MICROSCCPICAL SOCIETY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12089, 18 August 1917, Page 9

MICROSCCPICAL SOCIETY.

, 81-MONTHLY MEETING. The Microscopical Society held its W-. monthly meeting on Thursday oveningj , The president, Mr E. E. Stark, was in* the chair. Rather a- novel departure was madff in that a ( paper on "The Ant" was read by George Turner, whose ago is fifteen. Ihc lecturer described the antf from its initial stage, viz., the egg, | through the luyva stage, 'the papa. j stage, to the full adult tizgc-. The lecturer has himself been rearing ants J for the past two years and making a, : personal study of them, as well as having read up researches .as described by other writers. His lecture was full of a description of the division of labour among ihe ants, and the work of the queens and of the male ants. Ho described the life of th c male anss ns but a- few weeks, while that of the. i queen was sometimes a period of seven j >ears. The. ant-house, or home of the. I ant, is known as the " termitary." The, | lecturer showed diagrams and 'lantern j slides of these houses after having been. j cut into sections. Really the house j might be described better as the " Ants' | City, "which might have been started ! by a single queen ant. j Among exhibits .prepared by Mr Turj ner were lantern slides showing tho I enemies of the ;.nt, consisting of the ant-lions, or other larger ants, that j prey upon the smaller ones, thc anteatmg bear of Australia, and the mites which live upon and are parasitic upon, the ant. Ho had quite a number of microscopical slides of ants that had hrx-m •prepared by himself in the usual manner, viz., by soakinrr the specimen in caustic potash to dissolve the softer parts of the body, leaving the outsido shell skeleton only. These then aro mounted in such a manner as to show the whole of the external of the specimen. The specimens exhibited by him were very creditably mounted, and coMld compare with that of a professional, the legs and wings being nicely arranged in n natural manner. He had boxes showing the living homes of the New Zealand ants and their care of the larvce. The remarkable feature of the wholo lecture was that Mr Turner carried * out his lectrare almost- without notes, and proved to the very interested audience that he had not only gained the knowledge by readinc but by personal observation of this interesting study. A^, hearty vote of thanks was given the lecturer for his interesting address, and attention was called to the fact that the lecturer proved that work of this sort could he carried on by t!n» rising generation to their benefit and the benefit of the rest of the community. The Microscopical Society is endeavouring to encourage younger members who have joined the society in irork of this sort. f i f