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Library 1991.The slave-maker (F. sanguined) attacking the nest of F. fusca on Shirley Common.—Page 18B.©
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, AND AN APPENDIX
GIVING A COMPLETE LIST OF GENERA AND SPECIES OF
THE BRITISH ANTS.
BY THE
REV. W. FARREN WHITE, m.a., m.e.s.l.,
VICAR OF STONEHOUSE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
“ A little people ” but “exceeding wise.”—Prov. xxx. 24, 25.
“ Go to the ant	consider her ways, and be wise.”—Prov. vi. 6.
LONDON:
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard;
and 164, Piccadilly.LONDON
R. Clay, Sons, and Taylof,
BREAD STREET HILL.PREFACE.
The present work owes its origin to a series of
papers which I was requested to prepare for the
Leisure Hour, and which appeared during the
year 1880. Since that date additional material
illustrating the marvellous history of the “little
people ” has accumulated through the researches
of Sir John Lubbock,1 Dr. McCook of Phila-
delphia, myself, and others. Dr. McCook has pub-
lished two volumes, one which appeared in 1880,
constituting a monograph of the habits, archi-
tecture, and structure of Pogonomyrmex barbatus,
the agricultural ant of Texas ; and the other, in
1882, giving the remarkable history of the honey
ants of the Garden of the Gods, and also of the
Occident ants of the American plains. I would
also call the reader’s attention to the Synopsis of
1 Sir John Lubbock has gathered together his papers on the subject,
and has published them, with additional matter bearing on the Social
Hymenoptera, under the title, Ants, Bees, and Wasps, as one of the
International Scientific Series.VI
PREFACE.
British Heterogyna and Fossorial Hymenoptera, by
Edward Saunders, Treasurer of the Entomological
Society, reprinted from the Transactions of the
Society for December, 1880—a valuable contribution
to the study of the British species. In this work
he adopts a specific characteristic for the female of
Formica aliena which I had brought forward in one
of my papers, and which had been recognised as
distinctive of the species by my late friend, Mr.
Frederick Smith of the British Museum, formerly
President of the Entomological Society, an eminent
Hymenopterist, to whose unwearied kindness and
invaluable assistance I shall ever remain indebted.
He, some twenty years ago, first stimulated my
interest in the study of British ants into active
exercise, and ever encouraged and aided me in my
pleasant and profitable investigations, until his much
lamented death in January, 1879. I have since secured
possession of the greater part of his valuable collec-
tion of foreign Aculeate Hymenoptera, in which is
numbered about six hundred different species of
ants from almost every part of the world, as well as
nearly two hundred and seventy species of the
allied families Mutillidce and Thynnidce, popularly
called Solitary Ants, and classed by Mr. F. Smith
under the Heterogyna.	Mr. Smith’s manuscript
lectures, with their practical and pictorial illustra-
tions, have tended also to enrich my happy experiences
of the wonders of the formic world.PREFACE.
v
I have been thus explicit in directing the attention
of the reader to these sources of new entomological
wealth, that he may be prepared to find in the present
publication, not merely a reprint of my former papers,
but rather the outline of an old picture filled in with
fresh lights and shadows.
The author desires to place on record his appre-
ciation of the value of the illustrations which so
enhance the interest of his work, and which with
but few exceptions were engraved from the well-
executed drawings of his wife: these exceptions being
Fig. 34, in preparing which she availed herself of
a skilful sketch by Miss E. E. White, and Figs.
39-43, which were taken from original diagrams
by the late Mr. F. Smith.
If the reader can glean from the perusal of this
imperfect attempt to give form and colouring to
one of the most marvellous provinces of the wondrous
empire of the King of Glory, some portion of the
untold pleasure it has brought to my own mind in
making it, I shall be more than satisfied, especially
should the perusal lead to a more emphatic and
practical recognition of the truth of the inspired
declaration—“ The works of the Lord are great,
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”
W. F. W.CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGES
The Interest that clings to the Study of Ants—Their Classical
Association—Their Biographer of the last century—Their
Prehistoric Origin—Their Connection with Amber—The
Ancestry of the White Ant—The Formation of Amber—
Dr. Livingstone and Sir John Kirk on the Copal Gum of
Africa—The Kauri Gum of New Zealand — The Fossil
Resin of Galicia...............................i—9
CHAPTER II.
Morning Walk at Blackheath—First Sight of the Little People at
Home—Representatives of Two Tribes under one Roof—
Ancient Names for the Ant—Many Species found under
Stones.......................................10—15
CHAPTER III.
The Ants a Little People—Examination of the Head of Mytmica
scabrinodis—Its Antennae and those of other species—The
Eyes of Ants—Blind Ants—The Ecitons of the Amazon
Valley, and the Driver Ants of Africa—The Special Functions
of the Compound and Simple Eyes—The Experiments of Sir
John Lubbock as to the effect of Light and Colour on the
Vision of Ants—The Conditions under which they were made
and the Assumption on which they are founded considered—
Artificial Formicaria, and how their Construction affects
such Experiments—The Author’s Formicaria, and how they
are adapted for securing trustworthy results — Ants do not
dislike the Light, but welcome it as necessary to their well-
being—A Record of the Author’s Observations bearing upon
the Sul ject—Ants are attracted by the Light because of the
Heat with which it is associated. ....	16—31X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
pages
Continuation of the subject of the Effect of Light and Colour on
Ants—The Prismatic Colours possess different Powers of
Illumination and varying Degrees of Heating Power—The
Invisible Rays at each end of the Spectrum—The different
Coloured Rays, as well as the Invisible Rays, possess more or
less of Chemical Action—The significance of Mr. Busk’s
suggestion that certain colours are avoided by the Ants
because the Chemical Rays are distasteful to them—Professor
Tyndall’s Demonstration, after Melloni, of the Diathermancy
of Bisulphide of Carbon—Sir John Lubbock’s Experiments
with Bisulphide of Carbon and Sulphate of Quinine—His
Inference therefrom, and how far it should be modified.	32—43
CHAPTER V.
The Mouth with its Allied Appendages and their uses—The
Thorax and Nodes of the Petiole of the Abdomen—Formic
Acid—A Traveller’s Experience—A Missionary’s Experience
—The Sting of an Ant—The Number of Species of British
Ants—The House Ant of Madeira added to the list—Natural-
ised Ants—Saunders’s Enumeration—The Common House
Ant—Details as to its Habits—Another Madeira Ant found
in London—Its Tastes and Distribution .	.	.	44—59
CHAPTER VI.
The Workers and their Offices—They vary in Function, Size, and
Structure—In some Colonies more than two Distinct Forms—
Bates’s Record—The Workers of three Orders—The Worker-
minors—Mounds and Galleries—Cutting Leaves—Robbing
the Farinha Baskets—The Function of the Worker-majors—
Worker-majors with unique Frontal Eye—The Queen of
Myrmica scabrinodis described—The Princesses—Their Mid-
air Dances— “The Haunted Tree’s on Fire”—A Political
Demonstration in the Ant-world—Their Constitution a Limited
Monarchy—The Princesses further described—The Princes—
Their Short Career .......	60—77CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER VII.
PAGES
The Poneridce—The two British Species of Ponera—Mr. Smith’s
son’s Discovery at Bournemouth—A Variety of Lasius uni-
bratus Formica umbrata) described—The Mutilliace, or Soli-
tary Ants—Mutilla Europcza found in the Nests of Humble
Bees—The Strange Noise it utters—The Rare Methoca ichneu-
monides—The question, Should Mutillidce be classed with the
Heterogyna?—Number of Species of Social Ants—Mr. F.
Smith’s Record and Estimate—Exceptions to the general rule
of the Distinct Characteristics of the Families Formicidce and
Myrmicidce—The Honey Ants of Mexico and Colorado—Also
from Australia, Singapore, and Borneo—Anomalous form of
the Female of Anergates atratulm—Strange Constitution of
the Colony of this Ant—Ants with Large Heads—The
Harvesting Ants of the South of France .	.	.	78—95
CHAPTER VIII.
The Harvesting Instinct of Ants—Called in question by Gould,
Latreille, Hiiber, and others—The Ancient Belief True—
The Repudiation of the Harvesting Instinct accounted for—
British Ants possess the Instinct—The reference in the Mishna
—Lieut.-Col. Sykes’s Notice of the Atta providens of India
—The Agricultural Ant of Texas—Dr. McCook’s account ot
Pogonomyrmex bcirbatus—The Architecture of their Houses—
The large Formicaria in the neighbourhood of Austin,
Texas, described—The CRcodoma cephalotes of South America '
—Belt discovers them to be Mushroom Growers—Honey
Ants—Other Harvesting Ants in America—Are they found
in the Holy Land? .......	96—no
CHAPTER IX.
The Manners and Customs of Ants—The- Members of the Royal
Family—The Career of the Males—The Self-sacrifice of the
Females—The Power of a Single Female to Originate a
Colony—The Labours of the Workers—Election of the
Queen — The Loyalty of the Ants — Their Frolicsome
Exercises .....	... ill—119Xll
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
l’AGES
The Affection of the Ants for their Young—Their Earlier Life-
history—The Eggs—The Larvae—Instance of the Care of
the Workers for the Larvae—How they keep them at a
Suitable Temperature—The Workers enjoy the Sunshine—
How the Larvae are Fed and Cleansed—The Little Weavers
—The Multiplied Labours of the Workers—How the Foster-
mothers Guard the Inclosed Pupae and Extricate the Young
Ants from the Cocoons—The Workers Conduct their Educa-
tion—The Solicitude of the Workers for the Males—No
Pupae in Winter Time—The Pupae of Ants with Stings not
inclosed in Cocoons ......	. 120—131
CHAPTER XL
The Ants at their Toilet—Funeral Rites—A1 Funeral Procession
in Australia—Startling Phenomena in Author’s Formicarium
—Formic Cemeteries—Habits of F. umbrata (L. umbratus)
—Burial Customs—Ants* Affection for the Living greater
than their Respect for the Dead ..... 132—143
CHAPTER XII.
Ants Live Happily together—Instance of Unselfish Devotion and
Disinterested Kindness witnessed by the Author—Exhuming
Buried Companions—Concerted Action—Joy at Meeting
after Separation—A Recognition after Four Months’ Absence
recorded by Huber—The Author’s Observation of a Recog-
nition after a Separation of One Year and nearly Three
Months—Successful Experiments vith Members of a Colony
of F. sanguinea — Sir J. Lubbock’s Observations — Ants
recognised by Members of the Colony when removed as Pupae
—Intoxicated and Chloroformed Ants recognised by their
Friends ....	.	.	. 144—155CONTENTS.
xiii
CHAPTER XIII.
PAGES
The Ants have a language, and are able to Communicate their Ideas
and Wishes to each other—Illustrations from the Author’s
Formicarium—How they make known the cause of Fear or
Anger—How the Military Expeditions are conducted—The
Antennae serve also as organs of Smell—The Ants are Little
Farmers and Cattle Breeders—Their many Breeds of Cattle—
The Blind Clavigers yield Milk to the Ants, and are main-
tained by them—the number of Ants’ Nest Beetles found in
Britain......................................156—165
CHAPTER XIV.
The Aphides or Ant Cows Preserved and Bred by the British Ants
—Their Form and Habits—How the Little People Milk their
Cows—Hiiber’s Observation—Do the Ants Breed their Cows ?
—The Author’s Observations and Discovery—Are the Aphides
both Viviparous and Oviparous?—the Marvellous History of
the Milch-kine—The “ Eggs ” are Pupae or the Nymphal
form of the Aphis—Bonnett’s view, endorsed by Huber,
correct—Sir J. Lubbock’s Judgment—The Cocci or Gallin-
secta—The Cochineal insect—Some Ants Omnivorous. 166—177
CHAPTER XV.
The Slave-makers—How Formica sanguinea may be distinguished
from Formica rufa—The Author’s Visits to Shirley Common
in search of the Formica sanguinea—Discovery of a Nest—
The Slaves—Other Species of Ants besides F. fusca found
in the Slave-maker’s Nest—The Workers, Males, and Females
of the Slave-maker described...............178—191
CHAPTER XVI.
The Slave-making Instinct first observed by M P. Huber in
Rufescens—Huber’s Historical Sketch of the Amazon Ants—
A Slave-making Expedition described—Sir J. Lubbock’s Ex-
periment—Mr. Frederick Smith the first in England to witness
the Slave-making Instinct in Active Exercise—Charles Darwin
also observed it—The Important Relation the whole History
of Ants bears to Darwin’s Theory of the Origin of Species—XIV
CONTENTS.
The Author’s Experiences—SirJ. Lubbock witnesses Polyergus
in Captivity carrying off the Pupae of F. fusca—Other Slave-
makers—Forel’s Account of S. testaceus—A Conflict between
a Mixed Community of S. testaceus and T. ccespitum and an
Independent Colony of T. ccespitum—Strange History of After-
gates atratulus—Two Alternatives proposed for the Solution of
the Mystery—Cataglyphis viatica a Slave-maker—Aphenogaster
barbara, the Harvester, a Slave ....	192—210
CHAPTER XVII.
The Variety in the Architectural Designs of the Ants—Habitation
of the Common Yellow Ant described—F. alietta (L. alienus)
a Miner and a Mason—Typical Nest of Formica—Dimensions
of the Nests of the Wood Ants—The Common Garden Ant
storming Exsecta’s Castle and destroying the Garrison 211—221
CHAPTER XVIII.
F. rufa and F. sanguinea take in Lodgers—Distinct Species found
in the Nests of other Ants also—The Jet Ant both a Carpenter
and Wood-carver ; sometimes a Miner—The Garden Ant dis-
covered to be a Wood-carver—The Author also discovers
F. umbrata (Z. umbratus) as a Wood-carver and Carpenter—
The Plasterer and Tent-maker from Sierra Leone—The
L'mbrella Ant—The Thom-nests of Pseudomyrma modesta
from Panama—The “Bull Dog” Ants in South Australia—
The Driver Ant of Africa.................222—234
CHAPTER XIX.
The White Ants of Tropical Climes—The Four Classes found in
the Colony of the White Ants described—The Destructiveness
of the White Ants—How the True Ant as well as the “ White
Ant ” becomes a Blessing in the Tropics—The Concluding
Summary of the Ways of the Little People .	.	235—244
Appendix—Hymencptera Britannica ....	245—273
Index...........................................275LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG.	PAGE
The Slave-maker (Fsanguined) attacking the nest of
F. fusca on Shirley Common	....	Frontispiece
1.	Myrmica scabrinodis .......	17
2.	Formica Jlava (Lasius Jlavus)	.	.	.	.	.	.	17
3.	Antenna of M. scabrinodis......................18
4.	Portion of eye of ant .	......................19
5.	The Author’s Formicarium	(front view)	....	28
6.	,,	,,	(back view) ....	29
7.	M. scabrinodis, with open mandibles ....	45
8. Formica Jlava (Lasius Jlavus). Female .	.	.	.	74
9.	f, ,j jy yy Male .	.	.	.	75
10.	,,	,,	„	„	Large worker	...	75
11.	,,	,,	,,	,,	Small worker	...	75
12.	Ponera punctatissima..........................79
13.	Mutilla Europcea. Female	.	.	.	.	.	.	83
14.	,,	,, Male.................................84
15.	Myrmecocystus Mexicanus	.	.	.	.	.	.	91
16.	Myr?nica (Pheidole) lavigata; House Ant of Madeira .	93
17. Aphenogaster barbara .	.	.	.	.	.	.	105
18.	Myrmica domestica (Diplorhoptrum domesticum) .	.	117
19.	Cluster of eggs ........	121
20.	Larvae of Ant.................................121
21. Cocoons of Formica Jlava, (Lasius Jlavus) .	.	.	.	127
22.	Pupa of Myrmica Icevinodis, with pellicle partially removed 130xvi	LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS.
FIG.	PACK
23.	Front view of pupa of Myrmica ruginodis (female) in
pellicle...............................................130
24.	Formicarium .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	137
25.	Ants rescuing a buried companion	.	.	.	.	.	147
26.	1, Wingless aphis ; 2, Aphis with rudimentary wing-, an-
tennae bent back ; 3, Winged aphis .	.	.	.	167
27.	Rose-branch with aphides...................................169
28.	1, Aphis bred from nest of F. flava (L.flavus); 2, Aphis
bred from nest of F. Jlava {L.flavus) .	.	.	172
29.	Formica sanguinea .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	179
30.	Formica rufa (the Wood-ant) .	.	.	.	.	.	179
31.	Formica sanguinea. Large worker	.	.	.	.	,	183
32-	»	>>	Male................................184
33-	„	»	Female..............................185
34.	Slave-makers returning home after a victorious expedition
on Shirley Common......................................188
35.	Section of nest of Formica rufa............................218
36. Nest of Formica exsecta, Boscombe, near Bournemouth ..	221
37. Nest of Formica vireicens (CEcophylla) on mango-tree	.	226
38.	Formica virescens, larger worker {CEcophylla) .	.	227
39.	Umbrella ant. Male.........................................228
40.	,,	,, Female........................................229
41.	Driver ant.................................................232
42.	The white ant (Termes bellicosus)..........................237
43.	Nests of white ants.......................................  240ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
“A LITTLE PEOPLE,” BUT “ EXCEEDING WISE.”
CHAPTER I.
The Interest that clings to the Study of Ants—Their Classical Associa-
tion—Their Biographer of the last Century—Their Prehistoric
Origin—Their Connection with Amber—The Ancestry of the White
Ant—The Formation of Amber—Dr. Livingstone and Sir John Kirk
on the Copal Gum of Africa—The Kauri Gum of New Zealand—
The Fossil Resin of Galicia.
An entrancing charm undoubtedly clings to the
marvellous history of ants, most appositely desig-
nated by the inspired naturalist as “ a little people,”
but “ exceeding wise.” From the time of Solomon
to the present the movements and economy of this
lilliputian race have awakened in the observant mind
feelings of the deepest interest, well-merited respect,
and unfeigned astonishment. Whether it be in the
record of revealed truth, in the chronicles of heathen
mythology, in the pages of historians, in the songs of
poets, in the enchanted ground of elf-land, amid
the graphic records of travellers' experiences, in the
letter-press of the British essayists, between the
B2
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
attractive covers of serials and periodicals, in the
columns of newspapers, in the archives of govern-
ments, in the popular literature on natural history, in
the more systematic registration of the wonders of
natural science, and in the faithful observation and
patient investigations of the diligent student of
physical phenomena, the power of their influence is
felt, and the marvel of their presence is realised.
Would the classic Jove accede to the petition of
iEacus, king of CEnopia, to re-people his kingdom,
which had been depopulated by a pestilence, with a
thrifty, industrious, and valiant race ? According to
his expressed desire, we learn from the Metamorphoses
of Ovid, the ants in an old oak-tree were changed
into men, called by their monarch, myrmidons, from
Awp/irjj;, a Greek word signifying an ant. According
to Strabo, however, “ they received their name from
their industry, because they imitated the diligence of
the ants, being continually employed in cultivating
the earth, at first having no other retreat than dens,
and the cavities of trees, until ^Eacus brought them
together and settled them in more commodious
habitations.”
Gould,1 the biographer of those races of the little
people inhabiting our island-home, who published the
results of his careful observations about one hundred
and thirty years ago, when little more than one-
seventh of the species of the ants now recognised as
British were discovered and distinguished, thinks that
the warlike myrmidons must have been descended
from the red ants, because of their sting. In contra-
1 An Account of English Ants, by the Rev. William Gould, A.M.,
of Exeter College, Oxon., Lond. 1747.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
3
distinction to this opinion of the worthy ant-chronicler,
I would, suggest that since the ancestors of the
myrmidons were black, and inhabited the oak-tree,
the beautiful and fragrant jet-ant, Formica fuliginosa
(Lasiusfuliginosus), which as a rule forms its corridors
and apartments in the heart of forest trees, must have
been the progenitors of the loyal subjects of ^Eacus.
I should add that, in 1862, I myself saw a strong
colony of this brilliant ant inhabiting an oak-
tree on Hampstead Heath, and I captured many
specimens.
The history of the little people dates far back into
geological time, long before into man's nostrils was
breathed the breath of life. It is noteworthy that in
the tertiary formations of CEningen and Radoboj, no
less than eighty-three distinct species of ants have
have been brought to light by the diligence of
scientific explorers.1
Many species have been found in amber. Amber,
we may well believe, originally existed in a fluid or
viscous state, having exuded from prehistoric pine-
trees, and was afterwards hardened, and, it may be,
subjected to the action of subterranean heat. Various
kinds of extraneous bodies have been discovered
entombed in this fossil gum. Insects, spiders, infu-
soria, microscopic fungi, leaves, air-bubbles, bits of
metal, grains of sand, and little stones, have been
descried in the translucent prison-house. It has been
asserted that no fewer than eight hundred species
of insects have been found in amber, some recognised
1 See memoir by Prof. O. Heer, of Zurich, Translated from the
original by R. T. Lowe, M.A. {Annals and Magazine of Nat. Hist.
for March, 1856).
B 24
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
as similar to existing species, but mostly belonging
to extinct genera.1
I have seen a piece of amber in which I noticed a
party of the little people to the number of the mystic
seven, and so transparent were the walls of their
ancient prison-house that the form, the colour, the
attitude of the little creatures were distinctly visible,
and so beautifully had they been preserved by nature's
unerring and skilful agency, that you could fancy
that they had been incarcerated but the day before,
instead of having been placed under durance and
cast into their crystal prison myriads of years ago
by the irresistible force of gravity, which would
cause the sluggish rill of amber-resin to trickle down
the gigantic stems of ancient pine-trees which once,
it may be, formed part of the forest which now
slumbers beneath the Baltic wave. The trans-
lucent topaz-coloured stream, thus influenced by
gravitation, would roll gently down the prehistoric
coniferous trunks, up and down which the adven-
turous and antique little people would be seeking
recreation and sustenance, as is their wont in these
latter days; would arrest their progress, and secure
them before they would be able to escape, and, ere
they could extricate themselves from their inevitable
entanglement, would hermetically seal them and
embalm them for posterity in a crystal tomb.
Further, these little people erected their marvellous
habitations according to accurate architectural rule;
formed their subterranean corridors and tunnels upon
principles as true as the most intelligent engineering
skill could dictate ; ordered their households and
1 The Medals of Creation, by Dr. Mantell, vol. i. p. 182.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.

trained up their young in the way they should go, so
that the end of their being should be satisfied ; carried
out their principles of industry, prudence, cleanliness,
and forethought according to the all-wise direction of
their unfailing instincts ; marching and counter-march-
ing with never-flagging energy, fulfilling the while
their allotted task in the great Creator’s plan with
unerring precision and untiring perseverance, amid
the sombre shades of the primeval forests of the
tertiary geological epochs, until the amber-weeping
trees which had ministered to their sustenance had
become their destruction, and their preservation too,
when, washed out of the ocean bed by the tempest-
tossed wave, they are brought to light in their trans-
parent caskets, and are secured either by the fisher’s
net or the eager hand of the sea-shore wanderer, after
a mighty storm has compelled the restless waters to
cast up their treasure.
