, which is always at the periphery
+of the crater or cleared earthen disk. Here the seeds, thus rejected as
+inedible, often take root and in the spring form an arc or a complete
+circle of growing plants around the nest. Since the _Pogonomyrmex_
+feeds largely, though by no means exclusively, on grass seeds, and
+since, moreover, the seeds of Aristida are a very common and favorite
+article of food, it is easy to see why this grass should predominate in
+the circle. In reality however, only a small percentage of the nests,
+and only those situated in grassy localities, present such circles.
+Now to state that _molefaciens_, like a provident farmer, sows this
+cereal and guards and weeds it for the sake of garnering its grain, is
+as absurd as to say that the family cook is planting and maintaining an
+orchard when some of the peach stones, which she has carelessly thrown
+into the backyard with the other kitchen refuse, chance to grow into
+peach trees.”
+
+Wheeler has also observed the mating flight of the Texas harvester,
+and his graphic description is worth setting down in its entirety:
+“During three successive years (1901-1903) at Austin, Texas, the
+nuptial flight of _molefaciens_ took place on one of the last days
+of June (28 and 29) or the first in July. On one of these occasions
+(July 4, 1903) the flight was of exceptional magnitude and beauty. A
+few days previous the country had been deluged with heavy rains, but
+Independence Day was clear and sunny, the mesquite trees were in full
+bloom and the air resounded with the hum of insects. For several days
+I had seen a few males and winged females stealthily creep out of the
+nest entrance as if for an airing, but hurry back at the slightest
+alarm. From 1:30 to 3 o’clock, however, on the afternoon of July 4,
+all the numerous colonies I could visit during a long walk west of the
+town, gave forth their males and females as by a common impulse. The
+number issuing from a single large nest was often sufficient to have
+filled a half liter measure. Soon every mound and disk was covered with
+the bright red females and darker males, intermingled with workers,
+many of whom kept on bringing seeds and dead insects into the nest
+as unconcernedly as if nothing unusual were happening. The males and
+females, quivering with excitement, mounted the stones or pebbles of
+the nest or hurriedly climbed onto the surrounding leaves and grass
+and rocked to and fro in the breeze. Then, raising themselves on their
+feet and spreading their opalescent wings, they mounted obliquely one
+by one into the air. I could follow them only for a distance of ten or
+twenty meters when their rapidly diminishing bodies melted away against
+the brilliant cloudless sky. Many pairs, hesitating to take flight,
+chased one another about on the surface of the nest. The amorous males
+seized many of the females before they could leave the ground. Lizards
+crept forth in great numbers and gulped down quantities of the fat
+females, while others were borne off into the air by large robber flies
+(_Asilidae_). By a little after three o’clock the males and females had
+left the nest and only the workers were seen pursuing the quiet routine
+business of bringing in seeds.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE MUSHROOM GROWERS
+
+
+In tropical and subtropical America there are about one hundred species
+and varieties of ants which have most extraordinary habits, and are
+grouped together in the Myrmicine tribe _Attii_. These ants are usually
+rather small and dull colored, and, while they are powerful and
+industrious diggers, are not given to rapid movements as most ants are,
+but walk slowly and sedately about. When picked up they do not struggle
+as many other ants do, but feign death after the manner of certain well
+known beetles.
+
+It was long noted that the _Attii_ carried great quantities of leaves
+into their nests, and there was considerable doubt as to the use to
+which these were put, some observers believing that they were used
+immediately as food, and others contending that they served as roofing
+and carpets in the underground passageways. Belt, a naturalist who
+lived in Nicaragua, was probably the first to discover the secret
+of the leaves. Digging into one of the nests in his garden, he was
+surprised to find no great quantity of leaves in any of the passages,
+although ants were continually bringing them in at the entrance. The
+chambers were always partly filled with “a speckled, brown, flocculent,
+spongy-looking mass of a light and loosely connected substance.... This
+mass, which I have called the ant-food, proved on examination to be
+composed of minutely subdivided pieces of leaves, weathered to a brown
+color, and overgrown and lightly connected together by a minute white
+fungus that ramified in every direction throughout it.... When a nest
+is disturbed and the masses of ant-food spread about, the ants are in
+great concern to carry away every morsel of it under shelter again; and
+sometimes, when I dug into the nest, I found the next day all the earth
+thrown out filled with little pits that the ants had dug into it to get
+out the covered up food.”
+
+Further investigation brought Belt to the conclusion that the _Attii_
+do not eat leaves at all, but use them as manure to grow fungus on; and
+further, that they feed upon this fungus, and will eat nothing else.
+The _Attii_ are, in Belt’s own phrase, “mushroom growers and eaters.”
+While leaves are the chief fertilizer, other substances are often
+found suitable for growing fungus on; flowers are sometimes used, and
+some species are particularly partial to pieces of orange peel. The
+temperature and ventilation of the subterranean gardens are matters
+of great importance, and there are many small holes which connect
+the larger chambers with the surface. These air-shafts are plugged
+and reopened at intervals, and by this means the temperature and
+ventilation are regulated.
+
+Alfred Moeller was a naturalist who studied the _Attii_ in Brazil, and
+published the results of his labors in 1893. He found that the gardens
+contain only one kind of fungus, all alien spores being carefully
+weeded out. The ants do not allow the fruits to develop, and this has
+made the classification of the fungi a very difficult matter. The fungi
+found in the _Attii_ nests are different from any others known, but
+no one can tell whether they are really distinct species or merely
+modified forms of certain common moulds or mushrooms.
+
+Von Ihering, in 1898, discovered that the virgin queen, when leaving
+the nest on her nuptial flight, always carries a little pellet of
+fungus in her mouth. After being fertilized by the male the queen
+shuts herself up in a little burrow and sets about the founding of a
+new colony. There are in this case no leaves available, and she starts
+the fungus growing upon some of her new-laid eggs, which she crushes
+for the purpose, and which seem to work quite as well as the usual
+vegetable fertilizer.
+
+J. Huber, in 1905, studied the same problems which interested Von
+Ihering, and concluded that the fungus is not grown upon crushed eggs,
+but is nourished by the liquid excrement of the queen. He describes
+his observations as follows: “After watching the ant for hours she will
+be seen suddenly to tear a little piece of the fungus from the garden
+with her mandibles and hold it against the tip of her abdomen, which is
+bent forward for this purpose. At the same time she emits from her vent
+a clear yellowish or brownish droplet which is at once absorbed by the
+tuft of hyphae. Hereupon the tuft is again inserted, amid much feeling
+about with the antennae, in the garden, but usually not in the same
+spot from which it was taken, and is then patted into place by means
+of the fore feet.... According to my observations, this performance
+is repeated usually once or twice an hour, and sometimes, to be sure,
+even more frequently.” Although, according to Huber, the eggs are not
+used directly as fertilizer for the fungus, the same result is brought
+about indirectly, as the female is accustomed to feed upon her own
+new-laid eggs. Huber estimates that nine out of every ten eggs laid are
+eaten at once by the mother. The young larvae, too, are fed with eggs
+thrust directly into their mouths by the queen. When the adult workers
+appear, however, they live exclusively on the fungus which has been
+growing during their larval life, and feed the queen upon fungus also,
+while continuing to supply the larvae with their mother’s eggs. After
+a week or so the workers dig their way out of the chamber, bring in
+leaf-manure for the garden, and the fungus is no longer cared for by
+the queen, who now gives all her attention to the serious business of
+egg-laying. As the fungus becomes more abundant under this cultivation
+it is fed to the larvae also, and eggs are no longer used as food by
+any of the individuals in the hive.
+
+The extraordinary habits of the Attine ants have fascinated many
+students, and a number of theories about their development have
+been advanced. Forel suggested that the ancestors of the present
+mushroom-growers must have lived in rotten wood, and fed upon the
+fungus which grew upon the moist walls of their nests, or upon insect
+excrement. Von Ihering thinks that they may have developed from the
+harvesting ants, which gradually acquired such an appetite for the
+fungus which happened to grow in their granaries that the original
+stores came to be used only as fertilizer. Wheeler points out that,
+besides the Attine ants, there are several kinds of beetles and
+termites which cultivate fungus upon their own excrement, and suggests
+that originally this was the method employed by the ants. Later on they
+came to use the excrement of other insects, and finally passed to the
+addition of leaves and other non-fecal vegetable matter.
+
+As has been said above, the _Attii_ are primarily tropical and
+subtropical insects, but a few species have come north into the United
+States. They are found chiefly in peninsular Florida, in southern
+Texas, and in Arizona, although one species has been reported as far
+north as southern New Jersey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE HONEY ANTS
+
+
+Many species of ants are in the habit of collecting nectar from
+flowers, and the sweet juices excreted by plant-lice, until the crop
+is greatly swollen. When they arrive at the nest, however, the sweets
+are soon regurgitated and fed to the larvae. Any worker ant is able to
+expand its crop to a certain extent, but in some species this power is
+developed to an enormous degree. In still other tribes this peculiar
+capacity seems to be limited to certain individuals. In the true honey
+ants only a comparatively small number of workers are capable of this
+honey-carrying, and these individuals are known as honey-bearing or
+_repletes_. The repletes never accompany the other workers on their
+foraging expeditions, but remain always in the nest, and are used as
+living bottles in which to store the nectar brought in from the fields.
+
+In some North American species of _Myrmecocystus_ the abdomen is
+distended to such an extent that the repletes are unable to move about
+without serious danger of bursting open, and spend their lives hanging
+in clusters from the ceilings of certain chambers in the nest. These
+honey ants are found in desert regions from central Mexico as far
+north as Denver, Colorado, and have since ancient times been highly
+prized as sweetmeats by the aborigenes of this region. Honey ants were
+described in Mexican publications as long ago as 1832, but the first
+important study was made by McCook, whose investigations were carried
+out in the so-called Garden of the Gods, near Manitou, Colorado, about
+1882. He found several very large nests, covering an area of more than
+six feet in diameter, and extending three feet below the surface of
+the ground. One of these nests contained some three hundred replete
+honey-vessels hanging by their claws from the ceiling, and so distended
+with honey that, once fallen from their positions, they were quite
+unable to get back up again. McCook saw the ordinary workers bringing
+in great quantities of nectar and honeydew, which was immediately
+regurgitated and fed to the repletes or _rotunds_, as he called them,
+and thus stored up in a living reservoir until needed.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. III. Repletes of a common honey-ant. (From a
+drawing by Wheeler.)]
+
+It was formerly supposed that the sweet liquid was kept in the stomach
+of the replete, but Forel, in 1880, showed that it is in reality
+the enormously distended crop which functions. McCook made careful
+dissections which bore out Forel’s views, and demonstrated that the
+replete has all the abdominal organs of the ordinary worker, although
+these are flattened against the body wall and rendered inconspicuous by
+the distension of the crop.
+
+McCook rejected the view that the replete belongs to a separate
+caste, saying that “a comparison of the workers with the honey-bearer
+shows that there is absolutely no difference between them except in
+the distended condition of the abdomen.... The process by which the
+rotundity of the honey-bearer has probably been produced, has its
+exact counterpart in the ordinary distension of the crop in overfed
+ants; the condition of the alimentary canal, in all the castes, is
+the same, differing only in degree, and therefore the probability is
+very great that _the honey-bearer is simply a worker with an overgrown
+abdomen_.... Thus workers are transformed by the gradual distension
+of the crop and expansion of the abdomen into honey-bearers, and the
+latter do not compose a distinct caste.”
+
+[Illustration: Fig. IV. Repletes of a honey-ant (_Myrmecocystus
+hortideorum_) hanging from the roof of a honey chamber. (After McCook.)]
+
+Just why these repletes should be developed in some species and not
+in others is a mooted question. The fact that they are found only
+in desert regions in North America, Australia, and South Africa may
+mean that a dry climate is one of the important conditions of the
+phenomena. Forel said: “The extraordinary distension of the crop seems
+to be frequent in the Australian species of the general Melophorus,
+Gamponotus and Leptomyrmex. I suppose that this is due to the extremely
+dry climate of the country, which must compel the ants to remain,
+often for long periods, in their subterranean abodes. At such times
+a store of provisions in living bags must be very useful to them.”
+Wheeler, in commenting on the above statement by Forel, writes: “There
+can be little doubt of the truth of this statement, but I believe that
+it should be expressed in a different manner. The impulse to develop
+repletes is probably due to the brief and temporary abundance of liquid
+food (honeydew, gall secretions, etc.) in arid regions and the long
+period during which not only these substances, but also insect food
+are unobtainable. The honey is stored in the living reservoirs for
+the purpose of tiding over such periods of scarcity, and the ants
+remain in their nests because they do not need to forage. Hence the
+confinement mentioned by Forel is not the immediate but one of the
+ulterior effects of drought. I am convinced from my observations on
+desert ants that no amount of drought will keep these insects in their
+nest when they are in need of food.
+
+“While excavating the nests of _M. hortideorum_ I was impressed with
+certain peculiarities in their structure and situation, which seem to
+be explainable only as adaptations to the development of repletes.
+One of these peculiarities is the great hardness of the soil that is
+preferred by the ants. This is the more astonishing because the workers
+are very slender and delicate organisms. It is evident that such soil
+is well adapted to the construction of vaulted chambers like those in
+which the repletes hang, whereas soft or friable soil would be most
+unsuitable. The development of repletes also makes it necessary for the
+ants to seek very dry situations for their nests. Hence we always find
+them, in the environs of Manitou at least, on the summits of ridges
+which shed the rain very rapidly. The honey chambers must be kept dry,
+both to prevent the disastrous results of crumbling and slipping walls
+and to obviate the growth of mould on the repletes, which are, of
+course, imprisoned for life in dark cavities and filled with substances
+that are favorable to the development of fungi. I believe also that
+the size of the nest openings and galleries, which are so much larger
+than would seem to be required by such small, slender ants, may be
+an adaptation to securing plenty of fresh air in the honey chambers.
+If these suppositions are correct, there is obviously a reciprocal
+relation between the replete habit and an arid environment: the ants
+store honey because they are living in an arid region where moisture
+and food are precious, and the storing of honey in replete workers, in
+turn, is possible only in very dry soil.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LEGIONARY ANTS
+
+
+These insects, which Wheeler describes as “the Huns and Tartars of the
+insect world,” are found in tropical Africa and Asia, and in the warmer
+parts of America. There is a great variation in size and appearance
+between the different castes, the females and workers being blind and
+wingless, while the males have well developed wings and large compound
+eyes. Some of these ants have no fixed habitation, but wander from
+place to place, traveling mostly at night, and camping during the day
+in any shallow hole that affords a temporary shelter. They cannot
+endure the direct rays of the sun, and Savage, in 1845, observed that
+“if they should be detained abroad till late in the morning of a
+sunny day by the quantity of their prey, they will construct arches
+over their path, of dirt agglutinated by a fluid excreted from the
+mouth,” except when they can remain concealed by thick grass or leaves.
+Sometimes the soldier ants form a sort of network arch with their own
+bodies, and Savage says that “whenever an alarm is given the arch is
+instantly broken, and the ants, joining others of the same class on
+the outside of the line, who seem to be acting as commanders, guards
+and scouts, run about in a furious manner in pursuit of the enemy.
