ARE ANTS CIVILISED ?

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 192, 15 March 1878, Page 7

ARE ANTS CIVILISED ?

■— o—_-*.0 — _- *. The October number of the Quarterly Journal of science contains an article on " Our Six-footed Rivals," the ants, which may well cause us to believe that we are not the only rational and civilised beings on the globe* Let us suppose that we are suddenly informed, on good authority, that there existed a race of beings who lived in domed habitations, aggregated together so as to form vast and populous cities, that they exercised jurisdiction over the adjoining territory, laid out regular roads, executed tunnels underneath the beds of rivers, stationed guards at the entrance of their towns, carefully removed any offensive matter, maintained a rural police, organised extensive bunting expeditions, at times even waged war upon neighboring* communities, took prisoners and reduced them to a state of slavery ; that they not merely stored up provisiops with due care, but that they kept cattle and even cultivated the soil aud gathered in the harvest. We should unquestionably regard these creatures as human beings' Avho had made no small progress in civilisation, and should ascribe their actions to reason. . Among the hymenoptera the lead is undoubtedly taken by the ants, which, like man, have a brain much more highly developed than that of the neighbouring inferior groups. Perhaps the most elevated ofthe formicide family is the agricultural ant of western Texas. This species is, save man, the only creature which does not depend for its sustenance on the products ofthe chase or the spontaneous fruit of the earth. A colony of these ants will clear a tract ot ground, some four feet in width, around their city, and remove all plants, stone and rubbish. A species uf minute grain, resembling rice, is sown therein and the field is carefully tended, kept free from weeds, and guarded against maraunding insects. When mature, the crop is reaped and tne seeds dried and carried into the nest. If this is done near a larger city the latter regard it as an intrusion, and a fierce warfare results, which ends iv the total destruction of one or the other side. The queens are treated with great attention and installed in royal apartments. The ant government is communistic. In a formicary there is no trace of private property ; the territory, the buildings, the stores, the booty, exist equally for the benefit of all. The family among them scarcely exists. Rarely is the union ofthe male and female extended beyond the actual intercourse, all provision for the future young devolving upon the latter alone, the former being speedily killed, as he is no longer of any use. The females are the larger, stronger, and more long lived. The workers and fighters are sexless ; to them belongs the real government of the ant-hill, and they provide for its enlargement, well being, and defence. Ants are sometimes very stupid in regard to small things, but in many instances tbey display remarkable sagacity Mr Belt, in his " Naturalist in Nicaragua," tells of a column of ants who were crossing a watercourse by a small branch not thicker than a goose quill. They widened this natural bridge to three time its width by a number of ants clinging to it and to each other on each side, over which the column passed four deep, thus effecting a great saving of time. Again, the eciton legronis. when attacking the hill of another species, digs mines and passes the pellets of earth from ant to ant until placed at a sufficient distance outside to prevent it rolling back into the hole. Their errors and stupidity are not more conspicuous, however, than among the human beings. These tiny creatures have a language by which they can impart to each other information ot a very definite character, and not merely general signals, such as those of alarm. It has been found that anta fetched by a messenger seem, when they arrive at the spot, to have some knowledge of the task which is awaiting them. Their principal organs of speech are doubtless the antenae ; with these, when seeking to communicate intelligence, they touch each ether in a variety ot ways. There is a possibility that they may have a language of odors, for the various scents given off by .them are easily perceptible. Under the influence of anger it becomes very intense. In battles how, save ay scent, can they distinguish friend from foe? Alter a lapse of several months a former companion will be received kindly into the aest, but a stranger is killed. More wonderful than their intelligence is their organisation. If separate they would be helpless, and probably soon become extinct. Mr Belt observed a marching column of ecitons in the primeval brests of Nicaragua. A dense body of ants, four yards wide, moved rapidly in one direction, examining every cranny and fallen leaf. At ntervals larger and lighter coloured individuals would often stop and :un a little backward, apparently giving orders. On the flanks and n advance of the main body, smaller columns would push out, which mrsued the cockroaches, grasshoppers, and spiders in the neighbouimod. A grasshopper seeking to escape would often leap into the nidst ofthe ants. After a few ineffectual jumps, with ants clinging :o its': body, it would soon be torn to pieces. Spiders and bugs which ' dimbed to the tops of trees were followed and shared a like fate. In Nicaragua the vegetarian ants eat up trees and carry off the leaves, to lse as a manure, in which grows a minute species of fungus, on which hey feed. They evince a mutual sympathy and helpfulness, which to in equal extent can be traced in man alone. Mr Belt placed a little itone on one to secure it. The next ant that approached ran back in in agitated manner and communicated the intellig9nee to others. Lhey rushed to the rescue; some bit at the. stone and tried to move t, others seized the prisoner by the legs and pulled. 'Ihey persevered intil they got the captive free. In v Australia they have been known to bury their dead with some legre'e of formality. Ihe Texan ant removes any offensive matter ilaced near its city and carries it away. Ants who refuse to work are nt to death. Prisoners are brought in by a fellow citizen, handed ver in a very rough manner to the guards, who carry off the offenders uto the under-ground passages. The slave-making propensity and the reliance upon slaves occur in everal species, but not to the same degree. The polyergus rujeseens i absolutely dependent on its slaves, and would rather die than work. formica sanguinea, on the other hand, has much fewer slaves, being tself capable of working as well as fighting. No less variation may >c traced in the habits of the cattle-keeping ants. Uf 1 the honeyecreting aphides and cocci that serve them as. milch kine, some have arge herds, whilst others have none at all, and: if they encounter an phis straightway kill and eat it. These aphides are extremely lestructive to fruits and trees, as they live by sucking- the sap, The nts watch them with wonderful care, and defend them trom all nemies. Instances of sagacity and design might be easily muldplied. "Jareful observation has shown that the ants are eyolutiog as fast as heir short terms of life will permit them.- They are becoming more vise and more civilised yearly. Each century; markß ah -"advance. /V ho knows but that perhaps in the dim future they may assert rights vbich human beings shall be bound to respect 1