Amber is principally found on the shores of the
Baltic, between Memel and Konigsberg. It is also
met with in Sicily between Catania and Semito, in
Greenland, China, France, Italy, Spain, England, and
Ireland. In the last week of August and at the begin-
ning of September, 1882, I picked up, on the beach
at Walmer, many specimens of various hues, from pale
lemon or straw-colour to a rich hyacinth-red. I also
gained possession of other very fine specimens of this
beautiful fossil-resin from the Deal fishermen ; in one
piece I discovered an interesting species of gnat.
One ancient mariner assured me that he used the
amber for fuel, and that it burnt with a bright flame
and that he had often seen insects in it.
While calling attention to the ancestry of the little6
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
people, I should mention that the Termes also (com-
monly called the “ white ant ” because of the con-
stitution of its colony, its habits and economy being
strikingly similar to those of the true ant, though it
belongs to a distinct class in the insect world) has a
still more ancient ancestral history. In my cor-
respondence with Mr. Frederick Smith, a great
authority on the subject of the present work, and
to whose unwearied kindness in forwarding my in-
vestigations into the constitution and marvels of the
ant-world, I again bear my cordial testimony, I find
the following intelligence, “ Termites are found in a
fossil state in many parts of Europe, and they have
been found in England also, in coal-beds. Then,
again, they are found in amber.” The fossil species
found in England is named Termes grandcevus. It is,
therefore, an indisputable fact that the “ white ants/’
lived before the beautiful oolitic Cotswolds were up-
reared, and when the coal which we use for our com-
fort and convenience was not yet formed, but when
the mighty vegetable growth to which it owed its
origin fringed the extensive inland seas of the carboni-
ferous era, and was doubtless in a measure laid low
through the destructive agency of this little people.
There is a class of theorists on the nature and
formation of amber who maintain that it is an animal
substance similar to bee’s-wax, and secreted by a
peculiar kind of ant inhabiting pine forests. The
error—which it manifestly is—may have arisen from
the fact that bits of a resinous substance similar in
appearance to amber, and which has been distilled
from fir-trees, are sometimes found in the nests of
those ants who forage up and down the pine-trunks.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
7
For instance, the Formica rufa> or the hill-ant, so-
called from the heap of little sticks and pine-needles
it collects together, in order to roof in its many-
chambered and extensive habitations, and sometimes
known as the wood-ant, because it as a rule dwells
in aromatic pine woods, is generally found exploring
the bark of the Scotch firs in its neighbourhood. We
can readily understand that when it encounters any
of these resinous exudations on the point of being
detached from the bark, or in its voyage of discovery
to and from the nest meets with a transparent tear
of resin just fallen to the ground, it secures the prize,
and either alone, or assisted by a willing comrade,
conveys it to its nest. This it does, not, I believe,
for the purpose of food, for which it would not be
adapted, but for use or ornamentation in the con-
struction of its wondrous habitation. In India I
have learnt that the ants’ nests erected near the
coast are ornamented with garnets, which glitter in
the sand that forms the bounds of the sea. I have
discovered ninety-four pieces of a hardened resinous
substance, some of which are very similar to amber
both in consistency and colour, in a nest of the wood-
ant at Weybridge. In one bright, translucent, amber-
coloured globule there appears to be an air-bubble,
and in another a small fragment of a pine-needle.
In Livingstone’s last journals, the great explorer
describes the exudation of gum from the copal-tree
in Africa, and as it falls to the ground encountering
and overwhelming the passing insect, which may re-
mind us of the phenomenon of the formation of
amber, which the encased pine-needle also surely
illustrates.8
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
On this subject, in answer to a communication from
me, Sir John Kirk, M.D., H.M. Consul at Zanzibar,
thus writes, “ As to amber, it is not found in East
Africa ; but I think that chemically it could be easily
distinguished from other resins, as also it might be
probably by its electrical qualities. All anime comes
from East Africa, where it is called copal—I have
given a series of notes upon its origin in the Pro-
ceedings of the Linnean Society—it is the produce
of Trachylobium hernemanicum, but the trees that
yielded the anime are dead, the resin has acquired
its qualities by ages under ground, for the modern
resin differs, although the produce of the same tree.
You will see a good series of copal (anime) in the
Museum at Kew, they were given by me to that
institution.”
With reference to his own private collection of the
resin he says, “ in it are many ants,” and some of the
specimens containing the little people he assures me
are “ very -beautiful.” “ It is now,” he continues,
“ almost impossible to procure specimens with in-
sects, in Zanzibar, they are picked up and shipped
to London, so that on the spot my men cannot get
them.”
As the copal-tree in Africa, so the Kauri-tree in
New Zealand, affords a pleasing illustration of the
formation of amber, and the incarceration of its
captives in their transparent environment. The Rev.
T. S. Grace, an able Missionary from New Zealand,
recently told me that he had seen the gum from the
Kauri-tree frequently containing insects.
At Walmer I came across the landlord of a small
inn who had been many years in New Zealand, andANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
9
he showed me a magnificent specimen of Kauri
gum. It was very like the straw-coloured amber I
found on the beach. It was as transparent as glass,
and measured n| inches by ioj inches. It was dug
up from the ground, and nowhere near a Kauri-tree.
This, tree, I was informed, is most valued by the
natives as timber. Those trees from which the gum
exudes are found beautifully mottled, like the maple,
when felled, cut and fashioned by the skilled artisan
for use or ornament. I have recently acquired pos-
session of a fine specimen of a fossil resin from
Galicia, of a light brown colour, through the trans-
parent sides of which I can trace many insect
organisms, and one ant of a dark brown colour, with
a reddish tinge, in a beautiful state of preservation.CHAPTER II.
Morning Walk to Blackheath—First Sight of the Little People at Home
—Representatives of two Tribes under one Roof—Ancient Names
for the Ant—Many Species found under Stones.
The lines of my first discoveries in the ant
world radiated from London, and I would urge the
reader to accompany me in imagination to the
pleasant neighbourhood of Blackheath, and enjoy a
healthful ramble through sunny field and sombre
wood. The morning air is invigorating and exhila-
rating. It is in the month of January, 1861. The
bitter frost is gone; the pools, however, are still
ice-bound, and the rivulet, gathering strength from
melting snow, gurgles through the meadows, for
Nature, smiling, is for a while casting aside her
wintry garments. The welcome sun shines gloriously,
and wakens into songs of gladness the feathered
warblers in the leafless hedges. The hare bounds
gracefully across our path; the frightened game
flutters with the well-known scream from woodland
cover. The sunlight reveals lichens and mosses
creeping over the gnarled trunks and bare arms of
British oaks. The fungi, too, we notice, helping toANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
i
adorn and beautify ; and see how beneath the gentlest
pressure their blossom goes up as golden dust. We
very soon come upon an extensive colony of the little
people I am in search of, and not one colony, but
many ; a raised turf-mound indicating the position of
each colony. Spade in hand we enter several of their
sloping grassy habitations, in which we find them
safely sheltered.
The teeming population is rather drowsy, for it
must be borne in mind that the little people gene-
rally sleep throughout the winter months. Our vio-
lent and unceremonious entrance, and, to them, our
violent and unaccountable attack, together with the
sudden exposure in consequence to the life-giving
energy of the sun’s cheerful rays, cause them to start
up and look about them, thinking and hoping
perchance that all is a dream ; but no ! all is reality;
the attack is repeated, and both themselves and their
winter quarters are removed by means of what to them
would appear a lever of curious shape and monstrous
size. Some being crushed the while, dismay spreads
throughout the colony; not a few run hither and
thither to ascertain the cause of the fatal intrusion
upon their privacy. They gaze in wonder at the two
grim giants working the implement of aggression,
terror-stricken, they seize their tender offspring in
their arms, and endeavour to carry them out of harm’s
way. The efforts of the many are, however, unavail-
ing ; they are safely captured, taken prisoners, and,
together with their young, their farm stock, and the
many chambers of their curiously-fashioned domicile,
placed in a receptacle with which we had provided
ourselves. These colonists, numbered by hundreds if12
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
not by thousands, with their countless little ones, their
cattle, and the corridors, the saloons, the dormitories,
and the nurseries of their well-appointed, marvellously-
constructed messuage, were, on my return from my
successful raid, deposited for the sake of observation
in a glass vessel, not twelve inches in diameter and in
depth. The assertion of Solomon is thus amply
vindicated, that the subjects of our contemplation are
a little, a very little people.
To make, however, assurance doubly sure, let us
take two in our hands and examine them. Our
surprise is awakened when we find that they differ
in colour—one being yellow and the other red. Care-
ful investigation assures us that they are represent-
atives of two distinct tribes of the little people, the
yellow far outnumbering the red, and though we find
them both living amicably under the same roof, yet
occupying distinct though adjoining tenements, with
separate apartments, entrances, and establishments.
They do not always live thus in friendly juxtaposition ;
far oftener apart. I have found them occupying the
same hillocks on the glebe land, Stonehouse. The
name of the yellow ant is Formica flava} and of the
red, Myrmica scabrinodis. Both species are common.
The mounds of the Flava may frequently be noticed
in meadows, on the sides of railway cuttings and
embankments, and on the grassy slopes and summits
of hills, where I have often seen them adorned with
the sweet perfumed thyme.
An ancient name for an ant is Pismire. Shake-
1 According to Smith. Saunders, in his Synopsis, following
Fabricius, calls it Lasius Jlavus; the genus Lasius answering to
Smith’s second division of Formica.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
13
speare, in King Henry IV., puts these words in the
mouth of Hotspur :
“ Why, lcok you, I am whipp’d and scourg’d with rods,
Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear of ... .
Bolingbroke. ”
Pismire, I understand, is a Danish word, from puid
and myre, signifying such ants as live in hillocks.
The common name, however, for ant is Emmet.
When exploring in the neighbourhood of Stonehouse,
I came across a Gloucestershire peasant lad, and
interrogated him as to his knowledge of ants. He
had never heard of them. I then showed him some
of the little people who had formed their habitation
in a hillock in the very meadow where he was tending
his cattle. He exdaimed, evidently recognising them
as old friends, “ They be emmets ; I’ve seen them
running up and down yon bank.” Emmet is derived
from the Saxon cemet, cemette, and so ant, and
signifies those that live under stones and old ruins,
since, instead of raising hillocks and constructing their
houses in and beneath them, so that, in consequence
of the sloping sides of their turf-covered roof, the rain
of heaven falls away, and they themselves are kept
dry, they oftentimes arrange their homes beneath the
shelter of old walls and stones, which of course answer
equally as well the desired end.
At the foot of one of the slopes of Stinchcombe
Hill, in the autumn of 1876, I found a colony of
Myrmica scabrinodis under almost every stone I saw,
and there were many scattered over the greensward ;
and in company with one colony I discovered two
specimens of a very rare ant, which I had never found14
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
before. The following year, when investigating the
same interesting ground with my elder son, I came
upon a strong and independent colony of this same
rare ant. My young companion having turned over
a stone, called out, “ Here are some black ants ! ” and
to my surprise and pleasure, there were disclosed
several passages lined with these little colonists, the
light reflected from their polished bodies giving them
the appearance of so many black beads. The name
of this ant is Myrmecina Latreillii, and it possesses
the singular instinct of feigning death on being
touched. Strange to say, I found one of this rare
species in 1879 in a ripe strawberry in my garden.
I should mention that within a radius of about six
miles from Stonehouse I have discovered no less than
nine distinct species of ants living under stones, bear-
ing the following names : Formica nigra,, Formica
fuscay Formica flava, Formica aliena,* Formica cuni-
cularia, Myrmica scabrinodis, Myrmica Icevinodis,
Myrmica ruginodis, and Myrmecina Latreillii.
As I have found Formica flava2 and Myrmica
scabrinodis residing in different parts of the same
hillock, so I have found them peacefully located under
the same stone near Stonehouse, and also in the
charming neighbourhood of Lynmouth and Minehead,
the different species, however, maintaining perfectly
distinct establishments under the common roof.
When dislodging the stone and disturbing the two
colonies, the two species, pouring out of their respec-
tive chambers to ascertain the cause of the disturb-
1	According to Smith. Saunders gives these as Lasius niger, Lasius
flavus, and Lasius alienus.
2	Or Lasius Jlavus.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
15
ance, have not unfrequently come into contact, and a
desperate conflict has ensued, the unhappy conse-
quence, possibly, of a misunderstanding having sprung
up as to the occasion of their discomfort, and each
attributing it to the unwarrantable interference of its
near neighbour.CHAPTER III.
The Ants a Little People—Examination of the Head of Myrmica
scabrinodis—Its Antenna? and those of other Species—The Eyes of
Ants—Blind Ants—The Ecitons of the Amazon Valley, and the
Driver Ants of Africa—The Special Functions of the Compound
and Simple Eyes—The Experiments of Sir John Lubbock as to the
effect of Light and Colour on the Vision of Ants—The Conditions
under which they were made and the Assumption on which they
are founded considered—Artificial Formicaria, and how their
Construction affects such Experiments—The Author’s Formicaria,
and how they are adapted for securing trustworthy Results—Ants
do not dislike the Light, but welcome it as necessary to their well-
being—A Record of the Author’s Observations bearing upon the
Subject—Ants are attracted by the Light because of the Heat with
which it is associated.
To proceed to a more detailed examination of these
two representative species. There is now before us
a specimen of the red ant (M. scabrinodis). It is
larger than the yellow (F. Jlava), and yet we find
it to be only about two lines, or one-sixth of an inch,
in length. A little people, therefore, our friends the
ants surely are, for it should be observed that there
are British species less than a line in length,1 none
1 Myrmica (.Diplorhoptrum) fugax and Myrmica domestica [Diplor-
hoptrum domesticum). According to Saunders’ Synopsis, the genus of
the former is Solenopsisi following Westwood, and though the latter is
said to belong to the same division by reason of certain characteristics,
Mr. Saunders identifies it with the Monomorium Fharaonis of Linnaeus.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
17
exceeding eight lines, and throughout the whole ant
world we find very few which are longer than one
inch.1
The head of the specimen we find to be of an
oval form, slightly heart-shaped where it joins on
to the slender throat. There is an eye on each side
of the head. The eyes are very far apart, and where,
judging from our own physiognomy, we should expect
to find ears; and holding the position of our eyes,
Fig. i.—at, Myrmica. scabrinodis,	Fig. 2.—bi, Formica flava (Lasius
magnified; #2, natural size.	Jlavus); bo., natural size.
or rather nearer the mouth, we find a pair of long
jointed horns, or feelers, fixed into little sockets not
far from each other, each 'horn consisting of two
parts, that nearer the head being the shorter; the
other, which is much longer, having, as a rule, eleven
divisions, fitting into each other like little cups, and
1 The extraordinary size of the imprisoned queen of the white ant,
which sometimes is found to measure six inches or more, does not
invalidate this statement, since it is an abnormal development.
C18
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
looking like a string of polished beads, the last three
joints being formed into a club. These antennae, as
they are called, can be moved in any direction at the
will of their little owner. They do not in any way
hinder sight, since they are placed inside the organs
of vision. The shorter part of the antennae, which
is undivided, is called the scape, while the divided
limb is called the flagellum. In the M. scabrinodis
the scape of the antennae is not
attenuated at its base, but abruptly
elbowed, and forming an acute
angular lobe. It is a marked
characteristic of this species, and
clearly distinguishes it from the
two allied species, the Myrmica
ruginodis and Myrmica Icevinodis.
The rare ant, Myrmecina Latreillii,
has also an elbowed scape, but it is
smaller, and of a black colour,
with the antennae and legs only
reddish. There is another very rare
species of Myrmica similar to the
three before mentioned, but of a darker colour, and
can be readily distinguished by the presence of a
little horn on the scape, and hence has received the
specific name of Lobicornis. This I have found on
Shirley Common, near Croydon, and also on Brendon
Common, on the borders of Exmoor, the haunts of
the red deer. In 1878 I discovered in the last-named
locality an independent colony under a stone, and in
1880 another in North Wales within sound of the
pleasant music of the Aber Waterfall.
If we examine the eyes above referred to under aANTS AND THEIR . WA VS.
19
microscope, we find that the cornea, or outer surface,
is formed of a fine network of lenses similar in
arrangement to the hexagonal cells, of the honey-
comb. The eyes are immovable, hence the number
of lenses, answering to as many eyes, to enable the
little people to see in as many directions. And not
only cannot they, as we, turn their eyes hither and
thither, but they do not possess the power we enjoy
of altering the form of the lens so as to adapt the
sight to meet the object of vision ; the cornea and
optic nerve being always at the same distance, they are
unable, therefore, to see near objects ; hence, I believe,
with others, one of the reasons why they are furnished
Fig. 4.—Portion of eye of ant (compound cornea), highly magnified.
with the sensitive and delicate antennae is, that they
may, like a blind man with a stick, feel where they
are unable to see.
Fig. 4 is a section of the compound eye of Tetra-
morium Kollari, a very rare ant, which I have found
numerously represented in a hothouse at Stroud. It
has been brought to me from the neighbouring parish
of Eastington, also from a hothouse.
As a rule ants have a compound eye on each side
of their head, and three simple eyes called Ocelli or
Stemmata, on the vertex or summit of the head.
The number of facets of the lateral compound eyes
varies in the different species, and in the sexes of the
C 220
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
same species ; and in some species both the compound
and simple eyes are wanting. The males have
generally the largest number of facets to their
compound eyes, the females come next in order, and
the workers have fewest.
Thus, according to Forel,1 the male of Formica
pratensis, a species not found in Britain, has about
1,200, the female 830, and the worker nearly 600. In
Tapinoma erratica, a species I have found at Bourne-
mouth, Shirley Common, and East Lulworth, the
male has about 400, the female 260, and the worker
100. In Myrmica or Solenopsis fugax—which had been
discovered in England only at Southend and Deal,
by Mr. F. Smith, until last Easter, when a colony of this
very rare ant was met with under a stone near Sandown,
Isle of Wight, by Mr. W. W. Fowler, of Lincoln—
the male has more than 400, the female about 200,
and the worker from 6 to 9. In Ponera contracta and
Ponera punctatissima, both found in England and very
rare, the latter discovered by myself in a hothouse
of Mrs. Frith, Highlands, Minchinhampton, the female
has from 100 to 150, the worker from 1 to 5. In
the small worker the eye appears to me to be
obsolete.
In some species two kinds of workers are found*
the large and the small. In Aphcenogaster barbara,
the harvesting ant, we find the large worker to possess
about 230 facets in its compound eyes, and the small
between 80 and 90. In Camponotus ligniperdus the
large worker has nearly 500, and the smaller about
450; neither of these species is found in Britain.
1 Les Fourmis de la Suisse, par Auguste Forel, M.D., Geneve, 1874,
pp. 117, 118.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
According to Mr. Bates,1 among the foraging ants,
or Ecitons, of the Amazon Valley, are found species
which have no eyes of the faceted structure, but have
eyes composed of a single lens, such as Eciton legionis,
Eciton drepanophora. Another species, Eciton crassi-
cornis, has eyes sunk in deep sockets. This ant
attacks the nests of other stinging species (Myrmicd),
and always avoids the light, concealing itself under
leaves and prostrate timber, and, in the open,
marches in secret beneath covered arcades which it
forms as it goes along. The Eciton vastator has no
eyes, but the collapsed sockets mark the position
they should occupy; and in the Eciton erratica the
sockets are wanting as well as the eyes. These
both march under covered ways of their own con-
struction, which they form rapidly as they advance
through the thickets of their hunting-ground.
In the driver ants of Africa, no eyes can be dis-
covered ; they seem to have no settled dwelling-place,
and are always on the march, searching houses for
their prey, and crossing streams by forming floating
or suspension bridges of their own bodies, and must
be guided in their movements entirely by scent. I
suspect this is the case in a great measure with all
ants. Their vision seems very imperfect, and their
sense of smell most acute. I have interrupted the
course of an ant with a burden in its mandibles,
removing the burden but a short distance, and the
ant has had the greatest difficulty in finding its lost
treasure, though no obstacle intervened to hide it from
view.
1 See The Naturalist on the River Amazons, by H. W. Bates, F.L.S.,
PP- 35*. 359-22
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
The special functions of the compound and simple
eyes it is somewhat difficult to determine. I am of
opinion that the faceted eyes are of service only for
near objects, and the ocelli for long distances and for the
guidance of the males and females of the little people
when on the wing in the pleasant sunbeams. This
conclusion is strengthened by the fact that it is the
winged sexes which are furnished with ocelli, when the
workers of the same species have them either very
minute or obsolete. In the Formica jlava (Lasius
Jlavus), they are very minute. In the family Myrmicidce,
they are wanting in the workers of the different
genera and species, but present in the males and
females. In the solitary species (genus Mutilla), which
consists of two sexes, males and females, the males
have ample wings and are furnished with ocelli, and
the females are without wings and have no ocelli.
It thus appears to my mind conclusive that we have
discovered the true function of the ocelli. This con-
clusion is confirmed by an experiment of Reaumur
upon a bee. Bees also are furnished with ocelli, and
to test their function, Reaumur, according to Shuckard,
“ covered them with a very adhesive varnish, which
the bee could not remove, and then he let it escape.
He found upon several repeated trials that the insect
flew perpendicularly upward and was lost.”1 It thus
seems to be established that the bee in losing the
vision of the ocelli, lost with it all power of control
in flight, and all sense of distance and direction.
This seems to be a fitting opportunity for glancing
at Sir John Lubbock's beautiful experiments and
1 See British Bees, by W. E. Shuckard, p. 27.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
23
unwearied investigations as to the effect of light and
colour on the vision of ants. I would suggest, how-
ever, that his observations might possibly have been
affected by the conditions under which they were
made, and by the assumption on which they are
founded. These conditions appear to have been
somewhat abnormal, and the assumption to demand
a certain degree of qualification.
In order to arrive at a just conclusion, and to draw
a correct inference, in a study of the habits of ants, it
is absolutely necessary, I think, that their circum-
stances and surroundings should be, as far as possible,
those of nature. The artificial formicarium should be
of sufficient dimensions to ensure to the little people
perfect freedom of action, and enable them to meet
the demands of their economy, and obey the
promptings of their instincts with precision.
“ After trying various plans/' writes the accomplished
baronet, “ I found the most convenient method was to
keep them in nests consisting of two plates of common
window glass, about ten inches square, and at a distance
apart of from one-tenth to one-fourth of an inch (in
fact, just sufficiently deep to allow the ants freedom of
motion), with slips of wood round the edges, the
intermediate space being filled up with fine earth. If
the interval between the glass plates was too great,
the ants were partly hidden by the earth ; but when
the distance between the plates of glass was properly
regulated with reference to the size of the ants, they
were open to close observation, and had no op-
portunity of concealing themselves. Ants, however,
very much dislike light in their nests, probably
because it makes them think themselves insecure,24
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
and I always, therefore, kept the nest covered over,
except when under actual observation.”