+If the alarm should prove without foundation, the victory won or the
+danger passed, the arch is quickly renewed, and the main column marches
+forward as before in all the order of a military discipline.”
+
+In these marches the ants carry their eggs, larvae and pupae with them,
+these being borne in the mandibles of the _minima_ or small workers,
+and the whole column lives by foraging. Savage’s description of their
+predatory habits is well worth quoting here: “They will soon kill the
+largest animal if confined. They attack lizards, guanas, snakes, etc.,
+with complete success. We have lost several animals by them--monkeys,
+pigs, fowl, etc. The severity of their bite is increased to great
+intensity by vast numbers, to a degree impossible to conceive. We may
+easily believe that it would prove fatal to any animal in confinement.
+They have been known to destroy the _Python natalensis_, our largest
+serpent. When gorged with prey it lies motionless for days; then,
+monster as it is, it easily becomes their victim.... Their entrance
+into a house is soon known by the simultaneous and universal movement
+of rats, mice, lizards, Blapsidae, Blattidae, and of the numerous other
+vermin that infest our dwellings. Not being agreed, they cannot dwell
+together, which modifies in a good measure the severity of the driver’s
+habits, and renders their visits sometimes (though very seldom in my
+view) desirable. Their ascent into our beds we sometimes prevent by
+placing the feet of the bedsteads into a basin of vinegar, or some
+other uncongenial fluid; this will generally be successful if the
+rooms are ceiled, or the floors overhead tight; otherwise they will
+drop down upon us, bringing along with them their noxious prey in the
+very act of contending for victory. They move over the house with a
+good degree of order, ransacking one point after another, till, either
+having found something desirable, they collect upon it, when they may
+be destroyed _en masse_ by hot water; or, disappointed, they abandon
+the premises as a barren spot, and seek some other more promising
+locality for exploration. When they are fairly in we give up the house,
+and try to await with patience their pleasure, thankful, indeed, if
+permitted to remain within the narrow limits of our beds or chairs.
+They are decidedly carnivorous in their propensities. Fresh meat of all
+kinds is their favorite food; fresh oils also they love, especially
+that of _Elais guiniensis_, either in the fruit or expressed. Under my
+observation they pass by milk, sugar and pastry of all kinds, also salt
+meat; the latter, when boiled, they have eaten, but not with the zest
+of fresh. It is an incorrect statement, often made, that _they devour
+everything eatable_ by us in our houses; there are many articles which
+form an exception. If a heap of rubbish comes within their route, they
+invariably explore it, when larvae and insects of all orders are borne
+off in triumph--especially the former.”
+
+Sometimes, instead of camping in shelters on the ground, these ants
+climb up into a tree and hang together in a cluster like a swarm of
+bees. Savage reports a colony suspended from a low tree: “From the
+lower limbs (four feet high) were festoons or lines of the size of
+a man’s thumb, reaching to the plants and ground below, consisting
+entirely of these insects; others were ascending and descending upon
+them, thus holding free and ready communication with the lower and
+upper portions of this dense mass. One of these festoons I saw in the
+act of formation; it was a good way advanced when first observed:
+ant after ant coming down from above, extending their long limbs and
+opening wide their jaws, gradually lengthened out the living chain till
+it touched the broad leaf of a _Canna coccinea_ below. It now swung to
+and fro in the wind, the terminal ant meanwhile endeavoring to attach
+it by his jaws and legs to the leaf; not succeeding, another ant of the
+same class (the very largest) was seen to ascend the plant, and, fixing
+his hind legs with the apex of the abdomen firmly to the leaf under the
+vibrating column, then reaching with his fore-legs and opening wide his
+jaws, closed in with his companion above, and thus completed the most
+curious ladder in the world.”
+
+Similar chains are used in bridging little rills or even small brooks,
+but when a real flood occurs a different procedure is adopted. In this
+case they cling together so as to form a large ball, with the eggs and
+young in the center, and float away upon the water until a safe landing
+can be effected.
+
+There are several kinds of legionary and driver ants in America; some
+species have been found as far north as Texas and even Colorado, but
+most of them are confined to the tropics. These ants usually do not
+spend all of their time on the march, but have permanent nests, from
+which they sally out at intervals on foraging expeditions. Belt offers
+a graphic description of the sortie of a colony in Brazil: “One of the
+smaller species (_Eciton praedator_) used occasionally to visit our
+house, swarm over floors and walls, searching every cranny, and driving
+out the cockroaches and spiders, many of which were caught, pulled or
+bitten to pieces, and carried off.... I saw many large armies of this,
+or a closely allied species, in the forest. My attention was generally
+first called to them by the twittering of some small birds, belonging
+to several different species, that followed the ants in the woods. On
+approaching to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, a dense body of
+the ants, three or four yards wide, and so numerous as to blacken the
+ground, would be seen moving rapidly in one direction, examining every
+cranny, and underneath every fallen leaf. On the flanks, and in advance
+of the main body, smaller columns would be pushed out. These smaller
+columns would generally first flush the cockroaches, grasshoppers and
+spiders. The pursued insects would rapidly make off, but many, in
+their confusion and terror, would bound right into the midst of the
+main body of ants.... The greatest catch of the ants was, however, when
+they got amongst some fallen brushwood. The cockroaches, spiders and
+other insects, instead of running right away, would ascend the fallen
+branches and remain there, whilst the host of ants were occupying
+all of the ground below. By and by up would come some of the ants,
+following every branch, and driving their prey before them to the ends
+of the small twigs, when nothing remained for them but to leap, and
+they would alight in the very midst of their foes, with the result of
+being certainly caught and pulled to pieces. Many of the spiders would
+escape by hanging suspended by a thread of silk from the branches, safe
+from the foes that swarmed both above and below.”
+
+[Illustration: Fig. V. Legionary ants attacking a snake.]
+
+Some of the Brazilian species are more nomadic in their habits.
+Belt says: “I think _Eciton hamata_ does not stay more than four or
+five days in one place. I have sometimes come across the migratory
+columns. They may easily be known by all the common workers moving in
+one direction, many of them carrying the larvae and pupae carefully
+in their jaws. Here and there one of the light-colored officers
+moves backwards and forwards directing the columns. Such a column is
+of enormous length, and contains many thousands, if not millions,
+of individuals. I have sometimes followed them up for two or three
+hundred yards without getting to the end.... They make their temporary
+habitation in hollow trees, and sometimes underneath large fallen
+trunks that offer suitable hollows. A nest I came across in the latter
+situation was open at one side, and the ants were clustered together
+in a dense mass, like a great swarm of bees, hanging from the roof
+but reaching to the ground below. Their innumerable long legs looked
+like brown threads binding together the mass, which must have been at
+least a cubic yard in bulk, and contained hundreds of thousands of
+individuals, although many columns were outside, some bringing in the
+pupae of ants, others the legs and dissected bodies of insects. I was
+surprised to see in this living nest tubular passages leading down
+into the center of the mass, kept open just as if it had been formed
+of inorganic material. Down these holes the ants who were bringing the
+booty passed with their prey. I thrust a long stick down to the center
+of the cluster and brought out clinging to it many ants holding larvae
+and pupae, which were probably kept warm by the crowding together of
+the ants. Besides the common dark-colored workers and light-colored
+officers, I saw there many still larger individuals with enormous jaws.
+These they go about holding wide open in a threatening manner, and I
+found, contrary to my expectation, that they could give a severe bite
+with them, and that it was difficult to withdraw the jaws from the
+skin.”
+
+Sumichrast, who studied some of the Mexican legionaries in 1863,
+noted many seemingly aimless migrations, “which they undertake at
+undetermined epochs, but in relation, it appears to me, with the
+atmospheric changes. What traveler, passing over the _tierra caliente_,
+has not encountered the phalanxes of _tepeguas_ upon the paths of the
+primitive forests? What inhabitant of these countries has not, at least
+once, been unpleasantly torn from the arms of sleep by the invasion
+of his domicile by a black army of _soldados_?... Besides the changes
+of domicile which are so generally in relation with the atmospheric
+variation as to serve as a rule to the inhabitants of the country,
+the _Eciton_ devotes itself every season to excursions for pillage,
+destined to supply the larvae with nourishment. Nothing is more
+curious than these _battues_ executed by an entire population. Over an
+extent of many square meters, the soil literally disappears under the
+agglomeration of their little black bodies. No apparent order reigns in
+the mass of the army, but behind this many lines or columns of laggards
+press on to rejoin it. The insects concealed under the dry leaves and
+the trunks of fallen trees fly on all sides before this phalanx of
+pitiless hunters, but, blinded by fright, they fall back among their
+persecutors and are seized and dispatched in the twinkling of an eye.
+Grasshoppers, in spite of the advantage given them by their power of
+leaping, hardly escape more easily. As soon as they are taken, the
+_Eciton_ tears off the hinder feet and all resistance becomes useless.”
+
+The same author describes with some feeling their habit of invading
+houses. “These visits ordinarily take place at the beginning of the
+rainy season, and almost always during the night. The expeditionary
+army penetrates the habitation which it proposes to visit at many
+points at once, and for this purpose divides itself into many columns
+of attack. One is apprised very soon of their arrival by the household
+commotion among the parasitic animals. The rats, the spiders, the
+cockroaches, abandon their retreats and seek to escape from the attacks
+of the ants by flight. Alimentary substances the _soldados_ hold in
+no esteem, and they disdain even sugary things, to which the ants in
+general are so partial. Dead insects even do not seem to invite their
+covetousness. It has often happened to me to be obliged to abandon
+my abode, without having time to carry away my collection, to which
+they have never done the least injury. The trouble occasioned by these
+insects in entering houses is more than compensated by the expeditious
+manner in which they purge them of vermin, and in this view their visit
+is an actual benefit.”
+
+As these ants are usually quite blind and their movements are directed
+(so far as we can tell) by the sense of smell and contact alone, it
+is quite remarkable that they are able to move about so readily, and
+become familiar with their surroundings in less time than their seeing
+relatives. Forel wrote in 1899: “Throw a handful of _Ecitons_ with
+their larvae on a spot with which they are absolutely unacquainted. In
+such circumstances other ants scatter about in disorder and require an
+hour or more to assemble and bring their brood together and especially
+to become acquainted with their environment, but the _Ecitons_ do this
+at once. In five minutes they have formed distinct files which no
+longer disintegrate. They carry their larvae and pupae, marching in a
+straight path, palpating the ground with their antennae and exploring
+all the holes and crevices till they find a suitable retreat and enter
+it with surprising order and promptitude. The workers follow one
+another as if at a word of command, and in a very short time all are in
+safety.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE RED SLAVE MAKERS
+
+
+The European ant known as _Formica sanguinea_ is blood-red in color,
+and is one of the most industrious, versatile, and belligerent insects
+known to man. This species, according to Wheeler, “assails any intruder
+with its mandibles, simultaneously turning the tip of its gaster
+forward and injecting formic acid into the wound.”
+
+Although _sanguinea_ is widely known as a slave-holding species, it
+is by no means wholly dependent upon its slaves, but is quite able
+to dig its own nest, gather food and rear young without the aid of
+any slaves at all. “There is,” said Wheeler, “nothing to show that
+the slaves contribute anything more to the communal activities than
+would be contributed by an equal number of small _sanguinea_ workers.”
+Many observers have reported slaveless colonies of _sanguinea_ which
+seemed to be flourishing, and Wasmann found that the youngest colonies
+contain, as a rule, more slaves than the older nests. He also reported
+an inverse ratio between the number of slaves and the size of the
+colony, some of the very largest being practically slaveless.
+
+The slave-hunting expeditions of the _sanguinea_ are said to occur
+only two or three times a year, and the general procedure is described
+by Wheeler as follows: “The army of workers usually starts out in the
+morning and returns in the afternoon, but this depends on the distance
+of the _sanguinea_ nest from the nest to be plundered. Sometimes the
+slavemakers postpone their sorties till three or four o’clock in the
+afternoon. On rare occasions they may pillage two different colonies in
+succession before going home. The _sanguinea_ army leaves its nest in
+a straggling, open phalanx sometimes a few meters broad and often in
+several companies or detachments. These move to the nest to be pillaged
+over the directest route permitted by the often numerous obstacles in
+their path. As the forefront of the army is not headed by one or a few
+workers that might serve as guides, but is continually changing, some
+dropping back while others move forward to take their places, it is
+not easy to understand how the whole body is able to go so directly to
+the nest of the slave species, especially when this nest is situated,
+as is often the case, at a distance of fifty or a hundred meters. We
+must suppose that the colony has acquired a knowledge of the precise
+location of the various nests of the slave species within an area of
+a hundred meters or more of its own nest. This knowledge is probably
+acquired by scouts leaving the nest singly and from time to time for a
+period of several weeks, and these scouts must be sufficiently numerous
+to determine the movements of the whole worker body when it leaves the
+nest. This presupposes not only a high development of memory, but some
+form of communication, for the nest attacked is usually one of many
+lying in different directions from the _sanguinea_ nest.
+
+“When the first workers arrive at the nest to be pillaged, they do
+not enter at once, but surround it and wait for the other detachments
+to arrive. In the meantime the _fusca_ or _rufibarbis_ scent their
+approaching foes and either prepare to defend their nest or seize their
+young and try to break through the cordon of _sanguinea_ and escape.
+They scramble up the grass-blades with their larvae and pupae in their
+jaws or make off on the ground. The sanguinary ants, however, intercept
+them, snatch away their charges, and begin to pour into the entrance of
+the nest. Soon they issue forth one by one with the remaining larvae
+and pupae and start for home. They turn and kill the workers of the
+slave-species only when these offer hostile resistance. The troop of
+cocoon-laden _sanguinea_ straggle back to their nest, while the bereft
+ants slowly enter their pillaged formicary and take up the nurture of
+the few remaining young or await the appearance of future broods.
+
+“Forel is of the opinion that many of the young brought home by the
+sanguinea are eaten, for the number of those which eventually hatch and
+become auxiliaries is very small compared with the number pillaged
+during the course of the summer. Wasmann believes, however, that the
+forays take place for the specific purpose of obtaining young to rear.
+This seems to be disproved by the fact that even small _sanguinea_
+colonies are quite able to get along without slaves and by the
+insignificant number of these individuals in many nests. Darwin has
+interpreted the surviving and adopted workers as a kind of by-product,
+or as representing food which the ants failed to eat at the proper
+time, and such they would appear to be in the adult colony, though, as
+we shall see, they have an additional significance as the result of an
+instinct inherited by the _sanguinea_ workers from their queen. That
+the foray is, to some extent at least, due to the promptings of hunger,
+seems to be shown by the fact that _sanguinea_ sometimes plunders the
+nests of ants which it could not adopt as slaves.”
