TNE BRAIN OF AN ANT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 53, 31 December 1892, Page 1298

TNE BRAIN OF AN ANT.

There is an old puzzle question which asks, • What is smaller than the mouth of a mite?’ The answer is, • What goes into its mouth.’ Although an ant is a tiny creature, yet its brain is even tinier. But although it is necessarily smaller than the ant’s head which contains it, yet it is larger in proportion, according to the ant’s size, than the brain of any known creature. This ve can easily believe when we read of this insect.s wonderful powers. The quality of instinct or sagacity does not fully explain some of the stoiies told about them. The best writers upon ants—those who have made the astonishing intelligence of these little insects a special study—are obliged to admit that they display reasoning ability, calculation, reflection and good judgment. Such qualities of brain show a more than ordinary instinct, and we are not surprised to hear that the ant’s big brain carries out our idea that he possesses a higher intelligence than is shown by other workers of his size.

Peace and happiness cannot exist in the vicinity of an individual who ha< a mania for setting everybody right. He is generally unfitted for the office, being one of the exasperating people who are continually saying what they would do, while really doing nothing at all. It is usually the sluggard or idler, who stands about and watches others work, who can suggest a dozen ways in which they can do better.