Such an arrangement as this, although convenient
for observing many of their movements, would evidently
affect conclusions or inferences drawn from experiments
as to the effects of light and colour upon their highly
sensitive organisation. For the ingeniously-constructed
formicaria, instead of constituting nests or domiciles
agreeing with the normal type, containing many
storeys, and in each storey many chambers and many
connecting corridors, are in point of fact only delicate
sections of one story of the Formic Castle. That
the ants under such conditions would have no oppor-
tunity of concealing themselves I can well believe;
but why should their liberty in this respect be so
restricted ? In order that their movements and their
performances may be registered, as the faithful ex-
pressions of the exercise of their unfailing instincts,
they should be perfectly free to act in any direction
and in any manner that the suggestions of their
nature may dictate.
For this reason I prefer providing my little friends
with sufficient material, and with ample space in my
artificial formicaria, so that they may be able to
construct their chambers and passages in accordance
with natural dimensions. A bell-glass inverted and
free to revolve in a firm stand, I find most suitable for
the purpose of observation, the size of the vessel
varying according to the exigencies of the species.
The habits of the species are my guide in this matter ;
eg. Myrmecina Latriellii requires a much smaller
vessel than Formica Jlava (Lasius flavus). Enough
of the contents of a nest should be removed andANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
25
transferred to the vessel to occupy about half of its
available space. A cover either of baize or brown paper
should be placed over the sides of the glass so as to con-
ceal the contained earth, and to allow the light to filter
only through the surface, so that the ants may be thus
induced to work against the transparent sides of the
formicarium. The darkness occasioned by the screen
leads them to believe that they are working under-
ground, at certain distances from the surface, and thus
induces them to construct many tiers of chambers
and connecting corridors within the range of practical
observation. This we may judge to our satisfaction
when, after a few days, the screen is withdrawn for a
short season, and the marvels of the constructive
instinct of the little people revealed to our wondering
gaze.
The assumption upon which the observations of Sir
John Lubbock are founded, viz., that the ants very
much dislike the light, must be accepted with a certain
degree of qualification. That they prefer working
underground is certainly true, and that they construct
their chambers and passages out of sight is clearly
established, and that they will not work against the
sides of the bell-glass if exposed to the light, is un-
doubted fact. But it is not, I believe, because they
dislike the light, but because, for sanitary, educational,
and protective reasons, it is necessary that their many
chambers should be arranged at certain depths below
the surface, and therefore at varying distances from
the light of day.
Such an arrangement is demanded, to be more
explicit, in order to promote the health of the colony,
to provide a safe retreat in case of heavy rains or26
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
other violent causes of disturbance, to forward the
development of their young, which are very sensitive
to changes and degrees of temperature, and to make
preparation for their own hybernation, and in some
instances also that of the autumn brood.
The different species of the little people pass the
winter months in suitable chambers many inches below
the surface, and in two instances the larvae hatched
out in the late autumn, as far as I have been able to
ascertain, viz. those of Formica flava (Lasius flavus), a
fact generally known, and also, as I have recently
discovered, the larvae also of Myrmica lozvinodis.
Now to go a step further, so far from manifesting a
dislike to light and avoiding it, ants are attracted by
it, and cannot live without it, since the heat with
which it is associated is necessary for their preserva-
tion, their increase, their health and wealth. This I
have discovered by an extensive series of experiments
—I may say by hundreds of observations made as
far back as the year 1861, during the four months of
March, April, May, and June.
I have noticed that when the light of the candle is
introduced into the nest through the glass sides of an
artificial formicarium, the ants, instead of shunning it,
gladly welcome it, crowd the chambers and passages
illuminated, and bring forward their pupae and larvae
to benefit by its pleasant warmth, to which they are
keenly and intensely sensitive.
Take a few illustrations from my record of obser-
vations. On March 22, 1861, I examined a formi-
carium which I had established at my lodgings in
Fleet Street in the immediate vicinity of old Temple
Bar. The formicarium contained a colony of FormicaANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
27
flava (Lasius flavus). The ants had formed many
tiers of chambers with connecting passages against
the glass. I removed the screen, and with the light
of a candle I illuminated the chamber at 11 P.M. In
one upper chamber, marked (A), I found six cocoons;
one cocoon was being moved downwards by a worker ;
the light, however, checked the downward movement
of the nurse, which gradually brought it back through
the intricate windings of the passages until it reached
the nursery, where it deposited its precious charge,
thus making seven in the illuminated chamber. In
ten minutes two more cocoons had been added.
On March 28, 10.20 P.M., on removing the screen
I found that there were no larvae or pupae in any
chamber. I brought a candle to bear directly on
chamber (A), and the ants began to show activity and
collect in this upper chamber. At 10.45 one cocoon
was carried into (A) by a willing nurse. At 11.50
this cocoon was deposited in (A) in care of two nurses.
April 1st—at 7.15 A.M. The sky being overcast, I
noticed one cocoon in chamber (7), and one in chamber
(8). At 10.35 A.M. The rain is falling:
1	pupa1 in chamber (5)
2	pupae in
1	pupa in
3	pupae in
3 pupae in
2	pupae in
(7)
(8)
(o)
(A)
(B)
On this same day I took the formicarium about
noon in a cab from Fleet Street to Paddington. I
examined it at 12.30 ; I found the passage marked (X)
1 All the pupae referred to in these experiments were inclosed in
cocoons, as they belonged to Formica flava (.Lasius flavus).28
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
nearly obliterated by the journey, and no pupae were
visible in any of the chambers. I then placed a light
near the glass, exactly opposite chamber (B). At
12.45 two pupae were brought into (B).
At 12.50 there were 5 pupae in (B)
At	1.0	,,	,,	11	,,	,,
At	I»30	)>	>y	24	>>	f y
and five pupae in chamber (g). Red ants, Myrmica
scabrinodis, clustered in chamber (K). At 1.30 another
Fig. 5.—The Author’s Formicarium (front view).
A, B, £■, K, 0, chambers; T, stump ; a and b, narrow strip of paper as a guide to
observation; W, encircling trench with water in which the vase and stand are
placed.
pupa brought up to (B). Light removed. At 2.15 I
found eleven pupae in (B). I observed another pupa
brought up to (B), so making twelve pupae. No pupae
in chamber (g).
At 2.15 only one or two red ants in (K).
At 2.45 a larva in chamber (Z), in possession of aANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
29
nurse, who handed it over to another, who disappeared
with it.
At 4.55 I noticed that all the pupae had been re-
moved from chambers (B) and (§*), and that the
passage (X) had been repaired. I observed how the
labourers dug with their feet, and then removed the
earth with their mandibles.
Z, 4, 5, 7, 8, chambers; X, passage; T, stump ; a and b. narrow strip of paper as
a guide to observation; W, encircling trench with water in which the vase and
stand are placed.
I again applied the light. At 5.17 there were
forty-two pupae in (B) and four pupae in (A). The
candle was now removed.
At 6.20 I took the formicarium in a cab to a lecture
I had to deliver, and at 7.30 I uncovered the bell-
glass—there were now no pupae visible and but very
few ants. I applied the light towards the close of my30
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
lecture at 9.15, and at 9.30 numbers of ants put in an
appearance, and there were many pupae in the upper
chambers. The nurses were busily occupied in carry-
ing their youthful charges into the upper chambers.
A working-man told me, after the lecture, that his
father often hung up things to a beam in a hothouse
to tempt the ants, eg. a melon. The ants were some
time before they discovered the prize, but the first to
find it always went back to inform the others, when
they came in large numbers to enjoy the fruit. The
hardy son of toil added, “ So it appears the ants are
not selfish.,,
I then returned to Fleet Street. It was now past
midnight—12.15. I examined the formicarium ; only
one pupa was visible in a passage very low down. The
passage (X) I found in a great measure obliterated
again. At 12.17 there were no pupae visible.
At 8.30 the next morning, April 2, there was rain.
I uncovered the glass.
At 9.50 I noticed that two pupae were carried up
and disappeared in (A).
The red ants gathered under a stump (T) and the
black ants, Formica fusca, upon it. The yellow ants
had nearly restored their work of yesterday in (X),
which had been obliterated by the homeward journey.
At 12.55 there were twenty-two pupae in chamber
(B) cherished by the nurses. The sun was now
shining on the formicarium. At 4.0 no pupae were
visible, the formicarium being in the shade.
To prove that the ants are attracted by the light
because of the heat with which it is associated, I may
mention that when the candle was placed close to the
glass in order to illuminate the chambers of theANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
3r
formicariuniy that the glass had become warm, and
thus a temporary source of radiant heat. Upon the
withdrawal of the light the glad and willing move-
ments of the ants are not checked, but are still
directed to the chamber or chambers recently illumi-
nated, but now in comparative darkness.
I have noticed also that the chambers at that side
of the formicarimn next a fire are always sure to be
crowded by the ants, though the screen intervenes.
The screen, opaque to the luminous rays, is, as it
were, transparent to the radiant heat. When the sun
shines upon a formicariunty the ants are certain to be
attracted to the surface, and manifest signs of pleasure
and satisfaction ; and when the sunbeams fall upon the
screen which covers the sides of the glass vessel in
which the colony is established, the ants gather in
the chambers and passages beneath the illuminated
screen, bringing up with them not only the larvae and
pupae, but the eggs also, to benefit by the genial
warmth.
The observations above recorded show that ants
are attracted to the sunlight, and bring their young
beneath its influence for the sake of its warmth, in the
same way in which they are attracted by the light of
a candle placed close to the sides of the formicarium ;
the glass through its means becoming a source of
radiant heat.CHAPTER IV.
Continuation of the subject of the Effect of Light and Colour on Ants
—The Prismatic Colours possess different Powers of Illumination
and varying Degrees of Heating Power—The Invisible Rays at
each end of the Spectrum—The different Coloured Rays, as well as
the Invisible Rays, possess more or less of Chemical Action—The
significance of Mr. Busk’s suggestion that certain Colours are
avoided by the Ants because the Chemical Rays are distasteful to
them—Professor Tyndall’s Demonstration, after Melloni, of the
Diathermancy of Bisulphide of Carbon—Sir John Lubbock’s Ex-
periments with Bisulphide of Carbon and Sulphate of Quinine—His
Inference therefrom, and how far it should be modified.
Let us now see what inferences may be drawn
from the beautiful experiments of Sir John Lub-
bock. The white sunbeam, when made to pass
through a prism, is found to be composed of seven
different colours, viz. violet, indigo, blue, green,
yellow, orange, red. These differently-coloured rays
possess also different powers of illumination. Those
rays nearest the centre being more luminous than
those nearest the two sides of the spectrum. The
lightest green or deepest yellow, occupying a central
position in the seven-coloured band of light, would
manifest most intense illuminating power. The dif-
ferent colours also possess varying degrees of heating
power.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
33
This fact was discovered by the illustrious Herschel1
when viewing the sun through his telescope, which
he had darkened by glasses of many colours. He at
one time experienced a powerful heat with a feeble
light, at another, but little heat from a strong light.
The result of his careful observation led him to
conclude that the greatest heat was associated with
the red rays or just beyond them, and the least with
the violet or just beyond them.
Again, it is clearly established that, in addition to
the coloured rays which are sensible to our sight,
there are invisible rays on each end of the prismatic
spectrum ; the ultra red manifesting the greatest
amount of heat, and the ultra violet the least. But
though the latter have little heating power they
possess the more abundant measure of chemical
action. Some think that all the coloured rays
possess this attribute more or less ; the violet in the
highest degree and the red in the least. Others have
found that though it is certainly true that the greatest
chemical action is exercised just beyond the violet
ray of the prismatic spectrum, and that the spot
next in energy is occupied by the violet ray itself,
and that the property gradually diminishes as we
advance to the green, yet beyond this colour it
seems wholly wanting. Judging from the above'
considerations, we gather that “ sunbeams, in travers-
ing a coloured glass, produce similar effects to those
caused by the differently coloured portions of the
spectrum.”
With the guidance of this certain conclusion let us
now turn to the most characteristic experiments of Sir
1 See The Popular Encyclopedia, article on “ Light,” p. 465.
D34
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
John Lubbock. In a deeply interesting and in-
structive paper, read by him at the Royal Institution
of Great Britain on May 9th, 1879, kindly presented
to me by the author, he says,1 “ I procured four strips
of glass, similar, but coloured respectively green,
yellow, red, and blue, or rather violet. The yellow
was somewhat paler in shade, and that glass con-
sequently more transparent than the green, which,
again, was rather more transparent than the red or
violet. I then laid the strips of glass on one of my
nests of Formica fusca, containing about 170 ants.
Those ants, as I know by previous observations, seek
darkness, and would certainly collect under any
opaque substance. I then, after counting the ants
under each strip, moved the colours gradually at
intervals of about half an hour, so that each should by
turns cover the same portion of the nest. The results
were as follows, the numbers indicating the ap-
proximate numbers of ants under each glass (there
were sometimes a few not under any of the strips
of glass) :—
I . .	. Green.	Yellow.	Red.	Violet.
	5o	40	80	0
2 . .	. Violet.	Green.	Yellow.	Red.
	0	20	40	100
3 • •	Red.	Violet.	Green.	Yellow.
	60	0	50	So
4 . •	. Yellow.	Red.	Violet.	Green.
	50	70	1	40
5 • •	. Green.	Yellow.	Red.	Violet.
	30	30	100	I
1 See Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, vol. ix.
part ii. pp. 188-190.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
35
6 . .	Violet.	Green.	Yellow.	Red.
	0	14	5	140
7 • •	Red.	Violet.	Green.	Yellow.
	50	0	40	70
8 . .	. Yellow.	Red.	Violet.	Green.
	40	5°	1	70
9 • •	Green.	Yellow.	Red.	Violet.
	60	35	65	0
10 . .	Violet.	Green.	Yellow.	Red.
	1	5°	40	79
11 . .	Red.	Violet.	Green.	Yellow.
	50	2	50	60
12 . .	Yellow.	Red.	Violet.	Green.
	35	55	0	70
Average red over 70, green 48, yellow 45, violet
“Adding these numbers together, there were, in
the twelve observations : under the red 890, under the
green 544, under the yellow 495, and under the violet
only 5. The case of the violet glass is most marked*
To our eyes the violet was as opaque as the red,
more so than the green, and much more so than the
yellow, yet, as the numbers show, the ants had
scarcely any tendency to congregate under it. There
were nearly as many under the same area of the
uncovered portion of the nest as under that shaded by
the violet glass.
“ I also experimented in the same way with a nest
of Formica fusca, in which there were some chrysalises*
These chrysalises were generally collected into a
single heap. I used glasses coloured dark yellow,
dark green, light yellow, light green, red, violet, and
dark purple. The colours were always in the same
order, but the places were shifted after each observation*
To my eye the purple was almost black, the violet
D 236
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
and dark green very dark and almost opaque ; the
pupae could be dimly seen through the red, rather
more clearly through the dark yellow, while the light
yellow and light green were almost transparent. The
pupae were in fifteen observations six times placed
under the dark green, three under the dark yellow,
four under dark red, once each under light yellow and
light green, but not once under the violet or purple.
In another experiment the pupae were placed seven
times under the red, six under the dark yellow, never
under any of the other colours. The same experi-
ment tried with another species—Lasius rtiger—gave
very similar results, the pupae being placed in forty
experiments nineteen times under the dark yellow,
sixteen under the red, five under the green.”
"It might be alleged that the avoidance of the
violet glass by the ants was due to the chemical rays
which were transmitted. From the habits of these
insects, such an explanation was very improbable. If,
however, the preference for the other coloured glasses
to the violet was due to the transmission, and not to
the absorption of rays ; that is to say, if the ants went
under the green and red rather than the violet because
the green and red transmitted rays which were agree-
able to the ants, and which the violet glass, on the
contrary, stopped, then, if the violet was placed over
the other colours, they would become as distasteful
to the ants as the violet itself. On the contrary, how-
ever, whether the violet glass was placed over the
others or not, the ants equally readily took shelter
under them. Obviously, therefore, the ants avoid
the violet glass because they dislike the rays it
transmits.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
37
“ Mr. Busk suggested that as the red glass stops the
chemical rays more effectually than the yellow or
green, while the violet is most transparent to them,
and as the ants appear to prefer the red glass to the
yellow or green, and these, again, to the violet,
possibly the explanation might be that the chemical
rays were peculiarly distasteful to them. To test
this, therefore, I made some experiments with
fluorescent liquids, which Mr. Hanbury was kind
enough to procure for me. I poured them into shallow
glass cells about half an inch deep, which I put, as
before, over the ants. If now they were affected
mainly by the chemical rays, it must appear to them
to be dark under these solutions. This, however, was
not the case. The solutions seemed to make no
difference to them. I also tried quinine and uranium
glass with the same effect. I conclude, therefore, that
the ants are affected by the true light rays. It is
obvious that these facts suggest a number of interest-
ing inferences. I must, however, repeat the observa-
tions and make others; but we may at least, I think,
conclude from the preceding that (i) ants have the
power of distinguishing colour; (2) that, they are
sensitive to violet light; and it would also seem (3)
that their sensations of colour must be very different
from those produced upon us.”
That ants are very sensitive to violet light is
evident; that they have the power of distinguishing
colour is quite possible, though the natural inference
from the above experiments is, I think, that they are
delicately appreciative of the different degrees of
heat associated with the various colours, and avoid the
violet because of the small measure of heat it transmits,33
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
as well as on account of the chemical action which it
excites.
The significance of the fact pointed out by Mr. Busk,
that the reason why the ants avoid the violet and prefer
the red to either the yellow or the green, may possibly
be due to the influence of the chemical rays, is worthy
of our careful consideration. Sir John Lubbock’s ex-
periments with fluorescent fluids are not, to my mind,
conclusive as to their not being affected by the
chemical rays. Since we have seen by abundant
observation that ants do not invariably avoid the
light when they have an opportunity of sheltering
themselves in darkness, but are guided in their
mysterious movement by varying circumstances.
And, so far from expecting them not to be
affected by the chemical rays, I should readily
anticipate their sensitiveness to chemical action on
account of the formic acid which they secrete and
discharge with such facility.
We may, however, add with the learned baronet,
“ Though it is, then, very sufficiently evident that ants
are differently affected by different colours, it by no
means follows that they should see them as we do.
It is, indeed, most remarkable how little we yet know
with reference to their real nature, or how nature
herself appears to them. What actual impressions do
colours give them ? What are the limits of their
vision ? How far and how distinctly can they see ? ”
Sir John Lubbock, in his recent volume,1 illustrates
this attractive subject most charmingly. He watches
the intelligent movements of the ants with their
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S.,
Lond. 1882.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS,	39
precious charges, in the prismatic spectrum thrown upon
their nest by the electric light, and through coloured
glasses and solutions illuminated by the diffused
light of summer, the full blaze of the cloudless sun,
the violet rays of the magnesium light, and the yellow
glow of sodium. He makes it clearly manifest that
as the ants are sensitive to violet, they are still more
so to the ultra-violet, and that as they welcome
the red rays of the spectrum, they are still more
attracted by the ultra-red.
We are thus led to the conclusion, not that they see
differently to ourselves, and can appreciate colours
which are invisible to man, but that they are keenly
sensitive to delicate changes of temperature, as well
as to the potent sway of chemical action, and are
attracted to the ultra-red rays because these are
associated with an excessive measure of heat and a
feeble display of chemical action, and readily avoid the
ultra-violet, which are peculiarly defective in warmth
and most prolific in rays of chemical activity.
To set this matter at rest, we should endeavour to
discover a chemical compound which would be at once
opaque to the ultra-violet rays and transparent to the
rays of heat, and then watch the movements of the
ants when brought beneath its influence.
Now, bisulphide of carbon is opaque to the ultra-
violet rays. And Professor Tyndall, in his work on
Heat, a Mode of Motion} has clearly demonstrated
that it possesses the property of diathermancy in a
remarkable degree, transmitting, that is, freely, the
rays of heat. Following the table of Melloni, he
1 Heat, a Mode of Motion, by John Tyndall, D.C.L., LL.D.,F.R.S.,
Lond. 1875, PP- 267, 268.40
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS\
gives the caloric transmissions of nineteen different
liquids. The source of heat being an Argand lamp
furnished with a glass chimney, the liquids being
inclosed in a cell with glass sides, the thickness of
the liquid layer being 9*21 millimetres, or 0*36 of an
inch. Bisulphide of carbon stands, with bichloride
of sulphur, at the head of the list. Its transmission
being 63 per centage of total radiation, while the
lowest is that of the white of egg and distilled water,
each being only 11.
Bisulphide of carbon will furnish us with the test
we require in order to find a satisfactory solution to
the problem under review. Now Sir J. Lubbock tells
us1 that over one of his nests of Formica fusca, he
placed two pieces of dark-violet glass, 4 inches by
2 inches ; and over one of them he placed a cell
containing a layer of bisulphide of carbon, an inch
thick, slightly coloured with iodine. The ants all
collected under the glass over which was the bisul-
phide of carbon. He then tried the same experiment
with pure bisulphide, and with the same result. He
then tried it without the violet glass, although the
bisulphide is perfectly transparent—covering part of
the nest with the violet glass and part with a layer
of bisulphide of carbon ; the ants in every case went
under the bisulphide. He then reduced the thick-
ness of the layer of bisulphide to ^ of an inch, but
still they preferred the bisulphide.
He tried also the differently coloured glasses, all of
which he had previously found were unmistakably
preferred to the violet. It remained to be seen what
effect placing the bisulphide of carbon on the violet
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, pp. 209, 210, 213, 214.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
41
would have. He tried successively green, pale yellow
dark yellow, and deep-red glass, placing each side by
side with the violet covered with bisulphide of carbon ;
from which it seemed evident that while if violet
glass alone was placed side by side with red, yellow,
or green, the ants greatly preferred any of the latter;
on the other hand, if a layer of bisulphide of carbon,
which, to our eyes, is perfectly transparent, was
placed over the violet glass, they went as readily, or
even more readily under it, than under other colours.1
He then tried experiments with a solution of
sulphate of quinine, which agrees with the bisulphide
of carbon in cutting off the ultra-violet rays, and with
the same result, from which he infers that the effect of
placing either of these chemical compounds over the
violet glass is to make it seem to the ants as good a
shelter as any of the other glasses, and appears to his
mind strong evidence that the ultra-violet rays are
visible to the ants. And since every ray of homo-
geneous light which we can see at all appears to us a
distinct colour, it becomes probable, he thinks, that
these ultra-violet rays must make themselves apparent
to the ants as a distinct and separate colour, of which
we can form no idea, but as unlike the rest as red is
from yellow, or green from violet.2
Admitting that the inference drawn by Sir John
Lubbock is perfectly legitimate and within the region
of possibility, viz. that ants see colours differently
to us, since even among ourselves there are those
who are afflicted with colour blindness, who see
colours perfectly diverse from their fellows with
normally constituted vision, I would at the same
1 P. 215.	2 Pp. 216, 120.4*
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
time point out how his beautiful experiments justify
also an alternative deduction, viz. that ants are
peculiarly sensitive to varying degrees and changes of
temperature as well as to the subtle influence of
chemical action ; so that while they welcome the rays
of heat they shun the rays of chemical activity.