+
+Wasmann describes the military expeditions of the so-called sanguine
+slavemakers (_F. sanguinea_), which generally hunt in companies of
+from twenty to fifty workers, “with the purpose not only of stealing
+the neuter pupae of the slave species, but often also of pillaging
+the nests of smaller ants belonging to the genus _Lasius_, the
+larvae, pupae and winged individuals of which are carried off to be
+devoured. During the time of the nuptial flight of _Lasius niger_, many
+_sanguinea_ colonies are hunting in the vicinity of their nest for the
+heavy _Lasius_ females which drop to the ground. Then either singly
+or with united forces these robbers pull their victims into their
+strongholds, where they are mercilessly slaughtered. On the afternoon
+of August 24, 1888, I witnessed such a typical hunting expedition of
+several _sanguinea_ colonies near Exaten, Holland, on the outskirts of
+a fir plantation. The road passing the nests was covered far and wide
+with _sanguineas_ rushing upon every _Lasius_ female that dropped from
+the air, as upon a welcome booty. Within the space of an hour I counted
+more than one hundred females of _Lasius niger_ that fell victims to
+the hunters.”
+
+There are several species and sub-species of _sanguinea_ in the United
+States, and the habits of these differ in several particulars from
+those of their European relatives. Wheeler reports that although he
+has found plenty of slaveless colonies, most nests contain slaves in
+much greater number than do similar colonies in Europe. He thinks this
+due in part to the fact that the American species make more frequent
+raids, and partly also because the species chosen as slaves are “much
+more cowardly and docile” than the victims of the slave-hunters of
+the Old World. The actual tactics employed in the raids do not differ
+essentially from those of the European species.
+
+It was long supposed that new colonies of the _sanguinea_ were founded
+in this wise: When the queen descends from her nuptial flight she
+either brings up a brood of her own like many common ants, or she is
+adopted into a nest of one of the slave species. On either of these
+suppositions it is difficult to explain how the slave-making instincts
+could be transmitted to the workers, because the latter have no
+offspring and the queen was supposed to lack the slaving instincts. In
+1906, Wheeler cleared the matter up by introducing a _sanguinea_ queen
+into a nest containing workers, larvae, and cocoons of one of the slave
+species. She was immediately attacked, but beat off her assailants,
+killed a number of them, and captured a large number of cocoons, which
+she carried into a separate chamber and defended against all comers.
+Here she waited until the workers emerged from the captured cocoons;
+these workers, of course, attached themselves to her and soon gained
+possession of the whole nest. This experiment shows clearly that the
+_sanguinea_ queen really possesses all the slave-making tendencies
+exhibited by the workers in their raiding, and solves the problem of
+the inheritance of these instincts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE AMAZONS AND THEIR SLAVES
+
+
+Another type of slave-owning ants is represented by the genus
+_Polyergus_, found in both Europe and North America, and known as
+amazons. Slavery among the amazons is a very different thing from
+the casual master-servant relationship found in the various species
+of sanguinary ants. The _sanguinea_ are quite able to build nests,
+gather food, and rear their young unaided by slave labor, and slaveless
+colonies are not at all uncommon, but the amazons are absolutely
+dependent upon their slaves, and no amazon colony could exist without
+them. As Wheeler says, the amazons “are even incapable of obtaining
+their own food, although they may lap up water or liquid food when
+this happens to come in contact with their short tongues. For the
+essentials of food, lodging and education they are wholly dependent on
+the slaves hatched from worker cocoons that they have pillaged from
+alien colonies. Apart from these slaves they are quite unable to live,
+and hence are always found in mixed colonies inhabiting nests whose
+architecture throughout is that of the slave species. Thus the amazons
+display two contrasting sets of instincts. While in the home they sit
+about in stolid idleness or pass the long hours begging the slaves for
+food or cleaning themselves and burnishing their ruddy armor, but when
+outside the nest on one of their predatory expeditions they display
+a dazzling courage and capacity for concerted action compared with
+which the raids of _sanguinea_ resemble the clumsy efforts of a lot of
+untrained militia. The amazons may, therefore, be said to represent
+a more specialized and perfected stage of _dulosis_ than that of the
+sanguinary ants. In attaining to this stage, however, they have become
+irrevocably dependent and parasitic.”
+
+The same author describes a slave-hunting foray of the European
+species. “The ants leave the nest very suddenly and assemble about
+the entrance if they are not, as sometimes happens, pulled back and
+restrained by their slaves. Then they move out in a compact column
+with feverish haste, sometimes, according to Forel, at the rate of a
+meter in 33 seconds, or 3 cm. per second. On reaching the nest to be
+pillaged, they do not hesitate like _sanguinea_ but pour into it at
+once in a body, seize the brood, rush out again and make for home.
+When attacked by the slave species they pierce the heads or thoraces of
+their opponents and often kill them in considerable numbers. The return
+to the nest with the booty is usually made more leisurely and in less
+serried ranks. The observer of one of these forays cannot fail to be
+impressed with the marvelous precision of its execution. Although the
+ants may occasionally lose their way and have to retrace their steps or
+start off in a different direction, they usually make straight for the
+nest to be plundered. They must, therefore, like _sanguinea_, possess a
+keen sense and memory of locality. There can be little doubt that they
+often leave the nest singly and make a careful reconnoissance of the
+slave colonies in the vicinity.”
+
+One can hardly believe that as soon as the fighting is over these
+warriors relapse into their accustomed lethargy, and are fed and cared
+for by their slaves, who often prevent them from leaving the nest,
+and sometimes, when they have wandered away, pick them up bodily and
+carry them home by main strength. When a colony moves to a new home
+the whole enterprise is left to the slaves, who choose and prepare the
+new nesting site, and carry the warriors to it. In the case of the
+_sanguinea_ it will be remembered that it is the masters who carry the
+slaves on these occasions.
+
+An American amazon which has been the subject of considerable study is
+_Polyergus breviceps_, found in the mountainous regions of Colorado
+and New Mexico. This species is very striking in appearance, the
+worker and queen being of a rich purplish-red color, while the male
+is jet-black with white wings. A peculiar feature of the _breviceps’_
+raiding parties is that there are no casualties on either side. The
+slave species offer no real resistance, and the amazons simply put them
+gently to one side, take their larvae and pupae, and go their way.
+
+We do not know exactly how new amazon colonies are established. Forel,
+Wasmann and Viehmeyer have agreed that the queen lacks the domestic
+instinct, and therefore the new colony must be founded by the slave
+species, which cares for the amazon females. It has been shown that the
+adoption occurs readily enough in artificial nests. Some experiments by
+Wheeler gave rather conflicting results, and he closes his discussion
+of the matter by saying: “It will be necessary, therefore, to study
+this question further before making definite statements in regard to
+the method employed by our American amazons in establishing colonies.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DAIRIES AND GUESTS
+
+
+The peculiar symbiotic relations between ants and aphids is worth a
+brief description. The aphids or plant-lice live in colonies upon
+certain plants, and feed upon juices which they suck from the foliage.
+The liquid excrement of these insects is sweet, and a surprisingly
+large amount is voided--Bŭsgen found that the maple aphid produces
+as many as forty-eight drops in twenty-four hours. This substance is
+sometimes so abundant that it covers the leaves and even drips down to
+the ground; it is known as honeydew, and some rustics still believe
+that it somehow falls from heaven. The ants are very fond of this
+honeydew, and some species live upon it almost exclusively at certain
+seasons, and locate their nests always near good aphid-pastures. The
+ants never kill and eat aphids as they do other insects, but protect
+them against their enemies. They even carry them about from one pasture
+to another, and some species build little sheds and corrals in which
+their aphids are confined just as we confine cattle. Sometimes the ants
+simply lap up the honeydew as it falls upon the leaves, but in most
+cases they _milk_ the aphids by gently stroking them with the antennae,
+which causes the emission of a drop of the sweet liquid. Some kinds of
+aphids have developed a circle of stiff hairs around the anal opening,
+which thus retains the honeydew till the ant comes for it. Not only do
+the ants care for and milk the adult aphids, but they rear them from
+the eggs. Huber, Lubbock and others have seen ants collecting aphid
+eggs in the Autumn, and it has been found that these eggs are stored in
+the nest until they hatch, when the young plant-lice are carried out
+and placed on a suitable food-plant. On cold or rainy days they are
+taken back into the nest; when the weather moderates the ants carry
+them out to pasture again.
+
+The scale-insects and mealy-bugs (_Coccidae_) also produce honeydew,
+and are visited by the ants precisely as the aphids are. The _manna_
+of the Biblical story, according to Wheeler, “is now known to be the
+honeydew of one of these insects (_Gossyparia mannifera_) which lives
+on the tamarisk. This excretion is still called _man_ by the Arabs who
+use it as food.” Forel, Cockerell and Wheeler have seen ants tending
+great herds of coccids, and a few of these insects are found in many
+nests.
+
+Several kinds of tree-hoppers bear a similar relation to ants. Bare,
+who studied these matters in Argentina, “watched the larvae of various
+species of _Centrotus_ being assiduously attended by ants. The larvae
+are gregarious, frequenting the succulent shoots of plants, and have an
+extensile organ at the extremity of the body, from which the coveted
+fluid is emitted.” Wheeler observed whole colonies of ants herding
+leaf-hoppers in Colorado, and reports that these novel milk-cows
+“responded to the antennal caresses of the ants in precisely the same
+manner as the plant-lice and scale-insects.” Some ants confine their
+tree-hoppers in sheds and shelters similar to those used for the aphids.
+
+The relationship of ants to certain small caterpillars (the larvae
+of some of the _Lycaenid_ butterflies) has been known for a long
+time. These little caterpillars, when caressed on the posterior
+end by the antennae of the ants, give up a drop of sweet liquid,
+doubtless very similar to that produced by the aphids and coccids.
+These larvae are often found in the ants’ nests, and some of the newly
+emerged butterflies have been seen to come out of the ant-hills.
+It is said that the ants protect the caterpillars from the attacks
+of hymenopterous parasites, and De Niceville is authority for the
+statement that the butterfly will not lay her eggs when there are no
+ants about: “If the right plant has no ants, or the ants on that plant
+are not the right species, the butterfly will lay no eggs on that
+plant. Some larvae will certainly not live without the ants, and many
+larvae are extremely uncomfortable when brought up away from their
+hosts or masters.”
+
+[Illustration: Fig. VI. A small myrmecophilous cricket (_Myrmecophila
+nebrascensis_) gnawing at the tibia of the Texan harvester-ant. (After
+Wheeler.)]
+
+Besides the ants’ relationship with the insects which produce sweet
+substances, there are symbiotic relations of a very different type with
+a group of insects known as _myrmecophiles_--ant-guests. These insects,
+at one stage or another, live in the ant-hills. At least fifteen
+hundred species of ant-guests are known, and Escherich estimates that
+there must be at least three thousand altogether. Wheeler thinks that
+even this estimate is probably too low. At least a thousand of the
+known species are beetles, and most of the rest are insects of one kind
+or another, but there are about sixty arachnids and a few crustaceans.
+
+Some of the myrmecophiles are not _friends of ants_ as the name
+implies, but mere interlopers--scavengers, robbers and assassins.
+There are a number of small beetles which live in the less frequented
+galleries of the nest, eat dead ants and brood, kill ailing or crippled
+ants, and even attack healthy adults when they catch them alone or
+at some disadvantage. Some of these beetles resemble ants in general
+appearance, a mimicry which is doubtless of considerable value to
+them. The ants kill these pests whenever they can, but many are
+protected by their ability to emit an evil-smelling substance which
+puts the ants to flight. Others will be killed at once if confined in a
+small chamber with a few ants, but in a large nest are able to escape
+by reason of their agility.
+
+Another class of myrmecophiles, known as _synoeketes_, or tolerated
+guests, live in the ant-hills without attracting any great attention,
+being treated with contemptuous indifference by their hosts. The larvae
+of certain moths and flies, a large number of beetles, and numerous
+other insects are of this class, and feed largely upon the refuse of
+the kitchen-middens. Wasmann has studied a group of beetles which
+live with the nomadic Doryline ants. These camp-followers mimic the
+legionaries, and march along in their columns apparently unnoticed,
+being allowed to share the prey taken by the blind warriors. Other
+beetles live in the nests of the _sanguinea_, and feed largely upon the
+tiny parasites from the bodies of their hosts. Certain minute wingless
+crickets are very abundant in many nests; they are seen to lick the
+bodies of the ants, and it is supposed that they live upon some
+cutaneous secretion.
+
+The insect called _Attaphila_ is a sort of miniature cockroach, which
+lives with the fungus growing _Attii_, and is, according to Wheeler,
+the only insect known to be on intimate terms with these ants. A
+peculiar thing about the _Attaphila_ is that the last joint of the
+antennae is nearly always bitten off. This insect was formerly
+supposed to feed on fungus, but has since been found to lick the
+surface secretions from the ants’ bodies. A little beetle called
+_Oxysoma oberthueri_ is very like _Attaphila_ in its habits, “mounting
+the bodies of its host and licking or shampooing them with great
+eagerness.”
+
+Very different from the furtive, barely tolerated myrmecophiles
+described above are the three or four hundred species known as true
+guests, which, to quote Wheeler again, “are no longer content to be
+treated with animosity or indifference, but have acquired more intimate
+and even friendly relations with the ants. These true guests are not,
+therefore, to be found skulking in the unfrequented galleries of the
+nest, or suspiciously dodging about among the ants, but live in their
+very midst with an air of calm assurance, if not of proprietorship.”
+Among these are many beetles bearing tufts of hair which produce some
+aromatic secretion very pleasing to the ants. The ants rush to lick the
+odorous tufts, are caressed by the peculiar antennae of the beetle,
+and feed the latter with regurgitated food. Many of these beetles are
+cleaned and shampooed by the ants, are often carried about, and favored
+in other ways, despite the fact that they sometimes devour the ant
+brood. Some of the smaller species are totally blind, and are permitted
+to ride about on the ants’ backs for hours at a time.
+
+Another sort of guest is the little mite called _Antennophorus_,
+which Janet has found in the nests of several European ants. These
+mites attach themselves firmly to the body of their host, and it is
+interesting to note that no matter how many are present on a single
+ant, they are always so placed that the weight is properly distributed,
+and the host’s progress not interfered with. These creatures remind
+one of the ticks found on higher animals like dogs, but they are not
+parasites in the sense that ticks are--they do not suck the ant’s
+blood, but reach out and snatch their nutriment from the drops of
+regurgitated food as they pass from one ant to another.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. VII. Showing two minute myrmecophilous beetles
+(_Oxysoma oberthueri_) feeding on the surface secretions of an ant.
+(Adapted from Escherich).]
+
+The ants do not bother _Antennophorus_ much, but there is another mite
+called _Cillibano_ which is a true blood-sucker, and which they seize
+and tear to pieces whenever they can. A little blue fly (_Orasema
+viridis_) is common in the nests of several Texan and Mexican ants; its
+larvae attach themselves to the ant larvae and live as parasites. Both
+the larvae and the adult, however, are fed and fondled by the ants.
+
+Besides these external parasites there are many grubs and worms which
+live inside the body of the ant, and are comparable to the pin-worms
+and tapeworms which dwell in the human intestine. These creatures have
+not been studied extensively, however, and very little is known of
+their habits and metamorphosis.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s note
+
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Italization
+was standardized.
+
+Illustrations tags have been moved so they do not break up the
+paragraphs.
+
+Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
+changes:
+
+  Page 7: “female during copulalation”      “female during copulation”
+  Page 17: “the arangement of larvae”       “the arrangement of larvae”
+  Page 18: “the ant’s tevelopment”          “the ant’s development”
+  Page 29: “habits of the Attiine”          “habits of the Attine”
+  Page 29: “besides the Attiien ants”       “besides the Attine ants”
+  Page 44: “itself every reason to”         “itself every season to”
+  Page 50: “of several _sanquinea_”         “of several _sanguinea_”
+  Page 51: “the _sanquinea_ queen”          “the _sanguinea_ queen”
+  Page 55: “is known as honey dew”          “is known as honeydew”
+  Page 55: “honey dew, and some species”    “honeydew, and some species”
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77638 ***
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77638 ***</div>
+
+
+<p class="ph3">
+LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 833</p>
+<p class="ph4">Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
+</p>
+
+
+<h1>Life Among
+the Ants</h1>
+
+<p class="ph3">Vance Randolph</p>
+
+<p class="ph4">Drawings by Peter Quinn</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph3">HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
+GIRARD, KANSAS</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="ph4">Copyright, 1925,<br>
+Haldeman-Julius Company</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph4">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">
+    CONTENTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="autotable">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdc">Chapter</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">Page</td>
+
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">1.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Books About Ants</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">2.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Ant’s Body</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">3.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Reproduction and Metamorphosis</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">4.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Harvesting Ants</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">5.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Mushroom Growers</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">6.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Honey Ants</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">7.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Legionary Ants</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">8.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Red Slave Makers</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">9.</td>
+<td class="tdl">The Amazons and Their Slaves</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+<td class="tdr">10.</td>
+<td class="tdl"> Dairies and Guests</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
+
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p>
+
+
+  <p class="ph2">
+    LIFE AMONG THE ANTS
+  </p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="r5">
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">
+    CHAPTER I
+    <br>
+    BOOKS ABOUT ANTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>There are many references to ants in the
+works of the ancients (Aesop, Plutarch, Horace,
+Ovid and Pliny), and these were quoted
+and elaborated by the mediaeval authors, but
+modern scientific investigation may be said
+to begin with the nineteenth century. Since
+then an enormous amount of work has been
+done by European scientists, but their papers
+are scattered through the files of obscure scientific
+journals in a great variety of continental
+languages, and are usually inaccessible
+or useless to the American student who wishes
+to make a serious (but not <i>too</i> serious) study
+of ant life and behavior.</p>
+
+<p>The first general treatise in English was
+doubtless Sir John Lubbock’s famous work entitled
+<i>Ants, Bees and Wasps</i>, first published in
+1881. This work was for many years a sort
+of standard textbook on the subject, and is
+still well worth looking into.</p>
+
+<p>Another book which may be of use is <i>Animal
+Intelligence</i>, by George Romanes. The sixth
+edition, which appeared in 1895, devotes more
+than one hundred pages to the habits of ants.</p>
+
+<p>Eric Wasmann has written a great number
+of books and papers about ants, one of the
+best of which has appeared in English as <i>The
+Psychology of Ants and of Higher Animals</i>,
+published in 1905. All of Wasmann’s works
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>are valuable and well worth reading, but they
+are marred by his constant references to philosophical
+and theological matters which are
+of no great interest to the general reader.
+Father Wasmann feels called upon to demonstrate
+that ants, as regards their psychical
+powers, are much nearer to man than are the
+anthropoid apes, and is forever interrupting
+himself to defend his vitalistic biology and
+condemn the theory of organic evolution.</p>
+
+<p>By all odds the best work available on the
+subject is the large volume called <i>Ants</i>, written
+by Professor William Morton Wheeler of
+Harvard University, and published in 1910.
+This book is, in fact, not merely the best but
+the only book required by the average student.
+There is, of course, a great deal of material
+which is uncomprehensible to one who has no
+particular technical background, but the whole
+thing is so admirably arranged that the student
+has only to glance through the table of
+contents to locate matter suited to his taste
+and training. I have made a very free use of
+<i>Ants</i> in the preparation of this booklet, some
+sections of which are little more than epitomes
+or abstracts of Wheeler’s chapters.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">
+    CHAPTER II
+    <br>
+    THE ANT’S BODY
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The body of the ant, like those of other insects,
+is segmented, and covered with a hard
+chitinous external skeleton. It is separated
+by constrictions into three distinct parts, the
+head, which bears the eyes and mouth-parts;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>the thorax, to which the wings and legs are
+attached; and the abdomen, which contains
+most of the entrails and the sexual apparatus.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Head, Eyes, and Mouth-parts.</i> The head
+varies greatly in shape and size, but always
+bears a frontal plate or <i>clypeus</i>, just above
+which the two jointed <i>antennae</i> or feelers are
+attached. The antennae contain a great number
+of minute structures which are supposed
+to be connected with the sense of smell. Three
+small simple eyes or <i>ocelli</i> are set in the top
+of the head, and two large <i>compound eyes</i> are
+located one on either side. The eyes are always
+very well developed in the males, and
+somewhat less so in the females; the eyes of
+the workers are relatively small, and the
+ocelli are sometimes lacking altogether. The
+compound eyes are the principal organs of
+vision, while the ocelli are supposed to register
+only very near objects.</p>
+
+<p>Just below the clypeus are the mouth-parts,
+consisting of the <i>labrum</i> or upper lip, a pair of
+powerful <i>mandibles</i>, another pair of jaws called
+<i>maxillae</i>, and the <i>labium</i> or lower lip. Both
+maxillae and labium bear little <i>palpi</i> or feelers,
+and are plentifully supplied with taste-buds
+containing the gustatory cells. The tongue or
+<i>glossa</i> with which the ant laps up its food is
+attached to the upper part of the labium.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Thorax, Legs and Wings.</i> The ant’s
+thorax consists of four segments. The first
+segment is known as the <i>prothorax</i>; it is quite
+small, and bears the first pair of legs. The
+next segment, the <i>mesothorax</i>, carries the second
+pair of legs and the front wings—when
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>wings are present. The third segment or <i>metathorax</i>
+bears the third pair of legs and the
+hind wings—if there are any wings. The fourth
+segment is really a part of the abdomen, and
+is known as the <i>epinotum</i>. On each side of the
+thorax are two breathing-holes or <i>stigmata</i>,
+which communicate directly with the <i>tracheae</i>
+or windpipes which supply air to the interior
+tissues.</p>
+
+<p>The ant has six legs, one pair attached to
+each of the three segments of the thorax
+proper. Each leg consists of five parts, the
+<i>coxa</i>, the <i>trochanter</i>, the <i>femur</i>, the <i>tibia</i>, and
+the <i>tarsus</i> or foot. The wings are four in number,
+and the venation is similar to that found
+in other members of the order Hymenoptera,
+but the wings are not much used in classification
+because the workers are always wingless,
+and the females wear wings only for a part of
+their lives.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Abdomen and Its Appendages.</i> The
+ant’s abdomen is divided into two parts, the
+slender <i>pedicel</i> which articulates with the last
+segment of the thorax, and the larger part of
+the abdomen called the <i>gaster</i>. The pedicel
+is provided with a file-like structure, which by
+rubbing against a non-striated segment produces
+a sound of very high pitch. In some
+species the females and workers bear stings
+and poison glands in the last segment of the
+gaster. The female has no ovipositor. In the
+male the tip of the gaster usually bears three
+pairs of sexual appendages; the two outer pairs
+are used in clasping the female during copulation,
+and the inner pair, when held tightly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>together, form a tube which functions as a
+penis.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Alimentary Canal.</i> The mouth is located
+between the maxillae, and is provided with a
+little pouch called the <i>infrabuccal cavity</i>,
+which is used to hold solid matter while the
+liquid nutriment is being sucked out of it.
+When this has been accomplished the pellet
+is thrown out. The liquid food passes back
+into the <i>pharynx</i>, and then on through
+a slender tube called the <i>esophagus</i>, which is
+lined with fine hairs. In the gaster the esophagus
+expands into the <i>crop</i>, which acts as a
+reservoir; no food is absorbed through its
+walls, but is often regurgitated to feed the
+young. Just back of the crop is the <i>proventriculus</i>
+or gizzard, the movements of which provide
+the suction by which liquid is drawn up
+the esophagus and into the crop, and the force
+by which food is regurgitated. The true <i>stomach</i>
+is rather small, and it is here that the food is
+both digested and absorbed. The <i>small intestine</i>
+communicates with the stomach by a
+valve, and is connected with a number of <i>Malpighian
+tubes</i> which act as kidneys, absorbing
+liquid waste from the blood and pouring it
+into the intestine. The large intestine or <i>rectum</i>
+receives the feces and urine from the
+small intestine and expels them from the body
+by way of the <i>anal opening</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Circulatory System.</i> The <i>blood</i> of the
+ant, like that of other insects, is colorless, and
+contains several kinds of corpuscles. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p09_2" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p09.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. I. Diagram showing internal structure. 1, mouth; 2, pharynx; 3,
+    infrabuccal cavity; 4, aorta; 5, esophagus; 6, heart; 7, crop; 8, small intestine;
+    9, stomach; 10, Malpighian tubes; 11, large intestines or rectum;
+    12, anal opening.</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+Its function
+is to carry food from the stomach where
+it is absorbed to other parts of the body where
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span>it is needed. The blood of insects has no red
+corpuscles, and does not carry oxygen about.
+The blood is not confined in definite veins and
+arteries as in the higher animals, but percolates
+about through the entire body cavity.
+There is a simple <i>heart</i> in the dorsal part of
+the abdomen which pulsates and forces blood
+forward through an <i>aorta</i> into the head, from
+which it seeps gradually back into the abdomen,
+to be pumped forward through the aorta
+again. Thus a sluggish circulation is maintained.</p>
+
+<p><i>Respiration.</i> Ants have neither lungs nor
+gills, and the blood does not carry oxygen into
+the cells and carbon dioxide out as in the
+higher animals. As in most other insects, air
+is taken into the body through breathing-holes
+or <i>stigmata</i>, and brought into direct contact
+with the tissues. There are ten pairs of these
+stigmata in the ant—two pairs in the thorax
+and eight in the abdominal segments. Each
+opens through a sort of valve into a <i>trachea</i> or
+wind-pipe, which branches until its ramifications
+extend to all parts of the body. When
+certain muscles contract the size of the body
+increases, and air is drawn in through the
+stigmata; when the size of the body is decreased
+the air is forced out. The incoming
+air brings in the necessary oxygen, and the
+outgoing current is laden with carbon dioxide
+waste from the tissues.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Nervous System.</i> The <i>brain</i> proper is
+a mass of nerve matter in the head just above
+the esophagus, but the <i>subesophageal ganglion</i>
+is very close to it, and the two are connected
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>by heavy fibers on each side of the esophagus,
+so that the whole thing has the appearance of
+a brain with the gullet running through the
+middle of it. The major part of the upper
+brain is connected with the compound eyes, but
+there are nerves also which supply the ocelli,
+the antennae, the pharynx, the labrum, and
+muscles in the head. The subesophageal ganglion
+gives off nerves to the mandibles, maxillae
+and labium. From the lower back part
+of the subesophageal ganglion the <i>ventral nerve
+cord</i> arises, and runs through the thorax and
+far back into the abdomen. This cord bears
+three large <i>thoracic ganglia</i> which innervate
+the muscles of the wings and legs. In the
+abdomen are eleven smaller <i>abdominal ganglia</i>,
+with nerves running out to supply all of the
+abdominal organs. The so-called <i>sympathetic
+system</i> consists of a few very small ganglia
+and nerves not directly connected with the
+ventral nerve cord, which function in connection
+with the digestive organs.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Reproductive Organs.</i> The <i>ovaries</i> of
+the female or queen ant are located in the
+upper and front part of the gaster, and each
+is connected by a slender <i>oviduct</i> with the
+<i>uterus</i>. The uterus is continuous with the
+<i>vagina</i>, the external opening of which is located
+near the tip of the abdomen. At the top
+of the uterus is a small pouch called the <i>seminal
+receptacle</i>, which receives the sperm from
+the male in copulation. The spermatozoa live
+in this pouch for several years, and meet and
+fertilize the eggs as they descend into the
+uterus from the ovaries.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span></p>
+
+<p>The organs of the worker are similar to those
+of the queen, except that they are very much
+smaller, and are usually incapable of functioning
+normally. Worker ants have never been
+seen to copulate. The <i>testes</i> of the male ant
+are located in the front part of the gaster, and
+are connected by the <i>vas deferens</i> with the
+<i>seminal vesicles</i>. Tubes from the vesicles unite
+to form the <i>ejaculatory duct</i>, which is connected
+with the <i>penis</i> at the tip of the abdomen.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">
+    CHAPTER III
+    <br>
+    REPRODUCTION AND METAMORPHOSIS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Like their relatives the bees and wasps, ants
+have developed two types of females, so that
+a colony contains three distinct sorts of individuals,
+known as males, females, and workers.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Male.</i> The male is less subject to variation
+than either the queen or the worker.
+The body is usually slender and graceful, the
+eyes and antennae are well developed, and the
+mouth parts rather small and weak. In most
+species the male is winged. As in the bees, the
+one great function of the male in the colony
+is to copulate with the female or queen, so as
+to supply her with sperm to fertilize future
+eggs. The male is not killed in the course of
+the sexual embrace, as the drone honeybee is,
+but usually dies soon afterward.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Female.</i> The true female or queen is
+usually larger than either the male or the
+worker; the head, eyes, and mandibles are well
+developed, and the abdomen is very large to
+contain the reproductive organs. The female
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>is usually winged at the time of mating, but
+the wings are loosely attached and she loses
+them as soon as the nuptial flight is over. The
+wings and legs are stouter and shorter than
+those of the male, in most cases. In a few
+species the females have no wings, and in
+others it is the males which are wingless. No
+case is known in which neither male nor female
+is provided with wings.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Worker.</i> The worker is an undeveloped,
+wingless female. The eyes are small, and the
+ocelli are often lacking; the antennae, legs, and
+mouth parts are strong and well developed.
+There is a great deal of variation among workers;
+one common variant is the <i>dinergate</i>, or
+soldier—a form with a very large head and
+mandibles adapted to fighting. The sex organs
+of the worker are unquestionably female, but
+they do not ordinarily function, and a worker
+has never been seen to copulate.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mating.</i> In species in which both the male
+and female are winged, mating occurs in the
+air, as in the nuptial flight of the queen bee.
+In the case of the honeybee, however, there is
+only one queen to a great number of drones,
+while with the ants there may be hundreds of
+queens and drones in the air, all copulating at
+once. Another difference is that the mated females
+do not often return to the parent colony,
+as the queen bee always does. When the mating
+hour draws near all the ants, even the
+nearly blind and wingless workers, rush out of
+the nest in great excitement, and the air is soon
+full of flying ants. Copulation usually begins
+high in the air, but the linked pairs often fall
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>to the ground together. In the mating of bees
+the male is almost always instantly killed, the
+genital organs and entrails being torn out of
+his body. This mutilation never happens among
+ants, but the male’s life-work is ended with the
+sexual act, and he usually dies shortly afterward.</p>
+
+<p><i>The New Colony.</i> As soon as the mated female
+is upon solid ground again she tears off
+her wings, or removes them by rubbing against
+some solid object. This done, condemned to a
+crawling, terrestrial existence for the rest of
+her days, she sets out alone to establish a new
+colony. She digs a hole in the ground, or in
+rotten wood, or under a flat stone, seals up the
+opening, and sits down in the dark until the
+eggs in her abdomen are mature. Sometimes
+this takes weeks or even months, and during
+this time the queen has nothing to eat, but
+lives by absorbing the large wing-muscles
+which she will never use again. Finally the
+eggs are deposited, being fertilized by some
+of the spermatozoa which were obtained from
+the male, and which are stored in the spermatheca,
+a little pouch just above the uterus.