For example, the ants gather under the coloured
glasses which transmit most copiously the heat-rays,
and most feebly the chemical rays, and leave deserted
the sombre space beneath. the violet screen which
transmits but few heat-rays and abundant chemical
rays. Let but the conditions be changed by the super-
position of a chemical compound, such as bisulphide of
carbon, which has a subtle power of cutting off the
ultra-violet rays, whilst it transmits the rays of heat,
the scene is at once changed ; the distasteful element
has been eliminated. The ants gather to the spot
which before they shunned, and seem to rejoice in
the genial atmosphere which has, as it were, been
artificially created for their benefit.
There is one fact which may at first sight give
colour to the suggestion that ants dislike the light.
When their habitations are opened, especially when
constructed under a stone, and the upper chambers
are exposed to view, and flooded with light, the ants
with surprising celerity carry away the larvae and
pupae, and rest not until every chamber is emptied.
To explain this familiar incident there is no need
of the supposition that the ants dislike the light.
In all these cases there is necessarily the destruction
of a portion of their tenement; and the little people
by wisely withdrawing themselves and the young
brood into the hidden recesses of their castle, ensureANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
43
the safety and perpetuity of the formic establishment.
Some species are more fearless than others, and
resent attack or intrusion, as the Formica sanguinea,
F. rufa, F. congerens, and F. exsecta, which turn upon
their assailant. Others are more timid, such as
Formica fusca, which takes to flight with the utmost
expeditkm, except where it has been educated by the
sanguinea, when it, in a measure, shares the latter’s
valour. The reason, then, why some ants escape
with the young brood more rapidly than others, when
light is flashed in upon the chambers of their home,
must be attributed, not to a more intense dislike to
light, but to a more timorous disposition, or, it may
be, to a greater development of that discretion which
is the better part of valour.
Once more, the fact that ants prefer to work out
of sight should not be attributed to their aversion to
light. The South American Eaton, which marches
under a covered way which it constructs while
engaged in a predatory expedition, is totally blind, *
and cannot therefore be materially affected by the
light. The peculiar habit must belong to it rather
for protective or strategic purposes.CHAPTER V.
The Mouth with its Allied Appendages and their uses—The Thorax
and Nodes of the Petiole of the Abdomen—Formic Acid—A
Traveller’s Experience—A Missionary’s Experience—The Sting of
an Ant—The Number of Species of British Ants—The House
Ant of Madeira added to the list—Naturalised Ants—Saunders’
Enumeration—The Common House Ant—Details as to its Habits—
Another Madeira Ant found in London—Its Tastes and Distribution.
Let us now continue the examination of the
worker of Myrmica scabrinodis. Imagine the little
creature to have its mouth wide open, and what
a strange apparatus ! There is a small fleshy
tongue, an under-lip, called the labium, furnished
with a pair of jointed sensitive feelers, or palpi> called
also antennulce, by which, it may be, it is enabled
to taste its food before it passes down its throat, and
are known generally as labial palpi. There is another
pair of feelers attached to the membranous lower
jaws, or maxillae, longer than the former, by which,
possibly, it can, as with fingers, test the nature of its
food before it is swallowed, or assist in satisfying its
own hunger and that of its infant progeny. These are
designated maxillary palpi. What are those strange-
looking implements on each side of its mouth, very
like the horns of the stag-beetle in miniature ? TheseANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
45
implements are most serviceable to the little people.
Fancy yourselves, my readers, if you can, without
teeth, jaws, and arms, would you not feel very uncom-
fortable and helpless ? So would the little people
were they deprived of their mandibles. Though
placed outside the mouth, they serve them as jaws,
furnished as they are in most cases with sharp and
Fig. 7.—M. scabrinodis, with open mandibles. 1, flagellum of antennae. 2, scape
of antennae, with acute angular lobe. 3, mandibles. 4, Prothorax; 5, Meso-
thorax ; 6, metathorax, with spines—4, 5, and 6 forming the thorax. 7, nodes
of the petiole. 8, abdomen. 5, coxa; 10, trochanter—9 and 10 forming the
haunch. 11, femur (thigh). 12, tibia (shank). 13, tarsus (five-jointed foot
with two-toe claws).
strong teeth. They answer also the purpose of arms,
enabling their possessors to carry their food into their
storehouses and nurseries, and their young from one
chamber to another; their enfeebled companions, when,
in an emergency, it is necessary to change their position
with all expedition; and their dead, when it becomes46
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
their duty to remove them from their home to the
cemetery. They also use these wonderful implements
as saws, by which they prepare the material gathered,
too, through their aid, wherewith to build their habi-
tations. With them they channel out the earth or
wood to construct the chambers and corridors of their
dwelling.
The ant is divided into three parts—the head, the
thorax, and the abdomen. The head and thorax in
this species are rough and striated. The thorax is
subdivided into prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax,
this last carrying two long and acute spines. In M.
ruginodis the spines are also long. In M. loevinodis
they are short, and the sculpture of the thorax and
head is more delicate than in the two former allied
species. In some species the spines are wanting—
e.g. our house ant, which has received many names;
that which is most descriptive of its habits is, I think,
Diplorhoptrum domesticum.	Attached to the three
divisions of the thorax are three pairs of legs, each
with haunch, thigh, shank, and five-jointed foot,
which is armed with two toe-claws, which create a
tickling sensation when the little creatures course
over the human skin, and also a spur upon the
shank or tibia, which spur in the foreleg is more
largely developed and very conspicuous, arid fashioned
into a comb, with which it cleanses itself and completes
its toilet, often standing erect, in a very grotesque
attitude, to effect its laudable purpose. The abdo-
men is ovate in form, smooth and shiny, and com-
posed of several rings. We notice, further, a very
thin waist between the thorax and abdomen called
the petiole, elegant in form, furnished with twoANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
47
ornamental globular enlargements called nodes, the
character of which forms a useful guide in the differ-
entiation of species, the M. scabrinodis having the
nodes rugose striated, the M. ruginodis, rugose, and
the M. Icevinodis comparatively smooth and shining.
Besides the necessary organs for preserving all the
functions of the body in healthy exercise, we find the
little creature provided with a bag of irritant spirituous
liquor, which at pleasure it can eject, to the great
annoyance of intruders on its privacy. This spirit,
elaborated in the secret distillery of the little people,
is called their formic acid. Its subtle presence may
readily be detected by its peculiar though agreeable
perfume. If the head be held over a nest of Formica
rufa which has been disturbed, it will be immediately
appreciated, though it will be found exceedingly difficult
to maintain the same position long with any comfort,
so powerful is the emanation. The heaped-up nests of
this prolific ant are not uncommon in woods and their
neighbourhood. They may frequently be met with
not very far from Stonehouse. I have found them
also at Lynmouth, Porlock, Weybridge, Abbey Wood,
Shirley, Symond’s Yat, Tunbridge Wells, and the
neighbourhood of Wellington College.
The nests of the two allied but scarcer species,
which you may find on the heaths and in the pine
woods of Bournemouth, will, when disturbed, yield
the same strong though fragrant essence, viz. the For-
mica congerens and Formica exsecta. The former raises
nests as extensive as the rufa. The latter, which I
have found also at Ringwood, on the borders of the
New Forest, is content with a much smaller domicile,
which may at once distinguish the nest of this species48
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
from that of its neighbour. When, at Bournemouth,
in 1876, I was examining a large nest of Formica
congerens, I put one of the colony into my mouth,
and found it to have a very acid taste, and was not
unpleasantly impressed with the peculiarity of the
flavour.
I have been informed that this formic acid has been
utilised for the purpose of alleviating human pain in
the preparation of chloroform, as the termination of
this compound word would indicate ; and though it is
not so used now, I am assured by an intelligent
medical man that such a mode of preparation is
quite possible. How closely chloroform is allied
to formic acid, we may clearly see by their chemical
formulae, which stand thus, for chloroform, C2HC13
and for formic acid C2H03. Both have, therefore,
the same radical, C2H. It is significant that the
celebrated Dr. Livingstone, in describing the at-
tack of the black soldier ants of Africa upon the
white ant, thus writes1 of one of their marauding
expeditions: “When on their way to attack the
abode of the white ants, the latter may be observed
rushing about in a state of great perturbation. The
black leaders distinguished from the rest by their
greater size, especially in the region of the sting, then
seize the white ants one by one, and inflict a sting,
which seems to inject a portion of fluid similar in
effect to chloroform, as it renders them insensible, but
not dead, and only able to move one or two front legs.
As the leaders toss them on one side, the rank and file
carry them off.” Formic acid has also been used to
1 Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, by David
Livingstone, LL.D., D.C.L., p. 537.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
49
assist the photographer to render lasting the beautiful
and faithful delineations of the sunbeams.
This acid is sometimes most annoying to the human
family ; as was the experience of a modern traveller
while on his journey “ through Norway with a
knapsack.” Being overtaken by the shades of night,
and wearied with his day’s exertions, he strove to
find repose within the precincts of a hay-barn. He
tried to Sleep, and thus refresh himself for the
morrow’s labour. In vain his effort!	“ Sleep, gentle
sleep; Nature’s soft nurse,” affrighted, refused to
weigh his eyelids down and steep 'his senses in
forgetfulness. The little people, among other tribes
of animated creatures, made his body the object of
their attention, which their enterprising disposition led
them to explore, by crawling under his clothes and
all about his skin. He adds : “ If I had ever doubted
the theory of their irritant acid perspiration, this
night’s experience must have converted me.” It
tormented him, it seems, more cruelly than the
Lilliputian arrows did the hands and face of Lemuel
Gulliver; and did we understand the silent language
of the little people who marched and countermarched
upon the body of the northern traveller, which to them
would seem as an island, a solid vantage-ground in
the midst of a labyrinth of dry vegetation, we should,
I doubt not, learn that their fearful wonder, when they
saw and felt the unknown island heave convulsively
beneath their active little feet, was quite as great as
that of the inhabitants of Lilliput, when they saw and
felt the man-mountain struggle to undo their midnight
work which kept him prisoner.
The acid perspiration, instead of being annoying, is
E5o
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
sometimes most beneficial to man, for in some cases
of sickness its irritant properties act as a restorative.
I have been told by a friend of a well-authenticated
instance. A missionary in the tropics was interrupted
in his dauntless labours for his Master by a dangerous
illness, which prostrated him, and showed its virulence
by afflicting him with countless boils. He was lying
helpless and alone in his hammock, when, behold, to
his unspeakable horror, myriads of ants of ferocious
aspect approached him, as he thought and feared,
with deadly intent. They came nearer and nearer,
surrounded him, and swarmed all over his body ; but,
instead of keeping him down, as the inhabitants of
Lilliput did Lemuel Gulliver, they enabled him to
rise ; for, after anointing the prostrate sufferer with a
profuse supply of their irritant acid, which proved to
be a remedy suited to his peculiar malady, they left
him, speedily to recover and resume his happy work,
with gratitude to his God who had used this little
people as his effectual preservers.
But to return. The species of ant we are examining
is armed with a sting of the same construction as that
of a bee, with which it opens an orifice in its victim’s
flesh, and into the gaping wound injects a venom,
decocted in its internal laboratory, which gives a
sharp pain similar to that caused by a stinging-nettle,
as I had occasion to notice when opening a nest of the
allied species, M\ Icevinodis, at Bournemouth.
“ In other ants,” says Gould,1 “ I cannot discover any
sting, and therefore, unless you allow them time, they
are not so venomous. They are obliged, first of all,
1 See An Account of English Ants. By the Rev. W, Gould, A.M.,
p. 9.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
5
to bite or make a small incision with their saws, and
then eject some of their corroding liquor into the
wound, which has the like effect as the above. The
red ants live more open and exposed to view, travel at
greater distance from their cells, are more bold than
any of the others, therefore a weapon of this kind is
serviceable to them.”
These observations are just, when the habits of the
red ants are contrasted with those of the yellow, but
the force of Gould’s remarks is sensibly diminished
when the long distances traversed by the common
wood ant in its foraging expeditions is considered,
for this ant is stingless, and also when the military
advances of the stingless F. sanguinea into hostile
territory is taken cognizance of. But the diligent
observer, who only describes the manners and customs
of five kinds of British ants, was evidently not aware
of the existence of this interesting species on British
soil. Gould speaks as if there was but one species of
red ant, and that the only ant possessing a sting in
this country. In the official list of British ants, com-
piled by the late Mr. F. Smith, and published, in 1871,
by the Entomological Society, there are eighteen
species recorded which possess stings, including two
of the family of Poneridcz, and sixteen of the family
Myrmicidce}
This is not reckoning Myrmica or Pheidole Icevigata
the house-ant of Madeira. This species, I think
should be added to the list, since whereas, when the
British Museum Catalogue of British Ants was issued
in 1858, the species had only been discovered in a
1 Catalogue of British Hymenoptera-Aculeala. Compiled by Frederick
Smith. Published by the Ent. Soc. Lond., pp. 2, 3, 4.
E 252
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
hot-house at Exeter, a solitary example on a wall at
Battersea, and three specimens on a garden wall at
Hampstead by Mr. Smith. In the year 1861 I was
happy enough to find it domesticated in large numbers
in a baker’s shop in the Borough, and one of Mr.
Smith’s sons has met with it since in an eating-house
in the City. I found the ants in the baker’s shop
running over and devouring buns and cakes. The
young person serving in the shop at first denied their
existence, and refused me leave to search her goods,
but having seen a few of the little people upon the
pavement in front of the house, I was persistent in
pressing my inquiry, and at last softening her heart by
purchasing some buns, she relented, and opening a
drawer and lifting up some sponge-cakes, she said,
u There they are, and I will give you as many as you
please.” I am afraid I looked more delighted than
the, to her, distressing circumstances warranted. In
1877, just sixteen years afterwards, I visited this same
shop, and found the unwelcome intruders still in great
force, and as active as ever in their depredations; so
that we may fairly consider this Madeira species to be
now thoroughly established and naturalised in this
country. It is reddish-brown in colour, and less than
one-sixth of an inch in length. I would suggest that
we might just as well strike out of the list of British
Diurnal Lepidoptera, Argynnis Lathonia, the Queen
of Spain Fritillary, which lovely butterfly I received
from Dover in 1882,—because it is generally be-
lieved that it must have been originally blown over
from France—as exclude from the list of British
Heterogyna, species which have become thoroughly
established, though we may cherish the conviction thatANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
53
originally they must have been imported in merchan-
dise or otherwise from other countries. There are
cases where of course no reasonable doubt of a foreign
origin can exist, when we should not feel justified in
placing a species in our British Catalogue—e.g. two
species of ants, belonging to the genera Pheidole and
Tapinoma, were forwarded to me from Scotland, which
were discovered by my correspondent as occupying
together the scaly caudex of an Australian fern—the
recent importation of which from Australia deciding
at once the Australian nationality of the ants. Again,
I discovered some years back several representatives of
a new species of ant in my own Vicarage. I have no
doubt in my mind that these ants were natives of
Africa, since they made their appearance shortly after
I welcomed a consignment of ants' nests from Sierra
Leone, though I found no living ants when I un-
packed the case. These of course I did not enter
on the British list. Mr. Smith considered them very like
an African species, and I find specimens of the same,
which I had given him, in his foreign collection, labelled
“ Stonehouse Vicarage.” In Mr. E. Saunders' Synopsis,1
published by the Entomological Society in 1880, there
are recorded and described as British sixteen species
of ants possessing stings; and while Diplorhoptrum
domesticum (Monomorium Pharaonis), though men-
tioned as not indigenous, is included in this envmera-
tion because so widely distributed, Tetramorium
Kollari, T. simillimum, as well as Pheidole Icevigata,
are excluded, and only referred to in a concluding
note as importations. Add these to the list, and we
1 Mr. Saunders’ Synopsis of British Heterogyna and Foswrial
Hymenoptera, Trans. Ent. Soc., December, 1880, pp. 214—223.54
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
are able now to chronicle nineteen stinging ants as
having been discovered in Britain.
There is another species of stinging ant of a
reddish-yellow colour, and less than a line in length,
in truth a very little people—Myrmica domestica1—
which has established itself in London, in St.
Leonard’s-on-Sea, and at Kemptown, Brighton; and
last year it was sent me from a shop in Stroud, and
the other day I discovered it in a house at Folkestone.
At Kemptown, as also in the metropolis, it has proved
so annoying as to render houses uninhabitable, and the
valiant little race have driven the lords of the creation
from their castles. I know one in London who was
obliged to leave his house in consequence of the
intrusive and protracted visit of the little people. It
gets into food, being especially fond of sugar and
sweet almonds, and it will even attack meat; anything
greasy meets its fancy. In the winter-time it natu-
rally prefers the kitchen, and in the warmer weather
it becomes an unwelcome visitant in the parlour.
Wherever I go it seems to force itself on my notice,
and I have obtained the unenviable reputation of
introducing it where it is least desired.
I fear that my association with this little amber-
witch would have gone hard with me, had I lived in
the good old days, when traffickers in the dark art were
liable to prosecution. Did I go into a bakers shop
in the Kennington Road, I was met almost on the
threshold by a royal procession. The queen, who may
readily be recognised, since she is about five times as
large, and between two and three times as long as
1 Diplorhoptrum domesticum, Smith; Monomorium Pharaonis-
Linnaus, according to Saunders.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
55
the other members of the community, was marching
solemnly up a whitewashed wall, attended by a large
retinue of her loyal and devoted subjects. Did I sit
down with the worthies of St. Dunstan’s-in-the^West
at a public dinner-table in an hotel in Fleet Street, one
of this inquisitive and intrusive little people walked
leisurely towards my soup-plate to pay me its respects.
Did I look in upon my late landlord near Temple
Bar to see how he fared, this same little people, I
learnt, had established an extensive colony in my late
abode, and were asserting their presence in a most
persistent manner. I disarmed my friend by at once
throwing myself on his clemency, and entreating him
not to prosecute me for the permanent annoyance I
had unwittingly occasioned. Did I pay a visit at the
house of some friends at the West End, and was
refreshment hospitably offered me, upon the bun
I took to eat I discovered one of this same tribe of
tiny emmets. And when I stayed with my relatives
a few years back at Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, I
found that since my last appearance a strong body of
his same prolific and molesting race had forced them-
selves into the kitchen, defying every effort to dislodge
them ; and some time since, when I spent the evening
at the house of a college friend at St. Leonard’s-on-
Sea, on the dinner-table one of these same little
people forced itself on my attention, and assured me
that my kind host was not a stranger to their presence
and enterprising spirit.
When passing through London about the same
time, I sent word of an intended call at Stanhope
Place, requesting that a dainty repast should be got
ready for the little people ; yea, a right royal feast,ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
56
in order that the queen might be allured from her
secret chamber to give me an audience. I called at
the appointed time, and I learnt that the banquet had
been prepared; a table had been spread, and a
variety of food laid out to tempt the royal appetite—
sponge-cakes and dripping! A few choice spirits
only were feasting upon the cake, but on the dripping,
in the dripping-pan, and around it, the sight was
something marvellous; thousands upon thousands
of the loyal race were there, and not one, nor two,
nor three, but nineteen queens, if not more, were
present, and each attended by a faithful and devoted
band of myrmidons. A sight such as this is a joy
for ever! I made an instant raid and captured all
the queens I could, with many of their subjects too,
and the trophies of my victory may be seen in my
cabinet.
The following information concerning the tastes
and habits of this Lilliputian race may be interesting,
especially to those living in the metropolis, where so
many houses are enlivened by their presence. I find
that at Stanhope Place their favourite food is fish,
especially whiting and haddock. If the dish of fish
be placed only for a few minutes by the fire, it is
completely covered with the ants. Sponge-cakes I
have already referred to as attractive to them. The
baker in the Kennington Road found it so to his
cost; and I kept, when living in Fleet Street, a large
number of the little creatures in a sponge-cake, for
the sake of observation, where they were “ as merry
as you please.” I surrounded the tasteful castle with
a trench of water. Many of them floated on the
surface of the water, and others, I fear, made a bridgeANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
57
of boats of the bodies of their floating companions,
judging from the appalling experience of my landlord
before narrated. The Rev. J. G. Bichard, late Govern-
ment Chaplain at Seychelles, states that he has seen
the ants in this island cross the water in which the feet
of the sideboard were placed, over the bodies of their
floating companions, and so reach the food which it
was the object of the encircling trench to guard from
their encroachments. The dormouse at Stanhope
Place was fed upon sponge-cake, and in consequence
it became necessary to suspend the cage from the
ceiling, for whenever it was placed in the kitchen the
ants found their way to it and devoured the cake.
Fat of all kinds attracts them, also dead beetles.
That they exercise thus the important duty of
scavengers establishes for them a claim upon our
favourable consideration. Almonds they are especially
fond of. To illustrate this, a dish of almonds was
shelled but not peeled for desert. When it was brought
to table the skins were found to be perfectly hollow,
having been cleaned out by the depredators. Having
had my attention, called to the roads the ants at
2, Stanhope Place, had made over the passage-wall
leading from the kitchen,—faint lines, where their
active little feet had travelled, being clearly seen up
the wall to the corner of the ceiling beneath the
cupboard in an upper anteroom,—I made special
inquiry as to the cause of the journey of the ants in
the direction indicated, and I learnt that it was the
almonds that chiefly attracted them. The store is
always discovered by them within a day or two.
The ants are laden with provisions when they return
from their foraging expedition, evidently, unselfish58
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
creatures, to satisfy the wants of the members of the
community at home. On this wall a queen has often
been observed, attended by a strong body-guard of
her loyal subjects.
There is yet another species of ant which has
established itself in London. It is a native of
Madeira. Its name is Tapinoma gracilescens, and
does not occur in any published list of British ants.
I find it mentioned in the official General Catalogue
of Ants in the British Museum, and the Botanical
Gardens, Kew, is given as a habitat. The presence
of this ant in the heart of the great city is a most
interesting fact. It is many years ago since I first
observed it in my brother’s house. I noticed it in
large numbers in the Rectory kitchen in 1876, and
at Christmas, 1878, I received the queen and one
of her subjects by post from one of my nephews,
this being the first time I had set my delighted eyes
upon her majesty. It is chiefly in the summer-time
that they visit the dining-room, in the sugar. They
are always seen downstairs, except in extremely cold
weather. Their being noticed in the dining-room at
Christmas-tide, and that an exceptionally cold season,
was a most unusual circumstance. The queen
immediately attracted attention by her great size.