+When the larvae hatch she feeds them with a
+secretion from her salivary glands. The resulting
+ants are normal workers, except that they
+are unusually small. Sometimes it takes nearly
+a year to rear this first brood, and all this
+time the queen has eaten absolutely nothing.
+As soon as the workers are old enough they
+dig passages to the open air, and enlarge the
+nest by adding galleries and runways. They
+drag in food and feed the exhausted female,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>who from this time forward does nothing but
+eat and lay eggs—the brood being cared for
+entirely by the workers. From now on the
+female is a timid, photophobic, rickety old egg-laying
+machine. During her long fast the
+great wing-muscles have been absorbed, leaving
+the thorax hollow, so that she floats if
+placed in water. Only a very few females can
+survive the ordeal necessary to found a new
+colony—probably only one of many thousands
+which undertake it. It is a beautiful example
+of the Darwinian phenomena of survival.</p>
+
+<p>The procedure described above is the usual
+one in most species of ants. It was guessed
+at by Huber in 1810, but the first man to watch
+the actual founding of a new colony was an
+American named Lincecum, about 1866. In
+1879 Sir John Lubbock observed the whole
+process in an artificial nest, and his account
+of the process has since been verified by numerous
+other investigators.</p>
+
+<p>In certain species, however, the queen is
+unequal to the task of founding a family in
+this manner. In this case she must return to
+the parent colony, join a queenless colony of
+her own or an allied species, or raid a small
+colony of aliens. In this latter event she kills
+them all, and adopts their eggs and brood.</p>
+
+<p><i>Complete Metamorphosis.</i> Like the butterflies
+and beetles, ants have a complete metamorphosis,
+that is, they pass through four
+distinct developmental stages. In many other
+insects—the grasshoppers for example—the
+metamorphosis is said to be incomplete, because
+the newly hatched young have the same
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>general form as the adult, and their development
+is merely a matter of increase in bulk.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Egg.</i> Ant’s eggs are very small, rarely
+more than one-fiftieth of an inch in length, and
+are very seldom seen by the casual observer,
+who mistakes the comparatively large cocoons
+for eggs. The egg is usually elongated, and
+consists of the germinal spot, the yolk, and the
+thin transparent shell called the chorion. The
+eggs look very much alike, and one cannot predict
+whether a given egg will produce a male,
+a worker, or a queen. Some eggs are fertilized
+by sperm stored in the female’s spermatheca,
+others are deposited without fertilization,
+while those laid by workers are certainly not
+fertilized, since workers do not copulate. In
+bees and certain other related insects it has
+been found that unfertilized eggs always produce
+males, but whether this is always true
+in ants is still an open question.</p>
+
+<p>Very little is known of the embryological
+development of the ant, but the unhatched larva
+certainly has traces not only of antennae and
+legs, but remnants of certain abdominal appendages
+not present in the adult ant, and evidently
+harking back to more remote ancestors.
+The egg usually hatches about twenty days
+after it is laid, but the length of this period
+varies greatly with the temperature.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Larva.</i> The newly hatched larva is a
+soft, semi-transparent grub, with a fat body,
+slender crooked neck and small head. There
+are no eyes, but the mouth-parts are fairly
+well developed, and ten pairs of stigmata are
+usually present.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="p17_2" style="max-width: 43.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p17.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. II. Cross-section of an ant-hill, showing
+    the arrangement of larvae and pupae according to
+    size. (Adapted from Andre.)</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The body is covered with
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span>short fine hairs. The digestive system is well
+formed, but there is no connection between
+the stomach and the intestine, so that the
+larva has no movement of the bowels until it
+is about to transform into the next stage.
+The accumulated feces in the lower part of the
+stomach may often be seen as a black spot
+showing through the semi-transparent walls
+of the body.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>The larva is fed by the workers, the food
+being either regurgitated liquid food or pieces
+of fresh vegetable or animal matter. It has
+been found in the case of the bees that the
+kind of food given the larva determines
+whether it will develop into a queen or a worker,
+but we have no definite information about
+this matter among the ants.</p>
+
+<p>When the larva is fully grown, usually about
+a month after hatching, it is buried in the
+ground by the workers, and spins a silken
+cocoon about itself. All ant larvae have
+spinning organs in the head, but some do not
+spin cocoons, and in this case are not buried,
+but undergo their metamorphosis in the open
+chambers of the nest. The larva now voids
+its accumulated feces, sheds the larval skin,
+and appears as the pupa, the third stage in the
+ant’s development.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Pupa.</i> In the pupal stage the ant has
+most of the appendages and organs of the
+adult, but they are small and folded close
+against the body. The pupa lies quietly, is
+not fed, and ordinarily gives no signs of life
+at all. Gradually the various parts develop,
+the darker color of the adult appears, until
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>finally the mature pupa has very much the
+appearance of the imago. Then the cocoon
+is opened by the attendant workers, the young
+ant dragged out and fed, and begins its life
+as an adult. The pale, newly emerged ant
+is known as a <i>callow</i>. The pupal stage usually
+lasts from fifteen to twenty days, but is sometimes
+much longer in cold weather.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Adult.</i> The general appearance and
+characteristics of the adult are described elsewhere
+in this book. The total time of development
+from the deposition of the egg to the
+appearance of the callow varies from about
+sixty days to five months, and is considerably
+longer than the corresponding period in most
+other insects. The queen bee, for example,
+passes through all three stages in about sixteen
+days, while some butterflies are developed in
+less than twenty-five days. Another interesting
+feature is the extreme longevity of the adult
+ant. The males are short-lived, but the workers
+of many species live for four or five years,
+and the queens for still longer periods. Janet
+kept one for fully ten years, and Sir John
+Lubbock had a queen in his possession from
+December, 1874 to August, 1888, “when she
+must have been nearly fifteen years old, and,
+of course, may have been more,” since he had
+no means of knowing her age at the beginning
+of her captivity.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">
+    CHAPTER IV
+    <br>
+    THE HARVESTING ANTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The works of Pliny and other ancient writers
+contain references to ants which collected
+great stores of seeds, and these accounts were
+quoted by numerous mediaeval authors. Modern
+students of ants, however, worked mostly in
+northern and central Europe, and as they did
+not find any of these harvesting ants they
+were rather inclined to dismiss the classic
+stories as fiction pure and simple, and class
+the seed-gathering ants with the unicorn and
+the mermaid.</p>
+
+<p>In 1829, however, one W. H. Sykes, an Englishman
+located in India, reported that certain
+ants near his station not only collected great
+quantities of grass seed, but after a heavy
+rain could always be seen bringing their cereal
+out of the underground granaries to dry it in
+the sun. These observations went far to vindicate
+the ancient naturalists, and the work
+of J. T. Moggridge, in 1873, completed the vindication.
+Moggridge watched the workers bring
+in the seeds, bite off the germinating part to
+prevent the seeds from sprouting, and store
+them in the nests, which often contain a pint
+or so of grain. By examination of these hoards
+he identified as many as eighteen different
+families of plants represented in a single nest.
+Despite the efforts to prevent germination by
+biting off the radicles (a fact noted by Pliny
+some sixteen hundred years before) many of
+the seeds do sprout, and thus the harvesting
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>ants play a part in the distribution of plants.
+Of this subject Moggridge says: “As the ants
+often travel some distance from their nest in
+search of food, they may certainly be said to
+be, in a limited sense, agents in the dispersal
+of seeds, for they not infrequently drop seeds
+by the way, which they fail to find again, and
+often also among the refuse matter which
+forms the kitchen hidden in front of their
+entrances, a few sound seeds are often present,
+and these in many instances grow up and form
+a little colony of strange plants. This presence
+of seedlings foreign to the wild grounds in
+which the nest is usually placed, is quite a
+feature where there are old established colonies
+of <i>Atta barbara</i>, where young plants of fumitory,
+chickweed, cranesbill, Arabis thaleana,
+etc., may be seen on or near the rubbish heap....
+One can imagine cases in which the ants
+during the lapse of long periods of time might
+pass the seeds of plants from colony to colony,
+until after a journey of many stages, the
+descendants of the ant-borne seedlings might
+find themselves transported to places far removed
+from the original home of their immediate
+ancestors.”</p>
+
+<p>There are many species of harvester ants in
+America; one of the most interesting is <i>Solenopsis
+geminata</i>, popularly known as the fire-ant
+because of its readiness to use its painful
+sting. Although the fire-ant certainly stores
+up seeds, often to the extent of damaging crops
+of soft fruits like strawberries, it will also
+eat insects, or almost anything else that it
+can get. The nests are usually found beneath
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>flat stones, and in some localities are so common
+and so populous that Wheeler refers to
+the fire-ant as being “in possession of a large
+portion of the soil of the American tropics.”
+In Louisiana and other southern states these
+ants nest along the shores of lagoons and
+bayous; when the floods come and the nest is
+submerged the workers cling together in a ball
+as much as eight inches in diameter, with the
+brood in the center. This ball floats in the
+water, the ants constantly shifting about so
+that very few are drowned, and very little
+brood lost, until they are able to effect a
+landing.</p>
+
+<p>The so-called Texas harvester (<i>Pogonomyrmex
+molefaciens</i>) has become famous because
+a man named Lincecum, about 1862, published
+a paper in which he claimed that this ant
+actually <i>plants</i> seeds in the ground, weeds and
+cultivates its fields all summer, gathers the
+crop, dries it in the sun, and finally stores it
+away in subterranian granaries. This story
+was accepted and promulgated by Charles Darwin,
+and so was believed in many quarters.
+It seems to rest solely upon the fact that ant-rice
+(<i>Aristida</i>) is usually found growing about
+the nest, although it may occur nowhere else
+in the immediate vicinity. “Four years of nearly
+continuous observation,” writes Wheeler,
+“enable me to suggest the probable source of
+Lincecum’s misconception. If the nests of this
+ant can be studied during the cool winter
+months—and this is the only time to study
+them leisurely, as the cold subdues the fiery
+stings of their inhabitants—the seeds, which
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>the ants have garnered in many of their
+chambers will often be found to have sprouted.
+Sometimes, in fact, the chambers are literally
+stuffed with dense wads of seedling grasses
+and other plants. On sunny days the ants may
+often be seen removing these seeds when they
+have sprouted too far to be fit for food and
+carrying them to the refuse heap, which is
+always at the periphery of the crater or cleared
+earthen disk. Here the seeds, thus rejected as
+inedible, often take root and in the spring
+form an arc or a complete circle of growing
+plants around the nest. Since the <i>Pogonomyrmex</i>
+feeds largely, though by no means exclusively,
+on grass seeds, and since, moreover,
+the seeds of Aristida are a very common and
+favorite article of food, it is easy to see why
+this grass should predominate in the circle. In
+reality however, only a small percentage of the
+nests, and only those situated in grassy localities,
+present such circles. Now to state that
+<i>molefaciens</i>, like a provident farmer, sows this
+cereal and guards and weeds it for the sake
+of garnering its grain, is as absurd as to say
+that the family cook is planting and maintaining
+an orchard when some of the peach
+stones, which she has carelessly thrown into
+the backyard with the other kitchen refuse,
+chance to grow into peach trees.”</p>
+
+<p>Wheeler has also observed the mating flight
+of the Texas harvester, and his graphic description
+is worth setting down in its entirety:
+“During three successive years (1901-1903)
+at Austin, Texas, the nuptial flight of
+<i>molefaciens</i> took place on one of the last days
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>of June (28 and 29) or the first in July.
+On one of these occasions (July 4, 1903) the
+flight was of exceptional magnitude and
+beauty. A few days previous the country had
+been deluged with heavy rains, but Independence
+Day was clear and sunny, the mesquite
+trees were in full bloom and the air resounded
+with the hum of insects. For several days I
+had seen a few males and winged females
+stealthily creep out of the nest entrance as if
+for an airing, but hurry back at the slightest
+alarm. From 1:30 to 3 o’clock, however, on
+the afternoon of July 4, all the numerous
+colonies I could visit during a long walk west
+of the town, gave forth their males and females
+as by a common impulse. The number issuing
+from a single large nest was often sufficient to
+have filled a half liter measure. Soon every
+mound and disk was covered with the bright
+red females and darker males, intermingled
+with workers, many of whom kept on bringing
+seeds and dead insects into the nest as unconcernedly
+as if nothing unusual were happening.
+The males and females, quivering with
+excitement, mounted the stones or pebbles of
+the nest or hurriedly climbed onto the surrounding
+leaves and grass and rocked to and
+fro in the breeze. Then, raising themselves on
+their feet and spreading their opalescent wings,
+they mounted obliquely one by one into the air.
+I could follow them only for a distance of ten
+or twenty meters when their rapidly diminishing
+bodies melted away against the brilliant
+cloudless sky. Many pairs, hesitating to take
+flight, chased one another about on the surface
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>of the nest. The amorous males seized
+many of the females before they could leave
+the ground. Lizards crept forth in great numbers
+and gulped down quantities of the fat
+females, while others were borne off into the
+air by large robber flies (<i>Asilidae</i>). By a little
+after three o’clock the males and females
+had left the nest and only the workers were
+seen pursuing the quiet routine business of
+bringing in seeds.”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">
+    CHAPTER V
+    <br>
+    THE MUSHROOM GROWERS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>In tropical and subtropical America there
+are about one hundred species and varieties
+of ants which have most extraordinary habits,
+and are grouped together in the Myrmicine
+tribe <i>Attii</i>. These ants are usually rather
+small and dull colored, and, while they are
+powerful and industrious diggers, are not given
+to rapid movements as most ants are, but
+walk slowly and sedately about. When picked
+up they do not struggle as many other ants do,
+but feign death after the manner of certain
+well known beetles.</p>
+
+<p>It was long noted that the <i>Attii</i> carried
+great quantities of leaves into their nests, and
+there was considerable doubt as to the use to
+which these were put, some observers believing
+that they were used immediately as food,
+and others contending that they served as roofing
+and carpets in the underground passageways.
+Belt, a naturalist who lived in Nicaragua,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>was probably the first to discover the
+secret of the leaves. Digging into one of the
+nests in his garden, he was surprised to find
+no great quantity of leaves in any of the passages,
+although ants were continually bringing
+them in at the entrance. The chambers were
+always partly filled with “a speckled, brown,
+flocculent, spongy-looking mass of a light and
+loosely connected substance.... This mass,
+which I have called the ant-food, proved on examination
+to be composed of minutely subdivided
+pieces of leaves, weathered to a brown
+color, and overgrown and lightly connected together
+by a minute white fungus that ramified
+in every direction throughout it....
+When a nest is disturbed and the masses of
+ant-food spread about, the ants are in great
+concern to carry away every morsel of it
+under shelter again; and sometimes, when I
+dug into the nest, I found the next day all the
+earth thrown out filled with little pits that
+the ants had dug into it to get out the covered
+up food.”</p>
+
+<p>Further investigation brought Belt to the
+conclusion that the <i>Attii</i> do not eat leaves at
+all, but use them as manure to grow fungus
+on; and further, that they feed upon this
+fungus, and will eat nothing else. The <i>Attii</i>
+are, in Belt’s own phrase, “mushroom growers
+and eaters.” While leaves are the chief fertilizer,
+other substances are often found suitable
+for growing fungus on; flowers are sometimes
+used, and some species are particularly
+partial to pieces of orange peel. The temperature
+and ventilation of the subterranean gardens
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>are matters of great importance, and there
+are many small holes which connect the larger
+chambers with the surface. These air-shafts
+are plugged and reopened at intervals, and by
+this means the temperature and ventilation are
+regulated.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred Moeller was a naturalist who studied
+the <i>Attii</i> in Brazil, and published the results
+of his labors in 1893. He found that the gardens
+contain only one kind of fungus, all alien
+spores being carefully weeded out. The ants
+do not allow the fruits to develop, and this
+has made the classification of the fungi a very
+difficult matter. The fungi found in the <i>Attii</i>
+nests are different from any others known,
+but no one can tell whether they are really
+distinct species or merely modified forms of
+certain common moulds or mushrooms.</p>
+
+<p>Von Ihering, in 1898, discovered that the
+virgin queen, when leaving the nest on her
+nuptial flight, always carries a little pellet of
+fungus in her mouth. After being fertilized
+by the male the queen shuts herself up in a little
+burrow and sets about the founding of a
+new colony. There are in this case no leaves
+available, and she starts the fungus growing
+upon some of her new-laid eggs, which she
+crushes for the purpose, and which seem to
+work quite as well as the usual vegetable
+fertilizer.</p>
+
+<p>J. Huber, in 1905, studied the same problems
+which interested Von Ihering, and concluded
+that the fungus is not grown upon
+crushed eggs, but is nourished by the liquid
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>excrement of the queen. He describes his
+observations as follows: “After watching the
+ant for hours she will be seen suddenly to
+tear a little piece of the fungus from the garden
+with her mandibles and hold it against
+the tip of her abdomen, which is bent forward
+for this purpose. At the same time she
+emits from her vent a clear yellowish or brownish
+droplet which is at once absorbed by the
+tuft of hyphae. Hereupon the tuft is again
+inserted, amid much feeling about with the
+antennae, in the garden, but usually not in the
+same spot from which it was taken, and is
+then patted into place by means of the fore
+feet.... According to my observations, this
+performance is repeated usually once or twice
+an hour, and sometimes, to be sure, even more
+frequently.” Although, according to Huber,
+the eggs are not used directly as fertilizer for
+the fungus, the same result is brought about
+indirectly, as the female is accustomed to feed
+upon her own new-laid eggs. Huber estimates
+that nine out of every ten eggs laid are eaten
+at once by the mother. The young larvae, too,
+are fed with eggs thrust directly into their
+mouths by the queen. When the adult workers
+appear, however, they live exclusively on the
+fungus which has been growing during their
+larval life, and feed the queen upon fungus
+also, while continuing to supply the larvae
+with their mother’s eggs. After a week or so
+the workers dig their way out of the chamber,
+bring in leaf-manure for the garden, and the
+fungus is no longer cared for by the queen,
+who now gives all her attention to the serious
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>business of egg-laying. As the fungus becomes
+more abundant under this cultivation
+it is fed to the larvae also, and eggs are no
+longer used as food by any of the individuals
+in the hive.</p>
+
+<p>The extraordinary habits of the Attine ants
+have fascinated many students, and a number
+of theories about their development have been
+advanced. Forel suggested that the ancestors
+of the present mushroom-growers must have
+lived in rotten wood, and fed upon the fungus
+which grew upon the moist walls of their nests,
+or upon insect excrement. Von Ihering thinks
+that they may have developed from the harvesting
+ants, which gradually acquired such an
+appetite for the fungus which happened to
+grow in their granaries that the original stores
+came to be used only as fertilizer. Wheeler
+points out that, besides the Attine ants, there
+are several kinds of beetles and termites which
+cultivate fungus upon their own excrement, and
+suggests that originally this was the method
+employed by the ants. Later on they came to
+use the excrement of other insects, and finally
+passed to the addition of leaves and other non-fecal
+vegetable matter.</p>
+
+<p>As has been said above, the <i>Attii</i> are primarily
+tropical and subtropical insects, but a
+few species have come north into the United
+States. They are found chiefly in peninsular
+Florida, in southern Texas, and in Arizona, although
+one species has been reported as far
+north as southern New Jersey.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">
+    CHAPTER VI
+    <br>
+    THE HONEY ANTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Many species of ants are in the habit of
+collecting nectar from flowers, and the sweet
+juices excreted by plant-lice, until the crop is
+greatly swollen. When they arrive at the nest,
+however, the sweets are soon regurgitated and
+fed to the larvae. Any worker ant is able to
+expand its crop to a certain extent, but in
+some species this power is developed to an
+enormous degree. In still other tribes this
+peculiar capacity seems to be limited to certain
+individuals. In the true honey ants only
+a comparatively small number of workers are
+capable of this honey-carrying, and these individuals
+are known as honey-bearing or <i>repletes</i>.
+The repletes never accompany the
+other workers on their foraging expeditions,
+but remain always in the nest, and are used
+as living bottles in which to store the nectar
+brought in from the fields.</p>
+
+<p>In some North American species of <i>Myrmecocystus</i>
+the abdomen is distended to such an
+extent that the repletes are unable to move
+about without serious danger of bursting open,
+and spend their lives hanging in clusters from
+the ceilings of certain chambers in the nest.
+These honey ants are found in desert regions
+from central Mexico as far north as Denver,
+Colorado, and have since ancient times been
+highly prized as sweetmeats by the aborigenes
+of this region.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="p31_2" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p31.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. III. Repletes of a common honey-ant.
+    (From a drawing by Wheeler.)</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Honey ants were described in
+Mexican publications as long ago as 1832, but
+the first important study was made by McCook,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span>whose investigations were carried out in
+the so-called Garden of the Gods, near Manitou,
+Colorado, about 1882. He found several very
+large nests, covering an area of more than six
+feet in diameter, and extending three feet below
+the surface of the ground. One of these
+nests contained some three hundred replete
+honey-vessels hanging by their claws from the
+ceiling, and so distended with honey that,
+once fallen from their positions, they were
+quite unable to get back up again. McCook
+saw the ordinary workers bringing in great
+quantities of nectar and honeydew, which was
+immediately regurgitated and fed to the repletes
+or <i>rotunds</i>, as he called them, and thus
+stored up in a living reservoir until needed.</p>
+
+<p>It was formerly supposed that the sweet
+liquid was kept in the stomach of the replete,
+but Forel, in 1880, showed that it is in reality
+the enormously distended crop which functions.
+McCook made careful dissections which bore
+out Forel’s views, and demonstrated that the
+replete has all the abdominal organs of the
+ordinary worker, although these are flattened
+against the body wall and rendered inconspicuous
+by the distension of the crop.</p>
+
+<p>McCook rejected the view that the replete
+belongs to a separate caste, saying that “a
+comparison of the workers with the honey-bearer
+shows that there is absolutely no difference
+between them except in the distended
+condition of the abdomen....<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="p33_2" style="max-width: 40.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p33.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. IV. Repletes of a honey-ant (<i>Myrmecocystus
+    hortideorum</i>) hanging from the roof of a honey
+    chamber. (After McCook.)</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The process by
+which the rotundity of the honey-bearer has
+probably been produced, has its exact counterpart
+in the ordinary distension of the crop in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span>overfed ants; the condition of the alimentary
+canal, in all the castes, is the same, differing
+only in degree, and therefore the probability is
+very great that <i>the honey-bearer is simply a
+worker with an overgrown abdomen</i>.... Thus
+workers are transformed by the gradual distension
+of the crop and expansion of the abdomen
+into honey-bearers, and the latter do not
+compose a distinct caste.”</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Just why these repletes should be developed
+in some species and not in others is a mooted
+question. The fact that they are found only
+in desert regions in North America, Australia,
+and South Africa may mean that a dry climate
+is one of the important conditions of the phenomena.
+Forel said: “The extraordinary distension
+of the crop seems to be frequent in the
+Australian species of the general Melophorus,
+Gamponotus and Leptomyrmex. I suppose that
+this is due to the extremely dry climate of the
+country, which must compel the ants to remain,
+often for long periods, in their subterranean
+abodes. At such times a store of provisions
+in living bags must be very useful to them.”
+Wheeler, in commenting on the above statement
+by Forel, writes: “There can be little doubt
+of the truth of this statement, but I believe
+that it should be expressed in a different manner.
+The impulse to develop repletes is probably
+due to the brief and temporary abundance
+of liquid food (honeydew, gall secretions, etc.)
+in arid regions and the long period during
+which not only these substances, but also insect
+food are unobtainable. The honey is stored
+in the living reservoirs for the purpose of tiding
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>over such periods of scarcity, and the
+ants remain in their nests because they do not
+need to forage. Hence the confinement mentioned
+by Forel is not the immediate but
+one of the ulterior effects of drought. I am
+convinced from my observations on desert ants
+that no amount of drought will keep these
+insects in their nest when they are in need
+of food.</p>
+
+<p>“While excavating the nests of <i>M. hortideorum</i>
+I was impressed with certain peculiarities
+in their structure and situation, which
+seem to be explainable only as adaptations to
+the development of repletes. One of these
+peculiarities is the great hardness of the soil
+that is preferred by the ants. This is the
+more astonishing because the workers are very
+slender and delicate organisms. It is evident
+that such soil is well adapted to the construction
+of vaulted chambers like those in
+which the repletes hang, whereas soft or friable
+soil would be most unsuitable. The development
+of repletes also makes it necessary for
+the ants to seek very dry situations for their
+nests. Hence we always find them, in the
+environs of Manitou at least, on the summits
+of ridges which shed the rain very rapidly.
+The honey chambers must be kept dry, both to
+prevent the disastrous results of crumbling and
+slipping walls and to obviate the growth of
+mould on the repletes, which are, of course,
+imprisoned for life in dark cavities and filled
+with substances that are favorable to the development
+of fungi. I believe also that the
+size of the nest openings and galleries, which
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>are so much larger than would seem to be required
+by such small, slender ants, may be an
+adaptation to securing plenty of fresh air
+in the honey chambers. If these suppositions
+are correct, there is obviously a reciprocal relation
+between the replete habit and an arid
+environment: the ants store honey because
+they are living in an arid region where moisture
+and food are precious, and the storing of
+honey in replete workers, in turn, is possible
+only in very dry soil.”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">
+    CHAPTER VII
+    <br>
+    THE LEGIONARY ANTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>These insects, which Wheeler describes as
+“the Huns and Tartars of the insect world,”
+are found in tropical Africa and Asia, and in
+the warmer parts of America. There is a
+great variation in size and appearance between
+the different castes, the females and workers
+being blind and wingless, while the males have
+well developed wings and large compound eyes.
+Some of these ants have no fixed habitation,
+but wander from place to place, traveling mostly
+at night, and camping during the day in any
+shallow hole that affords a temporary shelter.
+They cannot endure the direct rays of the
+sun, and Savage, in 1845, observed that “if
+they should be detained abroad till late in
+the morning of a sunny day by the quantity of
+their prey, they will construct arches over
+their path, of dirt agglutinated by a fluid excreted
+from the mouth,” except when they can
+remain concealed by thick grass or leaves.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>Sometimes the soldier ants form a sort of network
+arch with their own bodies, and Savage
+says that “whenever an alarm is given the
+arch is instantly broken, and the ants, joining
+others of the same class on the outside of the
+line, who seem to be acting as commanders,
+guards and scouts, run about in a furious manner
+in pursuit of the enemy. If the alarm
+should prove without foundation, the victory
+won or the danger passed, the arch is quickly
+renewed, and the main column marches forward
+as before in all the order of a military
+discipline.”</p>
+
+<p>In these marches the ants carry their eggs,
+larvae and pupae with them, these being borne
+in the mandibles of the <i>minima</i> or small workers,
+and the whole column lives by foraging.
+Savage’s description of their predatory habits
+is well worth quoting here: “They will soon
+kill the largest animal if confined. They attack
+lizards, guanas, snakes, etc., with complete
+success. We have lost several animals
+by them—monkeys, pigs, fowl, etc. The
+severity of their bite is increased to great
+intensity by vast numbers, to a degree impossible
+to conceive. We may easily believe
+that it would prove fatal to any animal in
+confinement. They have been known to destroy
+the <i>Python natalensis</i>, our largest serpent.
+When gorged with prey it lies motionless for
+days; then, monster as it is, it easily becomes
+their victim.... Their entrance into a house
+is soon known by the simultaneous and universal
+movement of rats, mice, lizards, Blapsidae,
+Blattidae, and of the numerous other
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>vermin that infest our dwellings. Not being
+agreed, they cannot dwell together, which modifies
+in a good measure the severity of the
+driver’s habits, and renders their visits sometimes
+(though very seldom in my view) desirable.
+Their ascent into our beds we sometimes
+prevent by placing the feet of the bedsteads
+into a basin of vinegar, or some other uncongenial
+fluid; this will generally be successful
+if the rooms are ceiled, or the floors overhead
+tight; otherwise they will drop down upon us,
+bringing along with them their noxious prey in
+the very act of contending for victory. They
+move over the house with a good degree of
+order, ransacking one point after another, till,
+either having found something desirable, they
+collect upon it, when they may be destroyed <i>en
+masse</i> by hot water; or, disappointed, they
+abandon the premises as a barren spot, and
+seek some other more promising locality for
+exploration. When they are fairly in we give
+up the house, and try to await with patience
+their pleasure, thankful, indeed, if permitted to
+remain within the narrow limits of our beds
+or chairs. They are decidedly carnivorous in
+their propensities. Fresh meat of all kinds is
+their favorite food; fresh oils also they love,
+especially that of <i>Elais guiniensis</i>, either in
+the fruit or expressed. Under my observation
+they pass by milk, sugar and pastry of all
+kinds, also salt meat; the latter, when boiled,
+they have eaten, but not with the zest of fresh.
+It is an incorrect statement, often made, that
+<i>they devour everything eatable</i> by us in our
+houses; there are many articles which form an
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>exception. If a heap of rubbish comes within
+their route, they invariably explore it, when
+larvae and insects of all orders are borne off
+in triumph—especially the former.”</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, instead of camping in shelters on
+the ground, these ants climb up into a tree
+and hang together in a cluster like a swarm of
+bees. Savage reports a colony suspended from
+a low tree: “From the lower limbs (four feet
+high) were festoons or lines of the size of a
+man’s thumb, reaching to the plants and
+ground below, consisting entirely of these insects;
+others were ascending and descending
+upon them, thus holding free and ready communication
+with the lower and upper portions
+of this dense mass. One of these festoons I
+saw in the act of formation; it was a good
+way advanced when first observed: ant after
+ant coming down from above, extending their
+long limbs and opening wide their jaws,
+gradually lengthened out the living chain till
+it touched the broad leaf of a <i>Canna coccinea</i>
+below. It now swung to and fro in the
+wind, the terminal ant meanwhile endeavoring
+to attach it by his jaws and legs to the leaf;
+not succeeding, another ant of the same class
+(the very largest) was seen to ascend the
+plant, and, fixing his hind legs with the apex
+of the abdomen firmly to the leaf under the
+vibrating column, then reaching with his fore-legs
+and opening wide his jaws, closed in
+with his companion above, and thus completed
+the most curious ladder in the world.”</p>
+
+<p>Similar chains are used in bridging little
+rills or even small brooks, but when a real
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>flood occurs a different procedure is adopted.