She was in the sug^r-basin, and surrounded by a
number of her devoted attendants. The latter are
very small, of a black colour, with very long thin legs
and antennae. They run very rapidly, and are very
difficult to capture, except when satisfying their
hunger. I have often caught them by spreading
sugar in their pathways and customary haunts.
Though they are particularly fond of sugar, they willANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
59
eat anything sweet. They feast also on shrimps’
heads, when placed near the entrance of their burrows,
and they are often seen carrying off dead flies and
beetles. I have frequently noticed them bearing
along dead flies as well as sugar for the good folks
at home. They are also to be seen in the
Crystal Palace, and they have been met with at
St. Leonard’s-on-Sea; so that I think it is a species
which, though possibly imported, like the Pheidole
Icevigata, the other native of Madeira, may now be
registered as British.CHAPTER VL
The Workers and their Offices—They vary in Function, Size, and
Structure—In some Colonies more than two Distinct Forms—Bates
Record — The Workers of three Orders — The Worker-minors —
Mounds and Galleries — Cutting Leaves — Robbing the Farinha
Baskets — The Function of the Worker-majors — Worker-majors
with unique Frmtal Eye—The Queen of Myrjnica scabrinodis
described—The Princesses—Their Mid-air Dances—“TheHaunted
Tree’s on fire ”—A Political Demonstration in the Ant-world—
Their Constitution a Limited Monarchy—The Princesses further
described—The Princes—Their Short Career.
In a former chapter I endeavoured to describe the
worker of the common red ant, I say worker, since you
should know that, as in the constitution of the bee-
hive, so also in the ant’£ colony, there are three
classes of individuals, distinct in their character and
differing in their employments—the workers, the
females, and the males; the workers, again, vary in
size, form, and function.
The workers, being neuters or undeveloped females,
are those which form the main body of the com-
munity, and which usually present themselves to our
view on the ants’ highways, on the surface of the nest,
or in the interior when an entrance has been effected.
Their office it is to nurse and educate the young, toANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
61
build the house, to defend the colony when attacked
by enemies, and to forage for provisions.
I have generally found large and smaller workers
in an ant colony; and sometimes intermediate forms
connecting the two extremes. Their offices or
functions seem to vary. In disturbing a nest of our
indigenous slave-maker, Formica sanguinea, I have
always noticed that the large workers immediately
come out to ascertain the cause of the disturbance
and resent the unexpected attack, assuming an
attitude of defiance, while the smaller workers remain
indoors, possibly to quiet the babies or reassure the
perturbed mind of their sovereign lady the queen. The
special function of the smaller workers is to attend
to all domestic duties. I have observed that the slaves
that belong to the species Formica fusca, and to the
labouring class, and who always keep within when the
attack is made, as a rule are small workers. Some-
times the workers vary in structure as well as size.
The large worker of the Madeira ant has a largely-
developed head. (See Fig. 16, p, 93.)
In some ant colonies more than two distinct forms
of workers are found. I may instance the Sauba, or
Umbrella ant of Brazil. Mr. H. W. Bates has
watched these marvellous ants in their native haunts
in the Amazons valley, and has given us a graphic
record in his work entitled, The Naturalist on the
River Amazons. He thus describes the indefatigable
workers with their diverse functions: “This ant/*
Alcodoma cephalotes, “ is seen everywhere about the
suburbs of Para marching to and fro in broad columns,
and from its habit of despoiling the most valuable
cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge62
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
to the Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant
that agriculture is almost impossible, and everywhere
complaints are heard of the terrible pests. The
workers of the species are of three orders, and vary
in size from two to seven lines/’
The true working-class of a colony is formed by the
small-sized order of workers—the worker-minors, as
they are called. The functions of the two other kinds
are not yet properly understood. In one the head is
highly polished; in the other it is opaque and hairy.
The worker-minors vary greatly in size, some being
double the bulk of others. The entire body is of very
solid consistence and of a pale reddish-brown colour.
The thorax or middle segment is armed with three
pairs of sharp spines ; the head, also, has a pair of
similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind.
“ In our first walks we were puzzled to account for
large mounds of earth, of a different colour from the
surrounding soil, which were thrown up in the planta-
tions and woods. Some of them were very extensive,
being forty yards in circumference, but not more than
two feet in height. We soon ascertained that they
were the work of the Saiibas, being the outworks or
domes, which overlie and protect the entrances to their
vast subterraneous galleries. On close examination
I found the earth of which they are composed to con-
sist of very minute granules, agglomerated without
cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and
turrets. The difference in colour from the superficial
soil of the vicinity is owing to their being formed of
the under-soil, brought up from a considerable depth.
It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on
these mounds; the entrances seem to be generallyANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
6 3
closed ; only now and then, when some particular
work is going on, are the galleries opened. The
entrances are small and numerous ; in the larger
hillocks it would require a great amount of excavation
to get at the main galleries: but I succeeded in
removing portions of the dome in smaller hillocks,
and then I found that the minor entrances converged
at the depth of about two feet, to one broad and
elaborately worked gallery or mine, which was four or
five inches in diameter. This habit in the Saiiba ant
of clipping and carrying away immense quantities of
leaves has long been recorded in books of natural
history. When employed on this work their processions
look like a multitude of animated leaves on the march.
In some places I found an accumulation of such leaves,
all circular pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying
on the pathway, unattended by ants and at some
distance from any colony.” “ Such heaps are always
found to be removed when the place is revisited the
next day. In course of time I had plenty of oppor-
tunities of seeing them at work. They mount the tree
in multitudes, the individuals being all worker-minors.
Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf and
cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws a nearly half-
circular incision on the upper side; it then takes the
edge between its jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches
the piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the
ground, where a little heap accumulates until carried
off by another relay of workers ; but generally each
marches off with the piece it has operated upon ; and
as all take the same road to their colony, the path
they follow becomes, in a short time smooth and bare,
looking like the impression, of a cart-wheel through64
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the herbage. It is a most interesting sight to
see the vast host of busy, diminutive labourers
occupied on this work. Unfortunately they choose
cultivated trees for their purpose. This ant is quite
peculiar to tropical America, as is the entire genus to
which it belongs ; it sometimes despoils the young
trees of species growing wild in its native forests, but
it seems to prefer, when within reach, plants imported
from other countries, such as the coffee and orange
trees.” 1	“ Besides injuring and destroying young
trees by despoiling them of their foliage, the Saiiba
ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit of
plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night/’
He mentions how, when residing at an Indian village
on the Tapajos, he had ample proof of the fact of their
entering habitations and carrying off grain by grain
the farinha or mandicoa meal, the bread of the poorer
classes of Brazil. “ One night my servant woke me
three or four hours before sunrise by calling out the
rats were robbing the farinha baskets (the article at
that time was scarce and dear). I got up, listened, and
found that the noise was very unlike that made by rats-
So I took a light and went into the store-room, which
was close to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad
column of Saiiba ants, consisting of thousands of
individuals as busy as possible passing to and fro
between the door and my precious baskets. Most of
those passing outwards were laden each with a grain of
farinha, which was in some cases larger and many times
heavier than the bodies of the carriers. Farinha
consists of grains of similar size and appearance to
1 The Naturalist on the River Amazons, by H. W. Bates, F.L.S.,
p. 12.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
65
the tapioca of our shops; both are products of the
same root, tapioca being the pure starch, and farinha
the starch mixed with the woody fibre, the latter in-
gredient giving it a yellowish colour. It was amusing
to see some of the dwarfs, the smallest members of the
family, staggering along, completely hidden under their
load.” “ It is one of the great peculiarities of the Saiiba
to possess three classes of workers. My investigations
regarding them were far from complete. I will relate,
however, what I have observed on the subject. When
engaged in leaf-cutting, plundering farinha, and other
operations, two classes of workers are always seen.
They are not, it is true, very sharply defined in
structure, for individuals of intermediate grades occur-
All the work, however, is done by the individuals which
have small heads, whilst those which have enormously
large heads, the worker-majors, are observed to be
simply walking about. I could never satisfy myself as
to the function of these worker-majors. They are not
the soldiers or defenders of the working portion of the
community, like the armed class in the termites, or
white ants ; for they never fight. The species has no
sting, and does not display active resistance when
interfered with. Some imagined they exercised a sort
of superintendence over the others ; but this function
is entirely unnecessary in a community where all work
with a precision and regularity resembling the sub-
ordinate parts of a piece of machinery. I came to
the conclusion, at last, that they have no very precisely-
defined function. They cannot, however, be entirely
useless to the community, for the sustenance of an
idle class of such bulky individuals would be too
heavy a charge for the species to sustain. I think they66
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
serve, in some sort, as passive instruments of protec-
tion to the real workers. Their enormously large,
hard, and indestructible heads may be of use in
protecting them against the attacks of insectivorous
animals. They would be, on this view, a kind of
pihes de resistance, serving as a foil against on-
slaughts made on the main body of workers. The
third order of workers is the most curious of all. If
the top of a small fresh hillock, one in which the
hatching process is going on, be taken off, a broad
cylindrical shaft is disclosed, at a depth of about two
feet from the surface. If this be probed with a sticky
which may be done to the extent of three or four
feet without touching the bottom, a small number of
colossal fellows will slowly begin to make their way
up the smooth sides of the mine. Their heads are of
the same size as those of the former class of worker-
majors, but the front is clothed with hairs instead of
being polished, and they have in the middle of the fore-
head a twin ocellus, or simple eye, of quite a different
structure from the ordinary compound eyes, on the
sides of the head. This frontal eye is totally wanting
in the other workers, and is not known in any other
kind of ant. The apparition of these strange creatures
from the cavernous depths of the mine reminded me
of the Cyclops of Homeric fable. They were not
very pugnacious, as I feared they would be, and
I had no difficulty in securing a few with my fingers.
I never saw them under any other circumstanes than
those here related, and what their special functions
may be I cannot divine.”
We pass now to the females and males of a species
found in England—the Myrmica scabrinodis. TheANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
67
apterous females, or queens—of which every colony
has one at least, but, as a rule, more—differ in colour,
appearance, and form from the workers. Among
these ants, viz. the red, often found living in juxta-
position with the yellow, the queen is decidedly
larger than any of her subjects. The top part of her
head is nearly black, but adorned with silky golden
tresses of most brilliant colour when the sun irradiates
them. She, in common with her subjects, is armed
with a sting, which, strange to say, is denied to
monarchs as well as to the workers of many other
species, most probably because, being of an adven-
turous disposition, she often takes a constitutional,
and requires, therefore, a weapon of defence on any
sudden emergency. She is enabled now and then to
take an airing, since she is not so tied at home as
others, numbering in her family only about a thou-
sand, generally less, and at most under two thousand ;
whereas queens of some other tribes rejoice in
families, at a moderate computation, of from four to
five thousand. Some colonies of the stingless Formica
rufa may be set down at ten thousand; and one
community of the Formica umbrata (Lasius umbratus)y
closely allied to the common F.flava (.Lasius flavus),
which I discovered in 1878 in the heart of a large
willow it had helped to destroy—a most unusual
habitat for this species, which generally constructs
its extensive habitation in the ground—must have
numbered considerably above a myriad.
Before they leave their mother’s roof the princesses
are not merely adorned with a dress of scaly flounces,
but they are provided with mantillas of the most
exquisitely delicate workmanship, in the form of
F 268
ANTS AND THEIR IVA YS.
lace-like wings, smoky at their base, which seem to
distinguish this from the two closely-allied species.
These wings, as they circle in their summer mid-air
dances, reflect with glittering brilliancy the many-
coloured hues of sunlight; and in the setting sun
they scintillate, as the little people swrarm and fly
upwards, like sparks from burning embers, which
glitter in a midnight sky.
I have been informed by a late parishioner that
there stood in her native village an old tree which
was infested with ants, and which the villagers used
to say was haunted. They took, I presume, the
little people to be elves or fairies of the haunted spot,
as they darted in and out, and floated hither and
thither on their glassy wings. One evening the
wondering villagers crowded to their cottage doors,
summoned by the exclamation, “ The haunted tree’s
on fire !” The sun went down, the fire went out, the
fairies still survived and looked as beautiful as ever!
Sometimes, when the ants in the act of swarming
are seen from below instead of from above, the appear-
ance of curling smoke-wreath, instead of scintillating
fire-flash, is presented. “ On the 28th of August last,”
says a correspondent of a London paper, writing in
1866, “ smoke was seen to issue from the small spire
above the belfry of the handsome church of St.
Maurice, in Coburg. The news soon spread that the
church-tower was on fire ; the fire alarm was given,
according to the German fashion, from the church-
tower itself, the brigade of volunteer firemen donned
their helmets, and rushed in all haste from their
ordinary vocations to the post of danger, an express
messenger was sent to the burgomaster, who wasANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
69
gone to a neighbouring village, and the whole popu-
lation turned out to see the curl of smoke gradually
ascending and disappearing in the clear blue sky.
Nor was their anxiety for the old church without
cause. Twice before in its history—once in 1807 and
again in 1812—had the lightning set this very tower
on fire. But whence now could the fire have come ?
The spot whence the smoke issued was far from any
place in the tower ever used or visited; the day was
bright and clear, and there had not been and was not
any sign of a storm ; the heat of the sun, it is true,
was excessive, but no one could remember an instance
when fire had been kindled by the lord of day.
Whilst the spectators eagerly discussed these ques-
tions, hundreds of eyes were watching the ascent of
the firemen from point to point until they reached
the belfry under the spire. A scaffold was then
busily constructed, upon which a ladder was raised,
and the cause and seat of the fire closely investigated.
Sundry motions of the fireman on the ladder on high
excited no little mystery below, for he seemed to be
engaged in conflict with wasps or other warlike
insects. The news soon spread to the earth that the
cause of all this commotion was the millions of ants
which had settled in countless numbers on the
steeple—indeed, all over the upper part of the tower
—and, as they rose to perform their gyrations in the
air, had created the appearance of smoke, which
could not be detected as a counterfeit from below.
The mysterious motions of the man on the ladder
were now explained—they were his attempts to beat
off his insectile companions from himself, upon whom
they were quite as disposed to settle as upon the70
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
steeple itself. I am not,” adds the correspondent,
“ sufficiently acquainted with insect life to be able to
speak scientifically as to the genus of the ant that
succeeded in so distinguishing itself, but, having seen
several that were brought down from the spire, I am
able to say that they were an ant of a reddish colour,
slightly larger than our common black ant, and of
course furnished with wings.”
The genus would doubtless be that of the ant we
are examining—Myrmica; and it may be also the
same species, viz. scabrinodis, and if not that, of one
or other of its allies, the ruginodis or Icevinodis. The
numbers may be accounted for by the suggestion
which I would throw out—that it was a social con-
ference or political demonstration in the ant-world,
and that all the ant cities of one or more of the three
tribes mentioned in the neighbourhood of Coburg
had furnished numerous delegates or contingents.
The cause and issue of the demonstration must to us
ever remain a mystery. I may here mention that
the little people are all politically enfranchised.
Milton calls their constitution a democracy, though
I should call it a limited monarchy—a monarchy
limited by the will and intelligence of a loyal, a
contented, and a united people.
X witnessed, in the year 1876, a similar phenomenon
to that which astonished the Coburg folks. On
Doverow Hill, over against Stonehouse, I observed a
swarm of ants rising and falling over a small beech-
tree. The sun was shining brilliantly upon them, and
on those also fluttering upon the leaves of the little
tree, on which they sparkled like winged diamonds.
The effect of those in the air—gyrating and meetingANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
7i
each other in their course, as seen against the deep
blue sky—reminded me of the little dodder, with its
tiny clustered blossoms and its network of ramifying
scarlet threads, over the gorse or heather at Bourne-
mouth. I noticed the swarm about thirty paces off,
and it began to assume the appearance of curling
smoke; at forty paces you could quite imagine the
tree to be on fire. At fifty paces the smoke had
nearly vanished into thin air. I captured some, and
found them to be the male of the Myrmica lavinodis,
which may be distinguished from the female not only
from its colour—being tawny brown, with pale
reddish mandibles, antennae, and articulation of the
legs—but because, among other characteristics, it
wants the sharp spines upon the metathorax.
The females of the red tribes possess translucent
jewels in the crown of their heads, three in number,
of diamond lustre, set in the form of a triangle in
their dark red skin, but so small that a lens can alone
tell us of their shape and colour. They are not
diamond-cut, as are their two many-sided eyes, which
are fixed behind each of the antennae, but are of a
spherical form, and are given to them, it has been
supposed, to see before them when upon the wing,
helping them to keep aloof from birds of prey, and
court the smiles of youthful princes who may seek to
win their love. The princes of the species Myrmica
scabrinodis differ but little in general appearance from
the princesses. In colour they are blackish-brown,
instead of reddish-brown. The mandibles, terminal
joints of antennae, as well as the apex of the femora
and tarsi, are pale reddish; and the number of joints
in the flagellum are twelve instead of eleven ; as with72
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS,
the females and workers, we find them differing
from their royal consorts and daughters in being
stingless. In size they are very nearly similar to the
princesses, possessing, too, like them, the means of
traversing the open firmament of heaven ; and being
also aeronauts, they too are furnished, in addition to
their lattice windows near their antennae, with the
ocelli, the three-jewelled skylights (I have seen them
radiant with the colours of the garnet, amethyst, and
topaz), through which they keep.in view and joyously
pursue along the sunbeams their chosen brides.
Their married life is, as a rule, short, ceasing as
they do to live ere their youthful progeny have come
to days of discretion—nay, sometimes before, or soon
after the honeymoon has set. Their career is fre-
quently cut short by drowning, or they become the
prey of insectivorous birds and spiders. When their
life is not prematurely brought to a close, they live
many weeks, and even several months ; in this case,
however, they have not left the shelter of their homes,
being guarded and preserved by the workers, and, as
a rule, are fed by these unwearied and unselfish
attendants.
In the year 1877 I found the males of F. umbrata
(.Z. umbratus) in the nest in the front border of the
vicarage as late as November 20th. These must have
been between three and four months old. In the year
1879 I discovered males in a nest of F. aliena (Z.
alienus) at Bournemouth in the month of November,
which I should judge therefore to be upwards of
three months old. I have also met with males in
the nest of F. flava (Z. flavus) in the same month,
and hence of the same age.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
73
As a rule, the males of ants do not live beyond the
winter months. In confinement, however, their life
may be prolonged somewhat beyond this limit. Sir
John Lubbock has kept two males of Myrmica rugi-
nodis through the winter and into the spring, both
being captured on the 14th of August, and one living
till April and the other to the middle of May.
It has generally been considered that the duration
of the life of a female is limited to a single year, but
Sir J. Lubbock in his work dated 1882 mentions1 that
he has in his possession two queens which have lived
with him since 1874, and must therefore be at least
seven years old, and some workers he has had in his
nests since 1875. Since the publication of this work,
the Baronet has read another paper before the Linnean
Society, in which he states that these ants are still
alive (1882), so that the queens are now eight years
and the workers seven years of age. I have had
workers in my formicaria which have attained the
age of between three and four years at least, and
in my front border a colony of F. umbrata (.L. um-
bratus) has been in existence for at least ten years,
and until this year I have not noticed a single winged
female, though I have observed with wonder thousands
and tens of thousands of males and workers. May
we not infer either that the workers are of the age of
the period of my observation, or, which is more pro-
bable, that an apterous female, which has kept out of
sight all this time, has borne a charmed life for this
lengthened period, producing year by year the eggs of
males only ? In this duty she may have been assisted
by the workers which lay only male eggs, when under
1 Ants% Bees, and Wasps, pp. 9, 10.74
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
exceptional circumstances they are productive. If
the inference is correct—and it is not easy to see how
it can be called in question—we have here an instance
of an ant’s life extending beyond the limit of ten
years.
This tribe of reddish emmets differs from the
representatives of the yellow tribe who are found
living under the same roof, though keeping perfectly
distinct establishments ; that is to say, Myrmica
Fig. 8.—Formica Jiava (Lasius Jlavus). Female, a, magnified ; b, natural size ;
c, costal area or marginal cell.
scabrinodis differs from Formica Jiava. First, the
nurse and labourer is, as a rule, nearly twice as large
as the average-sized yellow worker, the individual
workers of this last-named ant differing considerably
in length. Secondly, the red is armed with a weapon
of defence and offence, while the yellow is stingless.
To compensate, however, for this loss—thirdly—the
yellow worker possesses what the red has not, the
ocelli in the crown of its head, though in the smaller
aANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
75
examples they are not discernible ; these ocelli assist-
ing it to see where the other cannot, and so avoid
Fig. 9.—FormicaJlava (LasittsJiavus). Male, a, magnified; b, natural size.
occasions of offence and threatening danger. Fourthly,
the antennae of the yellow possess cylindrical joints
Fig. 10.—Formica flava (LasmsJiavus). Fig. 11.—FormicaflavaiLashisflavus).
Large Worker. magnified; b,	Small Worker, a, magnified; b,
natural size.	natural size.
instead of cup-shaped articulations, and they are
devoid of the terminal club. Fifthly, the yellow76
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
emmet, instead of being ornamented like its red
neighbour with two globular nodes, has merely a
single node, which is flattened into a scale. And—
lastly—the queen in size is about four times larger
than any of her subjects ; her robes of state are more
magnificent than the dress of her royal sister, being
yellow, inclining to a fine chestnut brown, and carry-
ing a gloss of rich silk-velvet. Her wings are slightly
tinted, but decidedly brownish at their base, the
costal area or marginal cell in the upper wing being
much darker and richer in colour; the tints in the
lower wing being less marked.
The wings of the male are much paler, almost
colourless, with the exception of the costal area,
which is tinted as with pale Indian ink. The body is
nearly black, with yellowish articulations of legs
and tarsi. It is intermediate in size, between the
small and larger worker, and is much smaller than
the female; the legs and antennae are longer in pro-
portion. With reference to these latter it should be
noticed that, as a rule, as in the case of Myrmica
scabrinodis, the number of joints in the flagellum of
the male ant is twelve, while in that of the female and
worker it is eleven, so that, including the scape, the
antennae have thirteen joints in the male, and twelve
in the female and worker.
The red and yellow specimens are representatives
of two tribes of the little people which are now the
subject of our observation. They are representatives
of two great nationalities into which the ant-world—at
least the British ant-world—is almost entirely divided.
The Yellow, representing the stingless emmet, with
one scale or node, and three ocelli; the Red', thoseANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
77
having their females and workers armed with a sting,
possessing a double node, the workers wanting the
ocelli. It is curious to notice also that the juveniles,
or footless grubs of the stingless single-noded emmets,
wrap themselves up in white or pale yellow silken
coverlids, while resting in their crowded nurseries,
just before they come out into the busy world to
seek their fortune, while the stinging double-noded
juveniles dispense with what they think perhaps a
needless luxury.