+In this case they cling together so as to form
+a large ball, with the eggs and young in the
+center, and float away upon the water until
+a safe landing can be effected.</p>
+
+<p>There are several kinds of legionary and
+driver ants in America; some species have been
+found as far north as Texas and even Colorado,
+but most of them are confined to the
+tropics. These ants usually do not spend all
+of their time on the march, but have permanent
+nests, from which they sally out at intervals
+on foraging expeditions. Belt offers a graphic
+description of the sortie of a colony in Brazil:
+“One of the smaller species (<i>Eciton praedator</i>)
+used occasionally to visit our house, swarm
+over floors and walls, searching every cranny,
+and driving out the cockroaches and spiders,
+many of which were caught, pulled or bitten to
+pieces, and carried off.... I saw many large
+armies of this, or a closely allied species, in
+the forest. My attention was generally first
+called to them by the twittering of some small
+birds, belonging to several different species,
+that followed the ants in the woods. On approaching
+to ascertain the cause of the disturbance,
+a dense body of the ants, three or
+four yards wide, and so numerous as to blacken
+the ground, would be seen moving rapidly in
+one direction, examining every cranny, and
+underneath every fallen leaf. On the flanks,
+and in advance of the main body, smaller
+columns would be pushed out. These smaller
+columns would generally first flush the cockroaches,
+grasshoppers and spiders.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p>
+
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p41_2" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p41.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. V. Legionary ants attacking a snake.</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<p>The pursued
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span>insects would rapidly make off, but many,
+in their confusion and terror, would bound
+right into the midst of the main body of ants....
+The greatest catch of the ants was, however,
+when they got amongst some fallen brushwood.
+The cockroaches, spiders and other insects,
+instead of running right away, would
+ascend the fallen branches and remain there,
+whilst the host of ants were occupying all of
+the ground below. By and by up would come
+some of the ants, following every branch, and
+driving their prey before them to the ends of
+the small twigs, when nothing remained for
+them but to leap, and they would alight in
+the very midst of their foes, with the result of
+being certainly caught and pulled to pieces.
+Many of the spiders would escape by hanging
+suspended by a thread of silk from the
+branches, safe from the foes that swarmed both
+above and below.”</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Brazilian species are more nomadic
+in their habits. Belt says: “I think
+<i>Eciton hamata</i> does not stay more than four
+or five days in one place. I have sometimes
+come across the migratory columns. They may
+easily be known by all the common workers
+moving in one direction, many of them carrying
+the larvae and pupae carefully in their
+jaws. Here and there one of the light-colored
+officers moves backwards and forwards directing
+the columns. Such a column is of
+enormous length, and contains many thousands,
+if not millions, of individuals. I have sometimes
+followed them up for two or three hundred
+yards without getting to the end....
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>They make their temporary habitation in hollow
+trees, and sometimes underneath large fallen
+trunks that offer suitable hollows. A nest
+I came across in the latter situation was open
+at one side, and the ants were clustered together
+in a dense mass, like a great swarm of
+bees, hanging from the roof but reaching to
+the ground below. Their innumerable long legs
+looked like brown threads binding together the
+mass, which must have been at least a cubic
+yard in bulk, and contained hundreds of thousands
+of individuals, although many columns
+were outside, some bringing in the pupae of
+ants, others the legs and dissected bodies of
+insects. I was surprised to see in this living
+nest tubular passages leading down into the
+center of the mass, kept open just as if it had
+been formed of inorganic material. Down
+these holes the ants who were bringing the
+booty passed with their prey. I thrust a long
+stick down to the center of the cluster and
+brought out clinging to it many ants holding
+larvae and pupae, which were probably kept
+warm by the crowding together of the ants.
+Besides the common dark-colored workers and
+light-colored officers, I saw there many still
+larger individuals with enormous jaws. These
+they go about holding wide open in a threatening
+manner, and I found, contrary to my expectation,
+that they could give a severe bite with
+them, and that it was difficult to withdraw the
+jaws from the skin.”</p>
+
+<p>Sumichrast, who studied some of the Mexican
+legionaries in 1863, noted many seemingly
+aimless migrations, “which they undertake at
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>undetermined epochs, but in relation, it appears
+to me, with the atmospheric changes. What
+traveler, passing over the <i>tierra caliente</i>, has
+not encountered the phalanxes of <i>tepeguas</i>
+upon the paths of the primitive forests? What
+inhabitant of these countries has not, at least
+once, been unpleasantly torn from the arms
+of sleep by the invasion of his domicile by a
+black army of <i>soldados</i>?... Besides the
+changes of domicile which are so generally in
+relation with the atmospheric variation as to
+serve as a rule to the inhabitants of the country,
+the <i>Eciton</i> devotes itself every season to
+excursions for pillage, destined to supply the
+larvae with nourishment. Nothing is more
+curious than these <i>battues</i> executed by an
+entire population. Over an extent of many
+square meters, the soil literally disappears
+under the agglomeration of their little black
+bodies. No apparent order reigns in the mass
+of the army, but behind this many lines or
+columns of laggards press on to rejoin it. The
+insects concealed under the dry leaves and the
+trunks of fallen trees fly on all sides before
+this phalanx of pitiless hunters, but, blinded by
+fright, they fall back among their persecutors
+and are seized and dispatched in the twinkling
+of an eye. Grasshoppers, in spite of the advantage
+given them by their power of leaping,
+hardly escape more easily. As soon as they are
+taken, the <i>Eciton</i> tears off the hinder feet and
+all resistance becomes useless.”</p>
+
+<p>The same author describes with some feeling
+their habit of invading houses. “These visits
+ordinarily take place at the beginning of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>rainy season, and almost always during the
+night. The expeditionary army penetrates the
+habitation which it proposes to visit at many
+points at once, and for this purpose divides
+itself into many columns of attack. One is
+apprised very soon of their arrival by the
+household commotion among the parasitic animals.
+The rats, the spiders, the cockroaches,
+abandon their retreats and seek to escape
+from the attacks of the ants by flight. Alimentary
+substances the <i>soldados</i> hold in no esteem,
+and they disdain even sugary things, to which
+the ants in general are so partial. Dead insects
+even do not seem to invite their covetousness.
+It has often happened to me to be obliged
+to abandon my abode, without having time to
+carry away my collection, to which they have
+never done the least injury. The trouble
+occasioned by these insects in entering houses
+is more than compensated by the expeditious
+manner in which they purge them of vermin,
+and in this view their visit is an actual benefit.”</p>
+
+<p>As these ants are usually quite blind and
+their movements are directed (so far as we
+can tell) by the sense of smell and contact
+alone, it is quite remarkable that they are
+able to move about so readily, and become
+familiar with their surroundings in less time
+than their seeing relatives. Forel wrote in 1899:
+“Throw a handful of <i>Ecitons</i> with their larvae
+on a spot with which they are absolutely unacquainted.
+In such circumstances other ants
+scatter about in disorder and require an hour
+or more to assemble and bring their brood together
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>and especially to become acquainted
+with their environment, but the <i>Ecitons</i> do
+this at once. In five minutes they have formed
+distinct files which no longer disintegrate.
+They carry their larvae and pupae, marching
+in a straight path, palpating the ground with
+their antennae and exploring all the holes and
+crevices till they find a suitable retreat and
+enter it with surprising order and promptitude.
+The workers follow one another as if at a
+word of command, and in a very short time all
+are in safety.”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">
+    CHAPTER VIII
+    <br>
+    THE RED SLAVE MAKERS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The European ant known as <i>Formica sanguinea</i>
+is blood-red in color, and is one of the
+most industrious, versatile, and belligerent insects
+known to man. This species, according
+to Wheeler, “assails any intruder with its
+mandibles, simultaneously turning the tip of
+its gaster forward and injecting formic acid
+into the wound.”</p>
+
+<p>Although <i>sanguinea</i> is widely known as a
+slave-holding species, it is by no means wholly
+dependent upon its slaves, but is quite able to
+dig its own nest, gather food and rear young
+without the aid of any slaves at all. “There
+is,” said Wheeler, “nothing to show that the
+slaves contribute anything more to the communal
+activities than would be contributed by
+an equal number of small <i>sanguinea</i> workers.”
+Many observers have reported slaveless
+colonies of <i>sanguinea</i> which seemed to be
+flourishing, and Wasmann found that the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>youngest colonies contain, as a rule, more
+slaves than the older nests. He also reported
+an inverse ratio between the number of slaves
+and the size of the colony, some of the very
+largest being practically slaveless.</p>
+
+<p>The slave-hunting expeditions of the <i>sanguinea</i>
+are said to occur only two or three
+times a year, and the general procedure is described
+by Wheeler as follows: “The army
+of workers usually starts out in the morning
+and returns in the afternoon, but this depends
+on the distance of the <i>sanguinea</i> nest from the
+nest to be plundered. Sometimes the slavemakers
+postpone their sorties till three or four
+o’clock in the afternoon. On rare occasions
+they may pillage two different colonies in succession
+before going home. The <i>sanguinea</i>
+army leaves its nest in a straggling, open
+phalanx sometimes a few meters broad and
+often in several companies or detachments.
+These move to the nest to be pillaged over the
+directest route permitted by the often numerous
+obstacles in their path. As the forefront
+of the army is not headed by one or a few
+workers that might serve as guides, but is
+continually changing, some dropping back
+while others move forward to take their places,
+it is not easy to understand how the whole
+body is able to go so directly to the nest of
+the slave species, especially when this nest is
+situated, as is often the case, at a distance of
+fifty or a hundred meters. We must suppose
+that the colony has acquired a knowledge of
+the precise location of the various nests of
+the slave species within an area of a hundred
+meters or more of its own nest. This knowledge
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>is probably acquired by scouts leaving the
+nest singly and from time to time for a period
+of several weeks, and these scouts must be
+sufficiently numerous to determine the movements
+of the whole worker body when it leaves
+the nest. This presupposes not only a high
+development of memory, but some form of communication,
+for the nest attacked is usually
+one of many lying in different directions from
+the <i>sanguinea</i> nest.</p>
+
+<p>“When the first workers arrive at the nest
+to be pillaged, they do not enter at once, but
+surround it and wait for the other detachments
+to arrive. In the meantime the <i>fusca</i> or <i>rufibarbis</i>
+scent their approaching foes and either
+prepare to defend their nest or seize their
+young and try to break through the cordon
+of <i>sanguinea</i> and escape. They scramble up
+the grass-blades with their larvae and pupae
+in their jaws or make off on the ground. The
+sanguinary ants, however, intercept them,
+snatch away their charges, and begin to pour
+into the entrance of the nest. Soon they issue
+forth one by one with the remaining larvae
+and pupae and start for home. They turn and
+kill the workers of the slave-species only when
+these offer hostile resistance. The troop of
+cocoon-laden <i>sanguinea</i> straggle back to their
+nest, while the bereft ants slowly enter their
+pillaged formicary and take up the nurture of
+the few remaining young or await the appearance
+of future broods.</p>
+
+<p>“Forel is of the opinion that many of the
+young brought home by the sanguinea are
+eaten, for the number of those which eventually
+hatch and become auxiliaries is very small
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>compared with the number pillaged during
+the course of the summer. Wasmann believes,
+however, that the forays take place for the
+specific purpose of obtaining young to rear.
+This seems to be disproved by the fact that
+even small <i>sanguinea</i> colonies are quite able
+to get along without slaves and by the insignificant
+number of these individuals in many
+nests. Darwin has interpreted the surviving
+and adopted workers as a kind of by-product,
+or as representing food which the ants failed
+to eat at the proper time, and such they would
+appear to be in the adult colony, though, as
+we shall see, they have an additional significance
+as the result of an instinct inherited by
+the <i>sanguinea</i> workers from their queen. That
+the foray is, to some extent at least, due to
+the promptings of hunger, seems to be shown
+by the fact that <i>sanguinea</i> sometimes plunders
+the nests of ants which it could not adopt as
+slaves.”</p>
+
+<p>Wasmann describes the military expeditions
+of the so-called sanguine slavemakers (<i>F. sanguinea</i>),
+which generally hunt in companies of
+from twenty to fifty workers, “with the purpose
+not only of stealing the neuter pupae of
+the slave species, but often also of pillaging
+the nests of smaller ants belonging to the genus
+<i>Lasius</i>, the larvae, pupae and winged individuals
+of which are carried off to be devoured.
+During the time of the nuptial flight of <i>Lasius
+niger</i>, many <i>sanguinea</i> colonies are hunting in
+the vicinity of their nest for the heavy <i>Lasius</i>
+females which drop to the ground. Then either
+singly or with united forces these robbers pull
+their victims into their strongholds, where
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>they are mercilessly slaughtered. On the afternoon
+of August 24, 1888, I witnessed such a
+typical hunting expedition of several <i>sanguinea</i>
+colonies near Exaten, Holland, on the outskirts
+of a fir plantation. The road passing the nests
+was covered far and wide with <i>sanguineas</i>
+rushing upon every <i>Lasius</i> female that dropped
+from the air, as upon a welcome booty. Within
+the space of an hour I counted more than
+one hundred females of <i>Lasius niger</i> that fell
+victims to the hunters.”</p>
+
+<p>There are several species and sub-species
+of <i>sanguinea</i> in the United States, and the
+habits of these differ in several particulars
+from those of their European relatives. Wheeler
+reports that although he has found plenty of
+slaveless colonies, most nests contain slaves
+in much greater number than do similar
+colonies in Europe. He thinks this due in part
+to the fact that the American species make
+more frequent raids, and partly also because
+the species chosen as slaves are “much more
+cowardly and docile” than the victims of the
+slave-hunters of the Old World. The actual
+tactics employed in the raids do not differ essentially
+from those of the European species.</p>
+
+<p>It was long supposed that new colonies of the
+<i>sanguinea</i> were founded in this wise: When
+the queen descends from her nuptial flight
+she either brings up a brood of her own like
+many common ants, or she is adopted into a
+nest of one of the slave species. On either
+of these suppositions it is difficult to explain
+how the slave-making instincts could be transmitted
+to the workers, because the latter have
+no offspring and the queen was supposed to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>lack the slaving instincts. In 1906, Wheeler
+cleared the matter up by introducing a <i>sanguinea</i>
+queen into a nest containing workers,
+larvae, and cocoons of one of the slave species.