Those without stings, with single nodes or scales,
and three ocelli, and whose larva spin for themselves
cocoons, are called Formicidce; while those possess-
ing stings, two nodes, and whose workers want ocelli,
and whose chrysalids are naked, are called Myrmicidce.
Of the Formicidce, there are, including the Madeira
ant, Tapinoma gracilescens, which I found at St. Mary
Aldermary Rectory, fourteen species, and of the
Myrmicidce, including the Madeira ant, Pheidole Icevi-
gata, which I discovered in the baker’s shop in the
Borough, seventeen species.CHAPTER VII.
The Poneridce—The two British Species of Ponera—Mr. Smith’s son’s
Discovery at Bournemouth—A Variety of Lasius umbralus (Formica
umbrata) described—The Mutillidce, or Solitary Ants—Mutilla
Europa found in the Nests of Humble Bees—The Strange Noise it
utters—The Rare Methoca ichneumonides—The question, Should
Mutillida be classed with the Heterogyna ?—Number of Species of
Social Ants—Mr. F. Smith’s Record and Estimate—Exceptions to
the general rule of the Distinct Characteristics of the Families For-
micidce and Myrmicidce—The Honey Ants of Mexico and Colorado
—Also from Australia, Singapore, and Borneo—Anomalous Form of
the Female of Aneigates atratulus—Strange Constitution of the
Colony of this Ant—Ants with Large Heads—The Harvesting An*s
of the South of France.
There is a third nationality or family of the little
people, the Poneridce, forming a connecting link be-
tween the Formicidce and the Myrmicidce; for while they
have only one node—which is raised to a level with
the first ring of the abdomen, which latter is always
more or less constricted—they have their females and
workers furnished with stings, and the larvae spin
for themselves cocoons. These are represented by
two rare species, the Ponera contracta and Ponera
punctatissima.
A year or two since it was thought that Mr.ANTS AND THEIR IVA VS.
79
Charsley, of Oxford, had discovered a new species
belonging to this genus, a species which he named
“ tarda ” ; but after comparing it most carefully with
the two familiar forms, I came to the conclusion that
the supposed new species was identical with puncta-
tissima; and I satisfied the late Mr. Smith that such
was undoubtedly the case. So that the number of
species in the three families of the division Heterogyna,
of the order Hymenoptera, including the two Madeira
ants, is thirty-three.
Fig. 12.—Ponerapunctatissima. a} magnified; b, natural size.
I should, however, mention that Mr. F. Smith re-
corded in the Entomologists Annual for 1866 a species,
several representatives of which his son captured
at Bournemouth, and which he denominated Formica
gagates. In his Catalogue published by the Entomo-
logical Society in 1871, he omits it from the British
list. I communicated with him on the subject, and
he assured me that he did not consider it as a
distinct species, but only a variety of F. fusca.8o
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
He doubtless compared it with the continental
forms in coming to this reversed decision. I have
done so, through the kindness of Mr. Saunders,
who lent me a specimen of the Bournemouth ant,
presented to him by Mr. Smith, for examination.
This I compared with undoubted specimens of gagates
from abroad which I have found in Mr. Smith’s
collection, now in my possession, and the difference
between them is most marked. The Bournemouth
ant is closely allied to F. fusca> but with a glabrous
or shining abdomen, with a few scattered and bristly
hairs, and piceous or pitchy in colour. The conti-
nental gagates is decidedly larger than fusca, very
glabrous, and jet-like in colour, and with quite a
fringe of strong yellowish-white hairs when examined
sideways with a Codington lens. I find that
Mr. Saunders, in his recently published Synopsis,
has reintroduced it as gagates; but I think that
my late friend exercised a sound judgment in
excluding it.
What, then, should the ant be called, if it be not '
considered as a variety of fusca ? I would designate
it provisionally as a new species, Formica glabra.
If such shall prove to be the case, we have as many
as thirty-four species of social ants inhabiting Britain.
There is yet one other form which demands a passing
notice. Mr. Bignell, of Stonehouse, Plymouth, has
recorded the discovery by himself of an ant new to
Britain, which he calls Lasius mixtus. He first
thought it was Lasius umbratus, but upon a re-
examination, he seems to have identified it with
the continental mixtus.	He kindly furnished me
with specimens—they are marvellously like LasiusANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
81
umbratus or Formica umbrata ; the workers and males
especially so. The pubescence, however, is not so
conspicuous upon the tibiae in the workers and
females as in umbratus, and the colour of the females
is of a dark sepia brown rather than of a reddish
brown or mahogany tint, as in the typical specimens
of umbratus. However, I have specimens of L. um-
bratus intermediate in its degree of pubescence and
in its colouring between the two extremes. One with
a reddish tinge, another of the pale yellowish-brown
kind, and a third of the dark sepia brown, pre-
cisely similar in its colouring to Mr. Bignell’s speci-
mens, from a very strong and long-established colony
of umbratus in my garden. This colony for very
many years has produced no females, males having
been developed in their thousands, nay, tens of
thousands, but not a single female having come
within view. In 1882, however, the species swarmed
in the vicarage, and must have come up through the
foundations in some mysterious way. The males
and females were accompanied by the workers, who
seem to exercise over them a singular and controlling
power. All the females were of the dark brown type
with a fine, silky sheen, and the pubescence I find
more marked and clearly defined in some specimens
than in others. In Mr. Smith’s collection I possess
continental representatives of the workers of mixtus
which are very similar to those of the umbratus ; there
are, however, no females of the former to compare
with the latter. Forel considers mixtus and umbratus
to be races of the same species, and Mr. Saunders
does not consider Mr. Bignell’s specimens to be a
species distinct from umbratus — hence I conclude
G82
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
that my own long-established colony is Formica
umbrata of Smith’s Catalogue, or Lasius umbratus
of Saunders’s Synopsis, but of the dark sepia brown
variety. I should add that the three families above
referred to embrace all the British social species;
that is, those species of ants living in society, having
males, females, and workers.
There is yet a fourth family, the Mutillidce, called
the Solitary Ants. Of these there are four species
recorded in Mr. Smith’s Catalogue. Two of these—
Mutilla Europcea and Mutilla Ephippium—I have
found at Bournemouth; the Ephippium also I have met
with near Christchurch, in Sandown Bay, where it was
more abundant; and also on the sand-hills of Deal.
The third, Myrmosa melanocephala, I have found at
Charlton in Kent, and also at Bournemouth. Of the
fourth, the rare Methoca ichneumonides, I have in my
collection one specimen, presented to me by Mr. F.
Smith, and two or three found by myself for the first
time in August, 1881, at Bournemouth, when I dis-
covered, remarkable to relate, the representatives of
the four solitary species on a sandy spot in the open
heath, running in the brilliant sunshine !
These solitary ants consist of two sexes, male and
female. The males are winged, and the females
apterous. There is no third order designated workers,
as in the Social Species and with the Bees. The
Mutilla Europcea has been found in the nests of
Humble Bees. Drewson of Copenhagen gives the
following account1—“ From a nest of Bombus Scrim-
1 See Catalogue of British Fossorial Hymenoptera, by Frederick Smith,
V.P.E.S., 1858, p. 39. The account of M. Drewson, here given, is
taken from Journal of Ent. Soc. of Stettin, 1847, p. 210.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
83
sheranus he obtained only two worker Bees, but as
many as seventy-six of Mutilla Europcea—forty-four
males and thirty-two females. The larvae of the
Mutilla were found in the cells, closed in as usual by
the full-fed grub of the bee; this appears to prove
that the genus Mutilla is parasitic, and that it is
carnivorous in the larva state, for the cells contained
the full-grown grub of the parasite only.” Christius
also mentions the fact of the larvae of Mutilla being
Fig. 13 .—Mutilla Euro fact. Female., a, magnified; b, natural size.
found in a similar situation. “ Their attacks, however,
cannot be confined to Humble Bees. These insects
are not found either in Australia or in tropical Africa,
yet Mutilla is plentiful in both ; in Brazil the Mutil-
lidce abound, but Bombus appears to be only sparingly
distributed.”
In this country, up to 1858, the species of Mutilla
were scarce, and it appears strange that no one should
have met with them in the nests of Humble Bees
which were frequently examined. Since that date
they have been met with in the nests of Bombus.
G 234
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
Under the head of Bombus muscorum the late Mr.
Smith mentions1 how “ the parasite, Muiilla Europeea,
was found in the nest of this Bombus last summer,
by Miss Madeline Pasley, at Shedfield Grange, near
Wickham, Hants ; several nests were examined, and
the Mutilla was found in each. This is the first time
I have heard of this parasite being found in the nest
of Bombus muscorumI
Fig. 14.—a, Mutilla, Europeea. Male, a, magnified; b, natural size.
In 1876, at Bournemouth, when I laid hold of a
fine female of Mutilla Europceay which was hurrying
in the sunshine over a turf-bank, it uttered a cry like
the strange noise made by the Sphinx atropos, the
Death’s-head hawk-moth, as if it were chiding me
in reproachful accents for venturing to deprive it of
its liberty. This interesting creature is considerably
larger than the ordinary ant, being sometimes quite
eight lines in length : it has a black head, reddish-brown
1 Catalogue of British Bees, by Frederick Smith, 1876, p. 200.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
85
thorax, and a black abdomen, banded with beautiful
fringes of bright yellow, glossy hair. The strange
noise I find to be peculiar to this species.
When I saw the record of Miss Pasley’s capture, I
wrote to her with reference to this peculiarity. In
her reply she states: “ I shall be very glad to tell
you what little I observed about the Mutilla Europaa.
If I had known at the time that it was worth any-
thing I would have taken more trouble about it. I
am indebted to Mr. S. Marryat of Shedfield Grange
for the discovery, because he first showed me some
nests of Bombus muscorum in his orchard, about the
middle of August. He was under the impression
that the Mutilla was an apterous bee belonging to
the nest; because there appeared to be one in each
nest. I only examined three nests; in each of them
was one Mutilla, a female, which ran out as soon as
the nest was disturbed. I only found those three in
the nests, and I caught one afterwards in a garden.
I did not find any males. I noticed that it made
a very peculiar noise, something between a squeak
and a buzz. I could not understand a wingless
insect buzzing, so I watched it. It contracted and
expanded its body, and felt about with its antennae,
making the noise all the time and walking about in
a jerky manner round the box it was in.”
In the Mutilla the stemmata or simple eyes are
three in number, placed in the form of a triangle
in the vertex or forehead of the male. In the female
they are wanting.
The very rare Methoca ichneumonides is the British
representative of the genus Thynnus.	This genus
is parasitic upon Lepidoptera. Mr. Bakewell obtained86
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
specimens from the cocoons of moths which had
been dug up from the ground. This instructive dis-
covery seems to indicate at once their parasitical
and fossorial character. Mr. Smith ever recognised
their fossorial character; in fact, he, as a rule, while
tabulating his captures in the Entomologists' Annual,
groups the Mutillidce with the Fossores, or the Sand-
wasps ; but at the same time he classes them with the
Heterogynay in order to show that together with the
Social Ants these solitary species are distinctly
heterogynous ; that is, possess females of an anoma-
lous form diverse from the males, which latter are
always winged, whereas the females are apterous. In
fact, as Shuckard rightly points out in his monograph
of the Dorylidce,* that if we are called upon to select
for the distinctive designation of Heterogyna, either
the social or the solitary species, the latter should
secure the preference, since it is only these that have
constant anomalous or apterous females, whereas, with
the social species, the immature females or workers
only are constant in their apterous character, the
true females being winged when they first see the
light, and only become apterous when about to
occupy a throne and found or perpetuate a colony.
It should not be overlooked also that many of the
social species are fossorial in their character, and that
as with some of these the ocelli are obsolete, so it is
with the females of the solitary species.
Even in structural characters the two are sometimes
allied, as may be noticed when comparing a well-
1 Monograph of the Dorylidce, by W. E. Shuckard, Libr. Roy.
Soc., from the Annals of Natural History, May, June, and July»
1840, p. 2, footnote*.ANTS AND THEIR IVA VS.
87
arranged and extensive collection of these two attrac-
tive groups. For instance, we cannot but be struck
with the similarity between the genus Apterogyna of
the solitary group, and the genus Myrmecia of the
social group, not only in their form and sculpture, but
in the neuration of the upper wings, which contain
but one recurrent nervure, which distinction the
Apterogyna share, I believe, with the whole tribe of
the social ants.
With reference to the number of species of social
ants, foreign as well as British, there is much uncer-
tainty. Mr. Smith, in 1858, mentions1 that he had
thus far recorded six hundred and ninety species, and
he has expressed his conviction that with the actual
number we are probably but slightly acquainted.
He adds :	The metropolis of the group undoubtedly
lies in the tropics, and when we reflect upon the
observation of Mr. Bates, who has collected for some
years in Brazil, 41 think the number in the valley of
the Amazon alone cannot be less than four hundred
species/ how limited must our present knowledge of
the group be! The imagination is unable even to
guess at the probable amount of species.”
I myself forwarded three species to the British
Museum sent me from West Africa, which were not
found in the national collection, and for which there
was no recognised designation.
The following is Mr. Smith’s estimate of the
number of species of ants:2 *—“In Great Britain, 32
1	Catalogue of British Fossorial Hymenoptera, Formicidoe, 6°c., by
Frederick Smith, V.P.E.S., p. 2.
2	From a manuscript of an unpublished lecture on Formicidoe y 1868,
by Frederick Smith, now in my possession.88
ANTS AND THEIR WA KS*.
species have been discovered. In the year 1802 the
French naturalist, Latreille, described 102 species,
that number being all then discovered of the ants of
the world. In 1858, in my own work on the ants,
1,000 species are enumerated ” (i.e. the 690 social
species above referred to, and 313 of the genus
Mutilld). “About 300 have been subsequently de-
scribed, and these, including also the number of un-
described species with which I am acquainted, will
swell the list to about 1,400 distinct species. Well,
this is the number of known species, but what the
actual number of existing species may really be it
were impossible to guess at with any degree of cer-
tainty, but when we remember that the greater part
of the habitable globe is unsearched, we maybe pretty
sure that if we double that number we shall not be
over-estimating it. I have no doubt of the existence
of at least 3,00b speciesand deducting a fair pro-
portion of the solitary species, which are doubtless
included in this estimate, we may reasonably suppose
the number of social species to be not less than 2,250.
I said that the stingless species belonging to the
family Formicida spin cocoons. I should mention
that there are exceptions to this general rule. I have
found the pupae of Formica fusca and Formica jlava
naked under stones; and in 1876 I noticed what has
not been recorded before, the pupae of Formica rufa
without the usual silken envelope, in one of its thatched
domiciles at Weybridge.
Other exceptions to my general description of the
distinct nationalities of the little people occur. For
instance, some of the Myrmicidce are found to spin
cocoons. This is the case with the genus Myrmecia,ANTS AND THEIR WAVS.
89
which appears restricted to Australia and Tasmania.
In 1854 Mr. Smith mentioned1 that he possessed a
pupa, and silken cocoon from which it was extracted,
of a species closely allied to M. gulosa, from New
Holland. This pupa and cocoon are now in my
possession, with five of the workers. The name of
this Australian ant is Myrmecia piliventris. Looking
through a microscope, at the British Museum, at a
species which manifests this weaving instinct, an
Australian colonist, I noticed it possessed three pro-
minent ocelli of a topaz colour in a rough and pro-
minent vertex, evidencing thus another exception
to the general rule. Some Myrmicidce have been
discovered without their weapons of defence and
offence. Again, in some Forniicidce the ocelli are not
discernible, as in the common yellow; they are
wanting in the smaller workers, and in the larger
workers they are far apart. In another species, again,
the little diamond eyes are close together, resembling
the trefoil window of a church. As a rule, all * ants
possess the pair of side eyes formed of many lenses.
I have microscopically examined four species of the
Brazilian Processionary Ants (the Ecitons, referred to
before when speaking of the eyes of ants), in two of
which the eye was visible, but very small; in another,
I could discover none at all; and in the fourth, clad
in rich brown velvet tunic and glossy orange skirt,
the eyes were visible, but without the lattice-work
formation which is usual with the ants of this genus.
Some ants are most eccentric in their general
1 See Essay on the Genera and Species of British Formicidce, by
Frederick Smith, Esq., from the Trans, Ent, Soc. (read December
4th, 1854), p. 115, footnote.90
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
appearance. I have noticed one carrying on its head
what looked exactly like a tea-tray of old-fashioned
shape. I have this curious species now in my pos-
session ; it is called the Cryptocerus discocephalus.
Another, a native of Brazil, has grooves chiselled in
its head and thorax, that it may stow away its an-
tennae and legs when anxious to feign death, and so
escape the observation of an enemy. This species, as
also the former, belongs to a sub-family denominated
Cryptoceridce. I have in my cabinet some Australian
ants of this construction, having a yellow abdomen,
and the gentleman who sent them to me graphically
described how, when the ground near their nest was
struck with the palm of the hand, they simultaneously
appeared as dead. Another family, or genus, curve
their abdomen over their thorax when upon the
march, each resembling a pedestrian with a knapsack
on his back. I have quite a colony of an unnamed
species of this genus (crematogaster) sent me from
Sierra Leone, both small and large workers, and also
their wonderful habitations, called by the natives, on
account of their form and colour, negro-heads. A
short time back I received one of these singular nests
from Poonah.
Among other peculiar species of ants I have noticed
one in the British Museum, which is very remarkable.
It is called the Honey Ant, the scientific name
being Myrmecocystus Mexicanus.	Its native land is
Mexico. It has, however, recently been found by
Dr. H. C. McCook in the “ Garden of the Gods,”
Colorado. It has its abdomen immoderately distended
by honey injected through its mouth by those workers
who collect it. It looks as if its head and shouldersANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
were disengaged from the rest of its body, and that
thus shorn of its fair proportions, it was struggling
under difficulties round the world to seek its fortune.
It has been noticed that when filled with honey the
globular abdomen of these honey-bearers resembles
small Delaware grapes. According to Mr. Smith,1
the honey undergoes in the bodies of this ant a sort
of distillation, and when thus distilled it is given to
the young brood. These ants are sold, he is informed,
in the Mexican markets, by measure, a quantity put
into a suitable vessel, and the honey is then pressed
Fig. 15.—a, Myrmec&cystus Mexicanus ; b, approximate natural size.
out, and forms a basis of an exhilarating drink, some-
thing like mead. Dr. McCook calls2 the Honey Ants
after Llave, M, melliger, denominating Wesmael’s ant
1. var. Mexicanus, and that discovered by himself in
Colorado, 2. var. hortus-deorum.
A new kind of Honey Ant has been received from
1 Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects, Part VI,—Formicid<zt by
Frederick Smith, V.P.E.S., p. 200.
2	See The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident
Ants of the American Plains} by Henry C. McCook, D.D., p. 75.92
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
Adelaide, Australia, by Dr. McCook and Sir John
Lubbock, the latter naming it Camponotus injiatus.
It belongs to a different genus from Myrmecocystus.
It is black, and about two-thirds of an inch in length.
I have recently received from Adelaide what will
prove to be, I suspect, another Honey Ant. It has
a large black head, a very pale brown thorax, a single
scale, and an abdomen with the chitinous plates widely
sundered upon a white elastic membrane. It belongs
to the family Formicidce.
I have in my collection another perfectly distinct
species of Honey Ant, which has, instead of an en-
larged abdomen, an enlarged thorax, which contains
a honeyed secretion which is utilised for the benefit
of the community to which it belongs. Its name
is Crematogaster injiatus.	It is black and shining.
The posterior portion of the thorax forming a semi-
transparent, bladder-like swelling. The habitat of this
ant, which is of a genus diverse from either of the
preceding, is given by Mr. Smith1 as Singapore and
Borneo (Sarawak). It belongs to that strange kind
of ant which turns up its abdomen when it walks, and
builds its nest in trees.
There is another abnormal ant2 whose abdominal
segmental plates are widely sundered by very dis-
tended connecting membranes. It is a female form of
Anergates atratulus—a species which has no workers,
and where the male is apterous. The workers upon
which it is dependent, for it cannot even feed itself,
1 Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects, Part VI—Formicidce> by
Frederick Smith, p. 137.
2	See Les Fourmis de la Suisse, par Auguste Forel, M.D., pp. 341,
342 ; and also p. 67.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
93
are those of Tetramorium ccespitiuny a species which is
not uncommon in England, and generally inhabits the
sea-coast. This latter species I have found at Folke-
stone, near Dulwich, in Suffolk, at Southend, Bourne-
mouth, Deal, Lynmouth, and, strange to say, in the
middle of Hampstead Heath.
Some ants are quite one inch long, such as the
female of Formica gigas, of Borneo, and the male
of the genus Dorylus, from South Africa and India.
I have a fine series of a species of this interesting
Fig. i6.—Myrmzca (Pheidole) lavigata; House Ant of Madeira,
i. Large-headed worker, a, natural size- 2. Small worker, b, natural size.
genus from the Cape. I have another species, the
greater part of an inch in length, from Sierra Leone,
called Ponera pestilentiay from the terrible odour
which clings to it, and which is so powerful and
subtile that in a very short time it permeates the
atmosphere of a large room. Others there are with
heads of enormous dimensions, as the “ Driver” of
Africa, the Umbrella Ant, of Brazil, and the large
worker of the House Ant of Madeira. In the year94
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
1877 I secured several of these large-headed fellows,
who, I think, must be the police or soldiers of the
tribe, in the baker’s shop in the Borough.
Another large-headed species is the Provident Ant
of India, so called on account of the methodical
manner in which it lays up its food for future need,
in the same manner as the Harvesting Ants of the
South of France, and which clothes the statement
of Scripture with such a true and beautiful significance.
Saith1 the inspired naturalist, “ Go to the ant, thou
sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which
having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her
meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest.” Of these ants there are four kinds: the
Atta barbara, under two forms or varieties — one
wholly black, the other red-headed; Atta structor,
similar to barbara, but of a claret-brown colour; and
a minute yellow ant, the large workers of which have
gigantic heads, named Pheidole, or Atta megacephala.
In one nest of barbara, Moggridge found granaries
containing seeds taken from more than twelve species
of plants; and from the subterranean granaries of
Atta structor and Atta barbara, he tells2 us in his
“ Supplement ” to his original narrative, that he was
able to collect the seeds or small dry fruits of fifty-
four distinct species of wild plants. He found that
the seeds, though moist, showed no trace of germina-
tion, and the ants, he concluded, from careful observa-
tions, exercised a power over them which checks the
natural tendency to germinate; and he noticed that
1	Proverbs vi. 6-8.
2 Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders, with Supplement, by
J. Traherne Moggridge, F.L.S., p. 168.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
95
if, by any chance, the seed should assert its inherent
power, it was immediately checked by the wise little
people destroying the radicle.
Sir John Lubbock, who kindly gave me specimens
of barbara from a colony he had from Italy for the
purpose of observation, has assured me that they will
not store grain unless there are a large number in
the colony. It is noteworthy that Mr. Smith has
recorded Atta barbara as having been discovered in
Palestine, and that in the Mishna, or text of the
Talmud, there are directions as to the rights of the
gleaners in the case of corn found in the granaries
of ants, wherein it is stated that if discovered after
the reapers have passed, the upper part of the heap
of grain shall go to the poor, and the lower to the
proprietor of the field, though the Rabbi Meir
expresses the opinion that the whole should go to
the poor.
This interesting Jewish legislative enactment is
fully discussed by Moggridge; and we may, with
him, draw therefrom the just conclusion that the
Harvesting Ants of Syria had earned a place in the
ancient records by amassing stores of grain of
sufficient size, and so disposed, as to make them worth
collecting.CHAPTER VIII.
The Harvesting Instinct of Ants — Called in question by Gould,
Latreille, Hiiber, and others—The Ancient Belief True—The Repu-
diation of the Harvesting Instinct accounted for—British Ants pos-
sess the Instinct—The reference in the Mishna—Lieut.-Col, Sykes’s
Notice of the Atta providens of India—The Agricultural Ant of
Texas—Dr. McCook’s Account of Pogonomyrmex barbatus—The
Architecture of their Houses—The Large Formicaria in the neigh-
bourhood of Austin, Texas, described—The (Ecodoma cephalotes of
South America—Belt discovers them to be Mushroom Growers—
Honey Ants —Other Harvesting Ants in America—Are they found
in the Holy Land ?
IT may be both interesting and instructive to my
readers to consider more in detail the harvesting
instinct of the little people. The following1 are the
significant declarations of Solomon :—
“ The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare
their meat in the summer.” “ Go to the ant, thou
sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise; which
having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her
meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest.” Notwithstanding these explicit statements
of Revelation, the harvesting instinct in the little people
1 Proverbs xxx. 25 ; vi. 6-8.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	97
has been called in question, explained away, or even
denied by theological students and eminent naturalists.
The Rev. Wm. Gould, the historian of British ants in
the last century, was the first, it is supposed, to call in
question the harvesting habits of ants. He met1 the
testimony of classical and inspired literature with the
supposition that probably different species exist with
different habits according to their different climatic
environment, or it might have been a received opinion,
as was the sun’s motion.
Latreille, one of the greatest of entomologists of
the present century, who made the little people his
peculiar study, gives his verdict against the harvesting
instinct.2 This was more wonderful in his case, since
he was personally acquainted with the famous harvest-
ing ant, Atta barbara ; and its ally, Atta structor, he
himself brought to light. Yet he was ignorant of the
harvesting habit of these interesting species.
M. P. Huber, also, called by Kirby “ the great his-
toriographer of ants,” who has given us a most graphic
account of the Amazon slave-makers, thus records 3 his
dissent from the now happily established opinion :
“I am natural^ led to speak in this place of the
manner in which ants subsist in winter, since we
have relinquished the opinion that they amass wheat
and other grain, and that they gnaw the corn to hinder
it from germinating.”
Kirby, though acknowledging that ants may harvest
1	See An Account of English Ants, by the Rev. Wm. Gould, A.M.
1747, PP- 93, 94-
2	See Histoire Naturelle des Fourmis, Paris, 1812, p. 23.
3	See The Natural History of Ants, by M. P. Huber, translated
from the French by J. R. Johnson, M.D., F.R.S., etc., 1820, p. 237.
H98
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
grain in tropical countries, yet gives1 in his adhesion to
the surmise that the ancients, observing the ants carry-
ing “their pupae, which in shape,size, and colour not a
little resemble a grain of corn, and the ends of which
they sometimes pull open to let out the inclosed
insect, mistook the one for the other, and this action
for depriving the grain of the corculum.”
The Rev. Wm. Houghton, in his article, entitled
“Ants,” in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, says,2 “the
fact is that ants seem to delight in running away with
almost anything they find—small portions of sticks,
leaves, little stones—as any one can testify who has
cared to watch the habits of this insect. This will
explain the erroneous opinion which the ancients held
with respect to that part of the economy of the
ant now under consideration ; nor is it, we think,
necessary to conclude that the error originated in
observers mistaking the cocoons for grains of corn, to
which they bear much resemblance.”
The scholar rightly affirms that it is not credible
that Aristotle, Virgil, Horace, and other ancient
writers could have been such poor observers as to
mistake ant-cocoons for wheat kernels, close as the
resemblance may be between the two objects; and
he then offers this explanation as accounting for the
general belief of the ancients: “Ants do carry off
grains of corn, just as they carry off other things, not,
however, as was stated, for food, but for their nests.”
The ancient belief is nevertheless true ; and as the
foresight of the ant has every support in the sacred
1	See An Introduction to Entomology, by Wm. Kirby, M.A.,
F. Rand, L.S., and Wm. Spence, E-q., F.L.S., 1818, vol. ii. p. 46.
2	See American edition of Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, article “Ant.”ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
99
writings, so has it also in the records of natural his-
tory. In attributing to the ant the harvesting instinct,
the results of scientific observation are recorded.
The men of all ages and countries who believed it,
according to the learned Bochart, were in the right.
They chronicled the facts that had come under their
own observation, or were well established upon the
trustworthy evidence of others. And it is worthy of
note that, as a rule, in those countries where these
ancient sages lived and wrote, the harvesting ants
abound in the present day.
The repudiation of the harvesting instinct by so
many intelligent observers has arisen from a too hasty
generalisation and an observation extending over a too
limited area. It is true that as yet in our own country,
and in other countries of the same or colder tempera-
ture, ants with the harvesting habit have not been dis-
covered, and that the little people slumber through
the winter season, and so have no need of sustenance;
yet there are times when the weather is more genial
than at others, and on sunny days they revive and call
out for food, and, wondrous to relate, an ample provi-
sion is at hand. In winter they can, as a rule, find a
supply of milk from their gentle cows, which hybernate
with them. In opening ants' nests in winter I have
always found the aphides—and in one nest of the
little Jlava I found a chamber which looked like a
granary crowded with what seemed like little shining
black seeds—and upon examination I found them to be
the eggs or pupal form of the ant cows. The provi-
dence of the British species of ants is thus fully esta-
blished. Truly the apposite saying of Dugald Stewart
is abundantly satisfied in the history of the little
H 2IOO
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
people: “ The discoveries which in one age were
confined to the studious and enlightened few, become
in the next the established creed of the learned, and,
in the third, form part of the elementary principles of
education.”
A remarkable confirmation of the harvesting habit
of ants is found in the Mishna,1 which is a collection
of Jewish traditions and comments thereon of the
learned Rabbins. This treatise contains laws re-
lating to the corner of the field left to the poor to
glean, and a law is registered relating to the property
rights to stores of seeds found in the granaries of the
ants in the field. It runs thus: “The little caves of
ants, when in the midst of a standing crop, are ad-
judged to the owner of the field ; of those behind the
reapers, the upper part is the property of the poor, the
lower of the proprietor. Rabbi Meir decides that all
belong to the poor, since whatever is in doubt in
gleaning goes to the gleaner.” The law of the Mishna
dates back to the close of the second or beginning of
the third century.
The earliest record we have in the present cen-
tury of a harvesting ant was made in India by
Lieut.-Col. Sykes, at Poonah, in 1829. The account
was read before the Entomological Society in 1834,
and published in vol. i. of the Transactions, 1836.2
He observed in several places near the parade-ground
more than twenty little heaps of grass-seed. These
1 Tradatus de Angulo, p. 53, “ Formicarium Cavernulaf etc. See
Agricultural Ant of Texas, Dr. McCook, pp. 46, 47 ; also Harvesting
Ants and Trap door Spiders, with Supplement, by J. Traherne Mog-
gridge, F.L.S., pp. 166, 167.
* “ Descriptions of New Indian Ants,” by Lieut.-Col. Sykes, Trans.
Ent. Soc. Lond. i. p. 103.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
ioi
were raised by a species of ant, named by him Atta
providens ; thousands of which were employed in
bringing up the seeds to the surface from a store
below. “The grain,” he says, “had probably got
wet at the setting in of the monsoon, and the ants had
taken advantage of the first sunny day to bring it up
to dry. The store must have been laid up from
the time of the ripening of the grass-seeds in January
and February. As I was aware that this fact
militated against the observations of entomologists
in Europe, I was careful not to deceive myself by
confounding the seeds of a Panicum with the pupae
of the insect. Each ant was charged with a single
seed, but as it was too weighty for many of them,
and as the strongest had some difficulty in scaling the
perpendicular sides of the cylindrical hole leading to
the nest below, many were the falls of the weaker
ants with their burdens from near the summit to the
bottom. I observed they never relaxed their hold,
and, with a perseverance affording a useful lesson to
humanity, steadily recommenced the ascent after
each successive tumble, nor halted in their labour
until they had crowned the summit and lodged their
burden on the common heap. On the 13th of
October of the same year, after the closing thunder-
storms of the monsoon, I found this species in various
places similarly employed as they had been in June
preceding; one heap contained a double handful of
seed.”
I have lately been in correspondence with Major
Causmaker, of Poonah, and he has sent me some ants,
one of which seems very similar to the providensy
having the same large head and the same mahogany102
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
colcTur, and, in my opinion, it is a harvester. The
Major states that he has observed ants harvesting
seeds in his neighbourhood.
The account of the agricultural ant of Texas was
given in i860 by Mr. Buckley, and seems to have been
the first notice of the harvesting ants in North America.
A brief note,1 by the same author, appeared, in January
of 1861, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Science, Philadelphia. In the same year Mr. Darwin
gave an abstract of a letter, from Dr. Lincecum of
America, in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society
of London, which made the harvesting habits of this
ant (Myrmica Atta barbata) widely known. It not
only stores seeds of a particular kind of grass-like rice,
and called ant-rice, but is stated to maintain a clean
crop of this plant on the disk cleared for the purpose
in the immediate vicinity of its nest, suffering no
weed to grow among it, garnering the crop in the
proper season, and further, wondrous to relate, sowing
the seed in view of the future harvest.
Recently Dr. McCook, in a most attractive work,
replete with startling incidents of ant life, has recorded
a detailed account of this ant, which he calls the
Pogonomyrmex barbatus.	His narrative embraces
the habits, the architecture, and the structure of this
marvellous harvester. His observations confirm, in a
remarkable manner, those of Dr. Lincecum, with one
exception, which further observation may yet verify.
Dr. Lincecum was fully satisfied that his agricultural
ant sowed the seed after preparing the soil to receive
1 See Agricultural Ant of Texas, Dr. McCook, p. 56. The following
reference is given in a footnote, *“ Note on Ants in Texas,’ Proceed.
Acad. Nat. Set. Phil a., 1861, p. 10.”ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
103
it. This he has not yet established, and hence his
experience in this respect only amounts to the Scotch
verdict, “ Not proven.” The architecture of the formic
houses varies. There is what Dr. McCook calls the
flat disk, the mound disk, the gravel disk, the cone
disk, the mound nest, and the cone nest. The mound
disk is located in a black soil. The mound is two and
a half feet in diameter, with a depression in the
centre in which are two connected gates or entrances.
Tall grass grows on the margin near the mouths of
some of the roads ; of these there were seven plainly
marked, like the ridings, we may suppose, in Cirencester
Park. The width of the belt, or flat bare space be-
tween the mound and the margin, is about that of the
mound. The number of disks of this form at Camp
Kneass, on the highlands of the Colorado River,
was very small. He mentions also a flat disk which
had a diameter of ten feet six inches.1 Some of the
disks are larger and some smaller. The surface is
quite smooth and free from grass, and at one point in
the upper margin of the disk there was a clearing.
Dr. McCook says:2 “ I frequently found in the neigh-
bourhood of Austin, large formicaria with cleared disks
of ten and twelve feet established in the midst of a
thicket of wild sage, daisy, and other vigorous weeds,
with stalks at times as thick as one’s thumb, and
standing two or three feet in height. This rank
growth, quickened by the fat soil and semi-tropical sun
of Texas, is as completely under the control of the
agricultural ants, as are the cleared fields in the midst
of American forests under the axe of the pioneer. Not
a plant is suffered to intrude upon the formicary
1 Agricultural Ant of Texas, p. 62.	2 Ibid. p. 24.104
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
bounds, and although often seen, it always was an
interesting sight, after pushing through the weeds, to
come upon one of these nests, and observe the tall,
tough vegetation standing in a well-nigh perfect circle
around the circumference of the clearing. The weeds
had crowded up as close as they dared; and in
imaginative moments I could almost fancy that the
bulky things were looking down with covetous eyes
upon the forbidden grounds, from which they were
held back only by a wholesome fear of the little insects,
whose energy was continually saying to them,
‘ Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further/”
There are two species of seeds in the granaries, one
being the ant-rice (Aristida strict a), which resembles
a grain of oats, and tastes like rice. This grain, ac-
cording to Lincecum, is sown in time for the autumn
rains to bring it up. “About the 1st of November, at
the fall, a green row of the ant-rice, about four inches
wide, is seen springing up on the pavement in a circle
of fourteen or fifteen feet in circumference. In the
vicinity of this circular row, the ants do not permit a
single spire of any other grass or weed to remain a day,”
until the rice ripens, which occurs in June of next
year.1 “ After the maturing and harvesting of the seed,
the dry stubble is cut away and removed from the
pavement, which is thus left unencumbered until the
ensuing autumn, when the same species of grass, and in
the same circle, appears again, and receives the same
agricultural care as did the previous crop.” “ There
can be no doubt,” says Lincecum, “ of the fact, that this
peculiar species of grass is intentionally planted, and in
farmer-like manner carefully divested of all other
1 Agricultural Ant of Texas, pp. 33, 34.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
105
grasses and weeds during the time of growth.” Dr.
McCook says,1 that “An examination of the grass*
covered nests, showed that the Aristida” (ant-rice)
“ has exclusive possession of the surface clearing.
This statement rests upon a large number of careful
observations, and is made without any qualification
whatsoever.’' Before McCook confirmed in a great
measure Dr. Lincecum’s researches, an English
naturalist, the late Mr. Moggridge, already referred to,
brought to light several species of harvesting ants in
the South of Europe. He was an invalid, and spent
his leisure hours in the study of natural history, giving
great attention to the habits of two ants, the Apkeno-
gaster (Atta) structorand Aph. barbara. He found that
1 Agricultural Ant of Texas, p. 34.io6
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
both these species are true harvesters. He watched
them collecting and carrying the seeds of various
plants to their homes, and having opened many nests
at various periods of the year, he uncovered the numer-
ous granaries which he found filled with the garnered
grain. He observed, as I have noticed before, that
the ants exercised over the grain a wondrous influence,
preventing it from growing. If any of the grains
began to sprout, the ants watched them and cut off
the radicle of the sprouted grains. They brought up
the grain after rain to the surface of the nest to dry.
They not only garnered the grain and malted it, but
he clearly proved that they thus harvested it and
prepared it for food.
There is, as I have before noticed, an interesting
ant in South America, called CEcodoma cephalotes,
which has been seen by Mr. Bates, the naturalist,
plundering baskets containing Mandioca meal (an
impure form of tapioca) in Brazil, and this in so
wholesale a manner as to threaten the loss of the en-
tire supply. This umbrella ant, a true harvester, is
the ant which defoliates trees, and carries circular bits
of leaf which it has cut off the orange trees, in long
procession to its nest. Mr. Bates thought it used
these to thatch its domicile, but Mr. Belt, the
naturalist, has since discovered that in Nicaragua it
stores the leaves until they decay, and that on the
decaying mass a fungus grows which forms food for
the ant. “ They are,” Mr. Belt adds, “ in reality
mushroom growers and eaters.”1
The honey ant of Mexico and Colorado, referred
1 See The Naturalist in Nicaragua, by Thomas Belt, F.G.S.,
1874, P- 79*ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
107
to before, is also a harvester. It does not harvest
grain, but honey. Some of the workers are used as
honey-pots. The workers gather the honey from
certain galls,1 which exude a sweet secretion during
the darkness of the night, and on their return they
discharge the secretion which they have gathered
into the mouths of those who, as a rule, stay at
home. These workers form receptacles for the
honeyed store like the waxen cells of the honeycomb.
The abdomen swells out into a membranous and
diaphanous sphere, which becomes quite globular and
shines brilliantly. The stored honey is used in time
of need, the members of the community receiving
it from the mouths of the rotunds. These globular
ants cling 2 to the ceiling of a chamber which forms
the store-house. When they fall on their backs
they cannot as a rule recover their position. When
the ants meet with an accident and the honey exudes,
the workers lap it up eagerly, but when they die, they
snip off the globular abdomen and carry, or rather
roll it, to the cemetery, with the other parts of the
body. They show their respect for the dead by not
devouring the honeyed store.
There are two other harvesting ants in America.
One peculiar to Florida,3 Pogonomyrmex crudelis,
and the other4 the Occident ant of the great
American plains, Pogonomyrmex Occidentalis.	In
1	The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident Ants of
the American Plains, by Henry C. McCook, D.D., pp. 25, 26.
2	Ibid. p. 22.
3	Agricultural Ant of Texas, p. 39.
4	The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident Ants of
the American Plains, pp. 142, 143.io8
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
India there are three more harvesters mentioned
by Moggridge.1
The question that remains is this. Has any
harvester been found in the Holy Land and its
neighbourhood, some ancestors of which may have
come under the direct observation of Solomon ? Dr.
Thomson, in The Land and the Book, describes2 most
graphically a species of ant which he had noticed
garnering grain. One link is yet wanting to complete
our chain of evidence ; has it been supplied ? Have
any recognised species of harvesters been recently dis-
covered in the Holy Land ? This important link
has been supplied. In the same volume of the Pro-
ceedings of the Linnean Society which recorded
Darwin's abstract of Dr. Lincecum’s observations on
the agricultural ant of Texas, and closely following
upon it, is a paper by Frederick Smith, giving an
account of certain new species of ants from the Holy
Land, with a synonymic list of others previously
described.3 The ants which form the subject of the
paper were collected in Syria and Palestine by Dr. J.
D. Hooker and Mr. Daniel Hanbury during a visit of a
few weeks to those countries in September and October,
i860. The species, though only ten in number, con-
tain both the Atta Barbara and Atta structor, which
Moggridge established as true harvesters about ten
years later. In Mr. Smith’s collection, now in my
1	Harvesting Ants, etc., p. 59, footnote.. The names of these
Indian harvesters being, Qicodoma (Atta) diffusa, Atta rufa, and
Pseudomyrma rufa nigra.
2	The Land and the Book, by W. M. Thomson, D.D., Lond. 1880,
PP- 336, 337-	.
8 Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society for 1861, part vi.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.	109
possession, among a large number of specimens of
Atta Barbara are several from Jerusalem, which may
possibly be descendants of the very ants which the
Inspired Naturalist observed, and the manifestation
of Ayhose harvesting instinct he has so faithfully
chronicled. These harvesters from the Holy City
belong to the two forms noticed by Moggridge, and
before him by Nylander and Mayr, and are evidently
varieties of the same species; the representatives of
one being perfectly black, and those of the other
ha^ng the head and legs bright red, and the thorax
a dull red, those of this latter variety from Jerusa-
lem being very beautifully and brilliantly coloured.
Many specimens of the allied harvester, Atta structor,
a smaller ant, is also in my collection, several being
from Mount Sinai. One specimen was found in the
garden of the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount
Sinai, where Tischendorf discovered one of the most
ancient manuscripts of the New Testament and
Septuagint. Thus, wonderful to relate, on this mount
of God wherein in ancient times the law was promul-
gated, we find in these latter days the word and the
works of the Eternal with one accord attesting the
Divinity of their great Original. Yes! we have clearly
demonstrated, I believe, from the contemplation of
God’s works as displayed in the wondrous harvesting
instinct of the little people that God’s word is truth.
The little harvesters lift their tiny testimony to that
truth, though their voice is not heard, from the old
world and the new, from North and South America,
from the sunny shores of the Mediterranean, from
the burning plains of India, and from Sinai and
Jerusalem, those two sacred spots where the law andno
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the Gospel respectively were promulgated for the
instruction and the enlightenment and salvation of
the world; and, as the little harvesters thus are one
with the whole creation in raising an unconscious
chorus of praise to Him who sitteth upon the throne,
may we gladly and intelligently add our songs of
thanksgiving to the Author of our being and our
bliss!CHAPTER IX.
The Manners and Customs of the Ants—The Members of the Royal
Family—The Career of the Males—The Self-sacrifice of the Fe-
males—The Power of a Single Female to Originate a Colony—The
Labours of the Workers—Election of the Queen—The Loyalty of
the Ants—Their Frolicsome Exercises.
LET us now unfold more in detail the ways and
doings, the manners and customs, of the British
ants. We left the members of the royal family,
it will be remembered, dancing joyously in the
glorious fields of light. Sometimes the swarms of a
whole district have been noticed to unite their count-
less myriads, and seen at a distance produce an effect
resembling the flashing of the Aurora Borealis; some-
times the effect is that of rainbow hues in the spray
of laughing waterfalls; sometimes that of fire; some-
times that of smoke-wreath. The males are short-
lived, some dying a natural death, a few only living
through the winter, and others, together with many of
the females, being devoured by birds and fishes when
they fall upon the water, and by spiders when they
get entangled in their webs.
This was the fate of hundreds of the males of the112
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
Formica umbrata (Lasius umbratus) in the year 1876,
a species generally distinguished from the common
yellow by its pubescent legs and antennae, the larger
head of the female, and the smoky wings of the
males. The extensive colony established against my
vicarage produces every year many thousands of
males. These are carefully guarded and marshalled
by the workers, and, it appears, are not allowed to
leave the common home without their permission ;
but when once it is secured they swarm over the
ground and upwards into the sunbeams. In 1876
they were interrupted in their upward flight by the
many webs spread over the jessamine and cotoneaster
upon the house. The nets were crowded with the
little people, and the spiders kept high festival.
Let us now watch the marvellous career of those
winged females who escape the keen glance of active
enemies, or survive the fatal effects of unpropitious
weather. They commence the business of their un-
selfish lives by doing all the work that is usually done
by the common labourers; and, in order to live for
others more effectually, they strip themselves of their
wings, and so cut off all inducement to sport gaily
in the sun-bathed air, to the neglect of their numerous
offspring. Such an extraordinary instance of self-
sacrifice I witnessed when at Bournemouth. A female
of Formica nigra (Lasius niger), the common garden
ant, I found deprived of three of her wings. I
persevered in watching her every movement, and
was agreeably astonished to see her deliberately
snap off the remaining wing. I thus confirmed the
testimony of M. P. Huber, as given in his own words.