+She was immediately attacked, but beat off
+her assailants, killed a number of them, and
+captured a large number of cocoons, which
+she carried into a separate chamber and defended
+against all comers. Here she waited
+until the workers emerged from the captured
+cocoons; these workers, of course, attached
+themselves to her and soon gained possession
+of the whole nest. This experiment shows
+clearly that the <i>sanguinea</i> queen really possesses
+all the slave-making tendencies exhibited
+by the workers in their raiding, and solves
+the problem of the inheritance of these instincts.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">
+    CHAPTER IX
+    <br>
+    THE AMAZONS AND THEIR SLAVES
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Another type of slave-owning ants is represented
+by the genus <i>Polyergus</i>, found in both
+Europe and North America, and known as
+amazons. Slavery among the amazons is a
+very different thing from the casual master-servant
+relationship found in the various species
+of sanguinary ants. The <i>sanguinea</i> are
+quite able to build nests, gather food, and rear
+their young unaided by slave labor, and slaveless
+colonies are not at all uncommon, but the
+amazons are absolutely dependent upon their
+slaves, and no amazon colony could exist without
+them. As Wheeler says, the amazons “are
+even incapable of obtaining their own food, although
+they may lap up water or liquid food
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>when this happens to come in contact with
+their short tongues. For the essentials of food,
+lodging and education they are wholly dependent
+on the slaves hatched from worker cocoons
+that they have pillaged from alien colonies.
+Apart from these slaves they are quite unable
+to live, and hence are always found in mixed
+colonies inhabiting nests whose architecture
+throughout is that of the slave species. Thus
+the amazons display two contrasting sets of
+instincts. While in the home they sit about
+in stolid idleness or pass the long hours begging
+the slaves for food or cleaning themselves
+and burnishing their ruddy armor, but when
+outside the nest on one of their predatory expeditions
+they display a dazzling courage and
+capacity for concerted action compared with
+which the raids of <i>sanguinea</i> resemble the
+clumsy efforts of a lot of untrained militia.
+The amazons may, therefore, be said to represent
+a more specialized and perfected stage of
+<i>dulosis</i> than that of the sanguinary ants. In
+attaining to this stage, however, they have become
+irrevocably dependent and parasitic.”</p>
+
+<p>The same author describes a slave-hunting
+foray of the European species. “The ants leave
+the nest very suddenly and assemble about the
+entrance if they are not, as sometimes happens,
+pulled back and restrained by their slaves.
+Then they move out in a compact column with
+feverish haste, sometimes, according to Forel,
+at the rate of a meter in 33 seconds, or 3 cm.
+per second. On reaching the nest to be pillaged,
+they do not hesitate like <i>sanguinea</i> but
+pour into it at once in a body, seize the brood,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>rush out again and make for home. When attacked
+by the slave species they pierce the
+heads or thoraces of their opponents and often
+kill them in considerable numbers. The return
+to the nest with the booty is usually made more
+leisurely and in less serried ranks. The observer
+of one of these forays cannot fail to
+be impressed with the marvelous precision of
+its execution. Although the ants may occasionally
+lose their way and have to retrace
+their steps or start off in a different direction,
+they usually make straight for the nest to be
+plundered. They must, therefore, like <i>sanguinea</i>,
+possess a keen sense and memory of
+locality. There can be little doubt that they
+often leave the nest singly and make a careful
+reconnoissance of the slave colonies in the
+vicinity.”</p>
+
+<p>One can hardly believe that as soon as the
+fighting is over these warriors relapse into
+their accustomed lethargy, and are fed and
+cared for by their slaves, who often prevent
+them from leaving the nest, and sometimes,
+when they have wandered away, pick them up
+bodily and carry them home by main strength.
+When a colony moves to a new home the whole
+enterprise is left to the slaves, who choose and
+prepare the new nesting site, and carry the
+warriors to it. In the case of the <i>sanguinea</i>
+it will be remembered that it is the masters
+who carry the slaves on these occasions.</p>
+
+<p>An American amazon which has been the
+subject of considerable study is <i>Polyergus
+breviceps</i>, found in the mountainous regions of
+Colorado and New Mexico. This species is
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>very striking in appearance, the worker and
+queen being of a rich purplish-red color, while
+the male is jet-black with white wings. A
+peculiar feature of the <i>breviceps’</i> raiding
+parties is that there are no casualties on
+either side. The slave species offer no real
+resistance, and the amazons simply put them
+gently to one side, take their larvae and pupae,
+and go their way.</p>
+
+<p>We do not know exactly how new amazon
+colonies are established. Forel, Wasmann and
+Viehmeyer have agreed that the queen lacks
+the domestic instinct, and therefore the new
+colony must be founded by the slave species,
+which cares for the amazon females. It has
+been shown that the adoption occurs readily
+enough in artificial nests. Some experiments
+by Wheeler gave rather conflicting results, and
+he closes his discussion of the matter by saying:
+“It will be necessary, therefore, to study
+this question further before making definite
+statements in regard to the method employed
+by our American amazons in establishing
+colonies.”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">
+    CHAPTER X
+    <br>
+    DAIRIES AND GUESTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The peculiar symbiotic relations between
+ants and aphids is worth a brief description.
+The aphids or plant-lice live in colonies upon
+certain plants, and feed upon juices which they
+suck from the foliage. The liquid excrement
+of these insects is sweet, and a surprisingly
+large amount is voided—Bŭsgen found that the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>maple aphid produces as many as forty-eight
+drops in twenty-four hours. This substance is
+sometimes so abundant that it covers the leaves
+and even drips down to the ground; it is known
+as honeydew, and some rustics still believe
+that it somehow falls from heaven. The ants
+are very fond of this honeydew, and some
+species live upon it almost exclusively at certain
+seasons, and locate their nests always near
+good aphid-pastures. The ants never kill and
+eat aphids as they do other insects, but protect
+them against their enemies. They even carry
+them about from one pasture to another, and
+some species build little sheds and corrals in
+which their aphids are confined just as we confine
+cattle. Sometimes the ants simply lap
+up the honeydew as it falls upon the leaves,
+but in most cases they <i>milk</i> the aphids by
+gently stroking them with the antennae, which
+causes the emission of a drop of the sweet
+liquid. Some kinds of aphids have developed
+a circle of stiff hairs around the anal opening,
+which thus retains the honeydew till the ant
+comes for it. Not only do the ants care for
+and milk the adult aphids, but they rear them
+from the eggs. Huber, Lubbock and others
+have seen ants collecting aphid eggs in the
+Autumn, and it has been found that these eggs
+are stored in the nest until they hatch, when
+the young plant-lice are carried out and placed
+on a suitable food-plant. On cold or rainy days
+they are taken back into the nest; when the
+weather moderates the ants carry them out
+to pasture again.</p>
+
+<p>The scale-insects and mealy-bugs (<i>Coccidae</i>)
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>also produce honeydew, and are visited by the
+ants precisely as the aphids are. The <i>manna</i>
+of the Biblical story, according to Wheeler, “is
+now known to be the honeydew of one of these
+insects (<i>Gossyparia mannifera</i>) which lives on
+the tamarisk. This excretion is still called <i>man</i>
+by the Arabs who use it as food.” Forel,
+Cockerell and Wheeler have seen ants tending
+great herds of coccids, and a few of these insects
+are found in many nests.</p>
+
+<p>Several kinds of tree-hoppers bear a similar
+relation to ants. Bare, who studied these matters
+in Argentina, “watched the larvae of
+various species of <i>Centrotus</i> being assiduously
+attended by ants. The larvae are gregarious,
+frequenting the succulent shoots of plants, and
+have an extensile organ at the extremity of the
+body, from which the coveted fluid is emitted.”
+Wheeler observed whole colonies of ants herding
+leaf-hoppers in Colorado, and reports that
+these novel milk-cows “responded to the antennal
+caresses of the ants in precisely the
+same manner as the plant-lice and scale-insects.”
+Some ants confine their tree-hoppers in
+sheds and shelters similar to those used for
+the aphids.</p>
+
+<p>The relationship of ants to certain small
+caterpillars (the larvae of some of the <i>Lycaenid</i>
+butterflies) has been known for a long time.
+These little caterpillars, when caressed on the
+posterior end by the antennae of the ants, give
+up a drop of sweet liquid, doubtless very
+similar to that produced by the aphids and
+coccids.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p57_2" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p57.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+      Fig. VI. A small myrmecophilous cricket (<i>Myrmecophila nebrascensis</i>)
+    gnawing at the tibia of the Texan harvester-ant. (After Wheeler.)
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>These larvae are often found in the
+ants’ nests, and some of the newly emerged
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span>butterflies have been seen to come out of the
+ant-hills. It is said that the ants protect the
+caterpillars from the attacks of hymenopterous
+parasites, and De Niceville is authority for the
+statement that the butterfly will not lay her
+eggs when there are no ants about: “If the
+right plant has no ants, or the ants on that
+plant are not the right species, the butterfly
+will lay no eggs on that plant. Some larvae
+will certainly not live without the ants, and
+many larvae are extremely uncomfortable when
+brought up away from their hosts or masters.”</p>
+
+<p>Besides the ants’ relationship with the insects
+which produce sweet substances, there are
+symbiotic relations of a very different type
+with a group of insects known as <i>myrmecophiles</i>—ant-guests.
+These insects, at one stage
+or another, live in the ant-hills. At least fifteen
+hundred species of ant-guests are known, and
+Escherich estimates that there must be at least
+three thousand altogether. Wheeler thinks that
+even this estimate is probably too low. At
+least a thousand of the known species are
+beetles, and most of the rest are insects of
+one kind or another, but there are about sixty
+arachnids and a few crustaceans.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the myrmecophiles are not <i>friends
+of ants</i> as the name implies, but mere interlopers—scavengers,
+robbers and assassins.
+There are a number of small beetles which live
+in the less frequented galleries of the nest, eat
+dead ants and brood, kill ailing or crippled
+ants, and even attack healthy adults when they
+catch them alone or at some disadvantage.
+Some of these beetles resemble ants in general
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>appearance, a mimicry which is doubtless of
+considerable value to them. The ants kill these
+pests whenever they can, but many are protected
+by their ability to emit an evil-smelling
+substance which puts the ants to flight. Others
+will be killed at once if confined in a small
+chamber with a few ants, but in a large nest
+are able to escape by reason of their agility.</p>
+
+<p>Another class of myrmecophiles, known as
+<i>synoeketes</i>, or tolerated guests, live in the ant-hills
+without attracting any great attention,
+being treated with contemptuous indifference
+by their hosts. The larvae of certain moths
+and flies, a large number of beetles, and numerous
+other insects are of this class, and feed
+largely upon the refuse of the kitchen-middens.
+Wasmann has studied a group of beetles which
+live with the nomadic Doryline ants. These
+camp-followers mimic the legionaries, and
+march along in their columns apparently unnoticed,
+being allowed to share the prey taken
+by the blind warriors. Other beetles live in
+the nests of the <i>sanguinea</i>, and feed largely
+upon the tiny parasites from the bodies of
+their hosts. Certain minute wingless crickets
+are very abundant in many nests; they are seen
+to lick the bodies of the ants, and it is supposed
+that they live upon some cutaneous secretion.</p>
+
+<p>The insect called <i>Attaphila</i> is a sort of miniature
+cockroach, which lives with the fungus
+growing <i>Attii</i>, and is, according to Wheeler, the
+only insect known to be on intimate terms with
+these ants. A peculiar thing about the <i>Attaphila</i>
+is that the last joint of the antennae
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>is nearly always bitten off. This insect was
+formerly supposed to feed on fungus, but has
+since been found to lick the surface secretions
+from the ants’ bodies. A little beetle called
+<i>Oxysoma oberthueri</i> is very like <i>Attaphila</i> in
+its habits, “mounting the bodies of its host
+and licking or shampooing them with great
+eagerness.”</p>
+
+<p>Very different from the furtive, barely tolerated
+myrmecophiles described above are the
+three or four hundred species known as true
+guests, which, to quote Wheeler again, “are
+no longer content to be treated with animosity
+or indifference, but have acquired more intimate
+and even friendly relations with the
+ants. These true guests are not, therefore, to
+be found skulking in the unfrequented galleries
+of the nest, or suspiciously dodging about
+among the ants, but live in their very midst
+with an air of calm assurance, if not of
+proprietorship.” Among these are many
+beetles bearing tufts of hair which produce
+some aromatic secretion very pleasing to the
+ants. The ants rush to lick the odorous tufts,
+are caressed by the peculiar antennae of the
+beetle, and feed the latter with regurgitated
+food. Many of these beetles are cleaned and
+shampooed by the ants, are often carried about,
+and favored in other ways, despite the fact
+that they sometimes devour the ant brood.
+Some of the smaller species are totally blind,
+and are permitted to ride about on the ants’
+backs for hours at a time.</p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp65" id="p61" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p61.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+      <p>Fig. VII. Showing two minute myrmecophilous
+    beetles (<i>Oxysoma oberthueri</i>) feeding on the surface
+    secretions of an ant. (Adapted from Escherich).</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<p>Another sort of guest is the little mite called
+<i>Antennophorus</i>, which Janet has found in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span>nests of several European ants. These mites
+attach themselves firmly to the body of their
+host, and it is interesting to note that no matter
+how many are present on a single ant, they
+are always so placed that the weight is properly
+distributed, and the host’s progress not interfered
+with. These creatures remind one of
+the ticks found on higher animals like dogs,
+but they are not parasites in the sense that
+ticks are—they do not suck the ant’s blood, but
+reach out and snatch their nutriment from
+the drops of regurgitated food as they pass
+from one ant to another.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>The ants do not bother <i>Antennophorus</i> much,
+but there is another mite called <i>Cillibano</i> which
+is a true blood-sucker, and which they seize
+and tear to pieces whenever they can. A little
+blue fly (<i>Orasema viridis</i>) is common in the
+nests of several Texan and Mexican ants; its
+larvae attach themselves to the ant larvae and
+live as parasites. Both the larvae and the
+adult, however, are fed and fondled by the ants.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these external parasites there are
+many grubs and worms which live inside the
+body of the ant, and are comparable to the
+pin-worms and tapeworms which dwell in the
+human intestine. These creatures have not
+been studied extensively, however, and very
+little is known of their habits and metamorphosis.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<div class="tnote">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note">
+    Transcriber’s note
+  </h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.  Italization was standardized.</p>
+
+<p>In this version, the illustrations are placed differently on the page than in the original. This was done to
+ keep them on the same page as the original. The illustration on page <a href="#Page_41">41</a> was
+placed upside down in the orignal; it has been corrected here.</p>
+
+<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:</p>
+
+
+<table class="autotable">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_7">7</a>: “female during copulalation”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“female during copulation”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_17">17</a>: “the arangement of larvae”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“the arrangement of larvae”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_18">18</a>: “the ant’s tevelopment”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“the ant’s development”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_29">29</a>: “habits of the Attiine”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“habits of the Attine”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_29">29</a>: “besides the Attiien ants”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“besides the Attine ants”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_44">44</a>: “itself every reason to”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“itself every season to”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_50">50</a>: “of several <i>sanquinea</i>”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“of several <i>sanguinea</i>”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_51">51</a>: “the <i>sanquinea</i> queen”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“the <i>sanguinea</i> queen”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_55">55</a>: “is known as honey dew”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“is known as honeydew”</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_55">55</a>: “honey dew, and some species”</td>
+<td class="tdl">“honeydew, and some species”</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77638 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #77638
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77638)