“ I took,” says he, “ some earth and strewed itANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
n 3
lightly over the table, and then covered it with a
bell-glass. I induced a female to go under the glass
by presenting to her a fragment of straw, on which
she mounted, and upon this I conveyed her to her
new habitation. Scarcely did she perceive the earth
which covered the bottom of her abode, than she
extended her wings with some effort, bringing them
before her head, crossing them in every direction,
throwing them from side to side, and producing so
many singular contortions, that her four wings fell
off at the same moment in my presence. After this
change she reposed, brushed her corselet with her
feet, then traversed the ground, evidently appealing
to seek a place of shelter. She partook of the honey
I gave her, and at last found a hiding-place under
some loose earth which formed a little natural grotto.
On several females of different species I repeated,”
he said, “ the like experiment, and always obtained
the same result.” 1
It has been doubted by some whether a single'
female has the power of originating or founding a
colony. Forel and Ebrard, judging from their failure
in inducing a single female to do so, concluded that
she never could bring her young to maturity. Huber
made experiments on several females, placing them in
a vessel full of earth, “ with which they constructed,”
he says, “ lodges where they resided, some singly
others in common. They laid their eggs, and took
great care of them; and notwithstanding the incon-
venience of not being able to vary the temperature
of their habitation, they reared some, which became
1 Hiiber’s History of Ants, translated by J. R. Johnson, M.D
F.R.S., etc., pp. 114, 115, 117, 121.
IANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
114
larvae of a tolerable size, but which soon perished
from the effect of my own negligence.”
In connection with this debateable point in the
history of the ant’s economy I mention a very interest-
ing circumstance that occurred to me at Lulworth,
in 1881, which I think clearly proves that the
female has the power of assuming the functions of a
worker, and unaided initiating a colony. I discovered
under a stone a very small community indeed. The
scene disclosed surprised and delighted me. There
was a single apterous female of Formica aliena (Lasius
alienus) in association with three or four pupae
inclosed in cocoons, which, judging from their very
small size, must have been those of the small worker.
How did this isolated queen act ? She did not try
to escape and hide herself when the light of day
flashed in upon her, and while seeking a safe asylum
for herself leave the cradled young to their fate. She
acted the part of a true mother and tender nurse
by gently seizing one of the delicate pupae in her
mandibles, and slowly and gracefully raised it from
the ground, looking hither and thither for some
advantageous retreat.
Sir John Lubbock has shown that females are
capable of doing in captivity what I have thus
verified is done by them in a state of nature, though
he has gone further in his observation, and witnessed
not only the development of the larvae from the eggs
beneath the nursing influence of the isolated female,
as was the case in the experience of Huber, and that
also of the pupae, as in the instance I have detailed
at Lulworth, but he has witnessed also the pupae
arrive at maturity under the fostering care of anANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	115
isolated queen. His testimony is so valuable that
I have pleasure in quoting it in detail. He thus gives
the record of his experience : —
“ The following observation shows that, at any rate
in some cases, isolate.d queen ants are capable of
giving origin to a new community. On August 14th,
1876,1 isolated two pairs of Myrmica ruginodis, which
I found flying in my garden. I placed them with
damp earth, food, and water, and they continued
perfectly healthy through the winter. In April one
of the males died, and the second in the middle of
May. The first eggs were laid between April 12th
and 13th. They began to hatch the first week in
June, and the first larva turned into a chrysalis on the
27th ; a second on the 30th; a third on July 1st,
when there were also seven larvae and two eggs. On
the 8th there was another egg. On July 8th a fourth
larva had turned into a pupa. On July nth I found
there were six eggs, and on the 14th about ten. On
the 15th one of the pupae began to turn brown, and
the eggs were about fifteen in number.	On the 16th
a second pupa began to turn brown.	On the 21st
a fifth larva had turned into a pupa, and there were
about twenty eggs. On July 22nd the first worker
emerged, and a sixth larva had changed. On the 25th
I observed the young worker carrying the larvae about
when I looked into the nest; a second worker was
coming out; on July 28th a third worker emerged,
and a fourth on August 5 th. The eggs appeared to
be less numerous, and some had probably been
devoured. This experiment shows that the queens of
Myrmica ruginodis have the instinct of bringing up
larvae and the power of founding communities. TheANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
116
workers remained about six weeks in the egg, a month
in the state of larvae, and twenty-five to twenty-seven
days as pupae.” 1
Though it is therefore evident that females in case
of necessity are enabled unassisted to construct their
habitations, and to educate their family, yet, as a
general rule, while they introduce their young into the
colony, the workers build, and nurse, and give them, as
we shall see, a liberal education.
And nowit must be noticed that all the females
do not quit the old home to seek their fortune amid
newer scenes, since it is necessary that some should
linger to keep up the population. All being naturally
anxious to try their glittering wings before their
early widowhood, and oftentimes life-long imprison-
ment, means are adopted by the workers to detain
them against their will, and crown them queens by
force, and yet with the diadem of a fond attachment.
And how ? They strip them of their wings, and
thus keep them royal prisoners. Huber, while
watching an emmet’s residence, observed the greater
number of females quit the nest, never to return.
<c One,” however, he says,2 “was about to take flight,
when the labourers retained her by her feet, kept her
down by main force, tore off her wings, and conducted
her back to her” native home, “ where they obsti-
nately guarded her.” Others he noticed mutilated
and imprisoned in like manner.
The workers, knowing full well that the very
existence of their colony depends upon the presence
among them of a sufficient number of queens, guard
them when mutilated with the greatest assiduity,
1 JSee An4s Bees, a?td Wasps, pp. 32, 33.	2 Huber’s Ants, p. 129.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
117
nourish them with the most wakeful care, conduct
them to those quarters of their domicile of most
genial temperature, do not allow them to refresh them-
selves with summer gales, and—abandon them, no,
not for an hour. When the queen gives birth to a
numerous progeny, in the form of tiny eggs, the
desire of quitting her abode being gone, she no longer
is placed under restraint, yet still has a constant
guard, who watch her every movement, anticipate her
every want, and provide with admirable foresight and
Fig. 18.—Myrmica domestica (D?plorhofttmm domesticum).
1. Queen (apterous female), a, natural size. 2. One of her subjects, b, natural size
over-anxious care her daily—nay, hourly—necessities.
A sentinel1 is placed near the body of the queen, to
carry off the little eggs as soon as laid. As soon
as one leaves her presence with its precious burden
another takes its place to watch her. A retinue
attends her of from three to fifteen in number, some-
times even more, whose duties in offering her refresh-
ments and accompanying her through the difficult
passages are not only faithfully discharged, but whose
1 Hiiber’s History of Ants, translated by Johnson, p. 132.ii8
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
affection is unceasingly manifested as they caress her
with their antennae. In the bakers shop in the
Kennington Road, I observed the queen taking a
morning walk in her home park, which consisted in
the white-washed wall, and she was attended by a
body-guard of about a dozen of her loyal subjects.
In the dripping-pan at Stanhope Place, which I found
swarming with the same species, I was able to detect
the presence of the queen by the crowd of tiny
workers who completely surrounded her; and so
assiduous were they in their attention, and so devoted
in their loyalty, that they covered her with their
bodies, and thus shrouded her from the vulgar gaze,
while at the same time always indicating her existence
by their clustering numbers.
In 1878 I received a colony of the minute rare ant
Myrmica tmifasciata. It consisted of a queen, the
royal children, and many of her faithful subjects.
They reached me alive, so that for many days I
carefully wratched their movements. I was able to
witness the loyalty of the little people for their
beloved sovereign. It was very marked. They
attended her in her perambulations, they formed
round her when she rested; some showed their
regard for her by gently walking over her, others
by patiently watching by her and cherishing her
with their antennae, and in every way endeavouring
to testify to their affectionate attachment and generous
submission. It has been noticed1 that “in whatever
apartment a queen condescends to be present, she
commands obedience and respect, and that a universal
1 See An Account of English Ants, by the Rev. Wm. Gould, A.M.,
p. 24.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
ji9
gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, which
is expressed by particular acts of joy and exultation.”
“They have a peculiar way of skipping, leaping,
and standing up on their hind legs] and prancing with
the others. These frolics they make use of both to
congratulate each other when they meet, and to show
their regard for the queen.” I have observed them
also in the case of the Formica umbrata {Lasius
umbratus) thus gambolling together when guarding
the youthful princes at the entrance of their palaces,
while welcoming their presence, and, at the same
time, methodically repressing their enthusiasm and
natural longing for independence. These frolicsome
exercises I have witnessed in the case of the Formica
aliena (.Lasius alienus), when the sun has shed its
gladsome rays suddenly upon them through the glass
sides of one of my artificial formicariay or formic
crystal palaces. I have been also delighted to
witness them in the case of the Formica flava
(Lasius jiavus), when, having placed a formicarium
which inclosed this common yellow species near the
fire, and the welcome heat caused the little people
to swarm in the passages and testify their gladness
at the suddenly increased temperature, they seemed
hardly to be able to contain themselves for joy. They
embraced each other, and skipped and danced like
playful lambs or kittens.CHAPTER X.
The Affection of the Ants for their Young—Their Earlier Life-history
—The Eggs—The Larvae—Instance of the Care of the Workers for
the Larvae—How they keep them at a Suitable Temperature—The
Workers Enjoy the Sunshine—How the Larvae are Fed and
Cleansed—The Little Weavers—The Multiplied Labours of the
Workers—How the Foster-mothers Guard the Inclosed Pupae,
and Extricate the Young Ants from the Cocoons—The Workers
Conduct their Education—The Solicitude of the Workers for the
Males—No Pupae in Winter Time—The Pupae of Ants with Stings
not Inclosed in Cocoons.
ANTS, in addition to the loyalty and the love
they have for their queen, show affection for the
youthful charges delivered over to their nursing care
by their gracious sovereign. The queen is ever
encircled by devoted adherents and attendants, and
among these are some who take charge of the tiny
eggs as soon as they are deposited, and hasten with
them to the nurseries. These eggs are very small,
whitish, semi-transparent, and of an oval form ; and
as they reach maturity they increase in size and
become slightly kidney-shaped, indicating the form of
the coming larva. They are so minute that the
nurses could not safely transmit them in their mandi-ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
121
bles to their place of shelter; we find, therefore, that
they are glutinous, and adhere together, and can thus
in little clusters be carried in perfect security in the
loving arms of their foster-mothers.
Certain chambers in the subterranean domiciles are
set apart as nurseries, which are crowded with numer-
ous little inmates in the form of ringed footless grubs,
attenuated and curved towards the head, of a dull
white, often clouded with grey. Examined through

Fig. 19.
Fig. 20.
Fig. 19.—a, Cluster of eggs. b, natural size.
Fig. 20.—Larvae of Ant. 1, front view of larva; 2, back view of larva; 3, larva of
female in hungry attitude, a, b, c, natural size.
a microscope, these grubs, which are without feet and
composed of about twelve rings, are found to be
hairy and have little mouths, at each side of which
are yellowish-brown hooklets, like tiny jaws, yet so
far apart as to be of little or no service to them.
They may possibly be the embryo of the future
mandibles ; for these grubs form the second stage
in the life-history of the ants, and come from the122
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
eggs before mentioned, which is the first stage of
their early existence.
When disturbed or alarmed, the nurses seize their
tender charge in their mandibles and hurry off* with
them as fast as their little legs can carry them. They
strive to shelter them from danger when exposed, by
grasping them in a tender embrace, which interesting
incident, seen whenever an ant’s nest is disturbed,
is plain proof of their care and love for them.
It is a noteworthy circumstance in the history of
the yellow species, F. Jlava (L.flavus), that the last
autumn brood is arrested in its growth and hyber-
nates, and that those larvae which are able to survive
the winter months are more densely clothed with hair,
besides being provided with nurseries as far removed
as possible from the outer variable temperature, being
transported thither by their careful guardians. I have
discovered that the larvae of the red Myrmica Icevi-
nodis also hybernates. I have seen many larvae in the
centre of a cluster of the workers of this species dug
up many inches below the surface of the soil in the
winter time. This interesting fact in its life-history
has hitherto been unrecorded.
In one of my formicaria I have observed a marvel-
lous instance of the care of the workers for the larvae.
There was a piece of earth lying on a helpless grub;
one or two workers showed the greatest anxiety to
emancipate their imprisoned charge; one gently
pulled the larva with its mandibles, and the other
removed the earth bit by bit, joined now and then by
another, who gave friendly assistance at intervals.
They rested not until the rescue was effected, and
then one took one end and the other the oppositeANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
123
end of the larva, and only for a moment hesitated
as to the course to adopt, when one unselfishly
resigned to the other worker the privilege of convey-
ing the object of their interest to a subterranean
place of safety.
* To keep them always at a suitable temperature
during the warmer months, the careful nurses carry the
grubs after the sun is risen, and has shed its radiance
on their domicile, to the chambers near the surface
of their nest, to nourish them by the sun’s warmth;
and every evening they carry them back to a lower
story, to protect them from the dews and cold of
night. I have oftentimes watched them act thus
through the glass sides of my formicaria, while regulat-
ing their marvellous movements by artificial light and
heat. I have also observed the workers bring up
clusters of the tiny eggs into chambers subjected to
the warmth of the morning sun, and remove them
in the afternoon, when the pleasant sunbeams have
ceased to play upon the sides or surface of their
habitation. Frequently I have watched such a marked
instance of intelligence in the colony of Formica
sanguinea in the glass vessel in my study window.
The workers themselves thoroughly enjoy the sun-
shine, for the chambers on which the sun is shining
are crowded with workers, even when no eggs are
visible. It is the same with other species, as when,
in the instance before recorded, I suddenly introduced
a gleam of sunlight into a chamber of another
formicarium in my study, which served as the winter
quarters of F. aliena (L. alienus), and the clustering
workers began to move, and, seemingly, dance for joy,
under the vivifying influence of the sunbeam.124
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
The F. aliena (L. alienus) is closely allied to F.
nigra {L. niger), the common garden ant, though not
nearly so frequently met with. I have, however, found
it not only at Bournemouth, a recognised habitat, but
most extensive colonies in Suffolk, especially at
Lowestoft, and in profusion under the stones scat-
tered over the warren at Minehead. The colony I
have in my possession I met with under a stone at
Stinchcombe Hill, one of the highest points of the
Cotswolds, which is another new locality for this
species. I have also discovered it in strong force on
the top of one of the walls of Conway Castle. The
workers may be distinguished from the common nigra
by the scape of the antennae and the legs being more
pubescent. The males and females have been hitherto
difficult to separate, in consequence of the pubescence
varying in its denseness ; but I some time ago dis-
covered a distinguishing characteristic for the female
of aliena> and accepted as such by Mr. Smith. I
found it to possess a tinted costal area (one of the
cells into which the wing is divided), while the costal
aLrea of nigra is colourless, since which I have noticed
that the male of aliena has also a tinted costal area,
though of a different colour, being smoky and very
pale; whereas that of the female is yellow.
When hungry, how are the helpless larvae to obtain
the needful sustenance ? They stretch the anterior
part of their bodies, open wide their tiny mouths
and seek from their nurses the food without which
they could not live. The tender nurses administer
the welcome aliment through their own mouths.
The regimen, it has been presumed, is proportioned
to their growth, and the females are fed with greaterANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
125
liberality. With the exception of the winter months
the young require feeding several times a day; and
when we remember that in well-stocked nests there
are many thousand mouths craving food at stated
intervals, we are able to form some idea of the work,
and shall not wonder at the ceaseless activity of the
self-denying labourers. Then, to keep the babies
clean, the faithful nurses pass over them their man-
dibles and their tongues, rendering them by this
means as white as milk.
When the infants have reached their full propor-
tions they try their hands, or rather their mouths,
at weaving, and fall asleep in silken coverlids of
their own design and making. And now, is the
care and labour of the nurses at an end ? By no
means ; for, food excepted, these pupae, or cocoons,
as they are called, and which are the third stage
in the little people’s life, require as much attention
as the larvae or grubs. They need to be carried
from the bottom of the nest, and thence again every
morning and evening; and who are able to perform
this arduous task but the loving nurses ? who, strange
to say, regulate their proceedings by the sun, remov-
ing their little charges, as is their wont, according
to his rising and setting. 1 have oftentimes induced
them to act in a similarly methodical manner in
the night season by causing the light of a candle to
fall upon the transparent side of a fortnicarium and
withdrawing it after a stated interval.
Their labours are, of course, considerably increased
when their home is thrown into confusion by the
unhappy tread of a passing animal, or when the
nurseries are flooded by an unusually heavy shower,126
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
their duty being to gather together the helpless
young and shelter them, or carry them down into
safer and drier apartments ; to repair the breach in
their castle walls, to reconstruct its ruined chambers)
and clear away the crumbling masonry from the
numerous avenues and corridors, and rescue their
companions who may have suffered from the unto-
ward accident. By breaking down a part of the
masonry, and flooding the upper nurseries in an
artificial formicarium, I have witnessed the in-
telligence, the sympathy, and unwearied diligence
of the workers in active exercise. The rapidity with
which they remove their infant charges from the
crowded nurseries to a place of safe retreat, and recon-
struct their desolated home, is something marvellous
to witness.
Then, again, how tenderly the indefatigable
foster-mothers watch the silken envelopes inclosing
the voluntary prisoners! They listen ceaselessly
as they mount guard to catch the first feeble
stir of returning consciousness. As soon as they
detect the helpless effort of the prisoner to escape,
knowing by unerring instinct that, unaided, it cannot,
three or four, with admirable care and skill, stand
upon the cocoon, and begin to open it where they know
the head is situated. This, strange to say, is always
at the end opposite to that which is marked by a
little black bead-like protuberance. With their
mandibles they cut the many silken threads of
which the envelope is fabricated, until a hole is made
large enough to enable the inmate of the prison
to escape. Even then it cannot move without the
assistance of the careful workers, since it is inclosedANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
12 7
in a second covering, or pellicle, which has to be
removed. With the utmost gentleness, they help
to extricate it from its trammels, and, with loving
touch, they smooth the wings of those who happily
possess them, and according to Huber,1 after liber-
ating and afterwards feeding the new-born insects,
they still, for several days, watch and follow them
everywhere, teaching them to unravel the paths and
4	5
Fig. 21.—Cocoons of Formica flava {Lasius flavus). i, male ; 2, large worker ;
3, small worker; 4, female; 5, cocoon of female, open, to show pupa in situ,
a. natural size.
winding labyrinths of the common habitation; and
when the males and females again take flight, these
affectionate stepmothers accompany them to the
summit of the highest heaps, showing the most tender
solicitude for them (some even endeavour to retain
1 Huber’s History of Ants, pp. 96 and 98.128
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
them), feeding them for the last time ; and at length,
when they rise and disappear, seeming to linger
for some seconds over the footsteps of these favoured
beings, of whom they have taken such exemplary
care, and whom they will never behold again.
I have often been an interested spectator of the
tender solicitude of yellow workers of the umbrata
for the black males. In my artificial formicarium I
have seen them give them food from their own
mouths, and follow them as they mount the crystal
walls. And the numerous entrances of the natural
formicarium in my front flower-border I have often
seen crowded with males ; each cluster being con-
stantly guarded by a cordon of workers, the contrast
between the yellow workers and the black males
being singularly beautiful. When one or more of
the princes have managed to break through the ranks,
the sentinels have followed them and brought them
back. And when by mutual consent the males have
ventured to take a constitutional, the workers have
always followed them and kept them in view, and
in due time directed their steps homeward, and ceased
not to guard them until they were again safe and
sound within the domestic circle.
Anderson1 tells us in his Recreations in Agricul-
ture that the Russian shepherds ingeniously avail
themselves of the attachment of ants to their young
for obtaining with little trouble a collection of the
pupae, which they sell as dainty food for nightingales.
They scatter an ant’s nest upon a dry plot of ground,
1 See Kirby and Spence’s Introduction to Entomology, 1815, vol. i.
p. 361, footnote, containing reference to Anderson’s Recreations in
Agriculture, etc., iv. 158.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
129
surrounded with a shallow trench of water, and place
on one side of it a few fir branches. Under these
the ants, having no other alternative, carefully arrange
all their pupae, and in an hour or two the shepherd
finds a large heap clean and ready for market. The
inclosed pupae are those small white or pale yellow
objects of oval form and varying size, according to
the sex of the future ant, which any one may notice
in an ant’s nest when disturbed, for then the nurses
seize them in their mandibles and run about with
them over the crumbled ruins of their houses, seeking
a safe retreat. They are by the uninitiated called
"ants’ eggs,” and are collected in Germany as in
Russia, with the kind assistance of the nurses, and
sold as fattening food for birds. In the season
they may be purchased in London shops as a delicacy
for youthful pheasants and partridges. For this
purpose ants’ nests are considered as valuable
property by gamekeepers. I have been told by a
gamekeeper in Stonehouse that he has often fed
his master’s game with the eggs, as he calls the
inclosed pupae of the yellow ant. The ants them-
selves are greedily devoured, but the red species
are avoided ; these latter would, he says, sting his
birds to death. The yellow, and those other species
which spin cocoons, have, you will remember, no
stings.
In the winter season you may inquire in vain for
pupae in the bird-fanciers’ shops in the neighbour-
hood of the Seven Dials, since at this time of the
year they cannot be obtained from the nurseries of the
ants. The growth of the larvae of the autumn brood
is always arrested before the cold weather sets in,
K130
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
since the pupae are too delicate to outlive a severe
temperature. I have never found any pupae in these
yellow ants’ nests I have carefully examined during
winter, but I have noticed the nurseries crowded with
small larvae with their winter clothing. In the case
also of Myrmica l&vinodis, I have found no naked
pupae, but only larvae in the winter time.
A beautiful illustration have we in this incident in
the economy of the little people of the inspired
assurance that God’s tender mercies are over all
His works.
Fig. 22.—Pupa of Myrmica leevinodis,	Fig. 23.—Front view of pupa of Myr-
with pellicle partially removed.	mica rugtnodis (female) in pellicle,
natural size.	b> natural size.
Those ants which have stings and do not spin cocoons
are covered with a thin membranous envelope, which
is common also to those pupae which are robed in
silk, from which they cannot extricate themselves
without the kind assistance of the nurses. These
naked pupae are sometimes spotless white, sometimes
yellow, sometimes light brown, and sometimes nearly
black, according to the sex and age, assuming, doubt-
less, the colour of %the perfect insect the nearer itANTS AND THEIR WA YS.	131
reaches the period of liberation from its bonds. The
pellicle fits the pupae like a glove, so closely that
every part of the future ant is distinctly indicated,
viz. the antennae, thorax, peduncle with its nodes,
abdomen, legs, and undeveloped wings, predicting
unhesitatingly the sexes. In the year 1879 I obtained
pupae of the rare M. lobicornis, and I could identify
the species from its distinguished characteristic, the
little horn on the scape of the antennae, being seen by
reason of its delicate and closely-fitting vesture.CHAPTER XI.
The Ants at their Toilet—Tuneral Rites—A Funeral Procession in
Australia—Startling Phenomena in the Author’s Formicarium—
Formic Cemeteries—Habits of F. umbrata (L. umbratus)—Burial
Customs—Ants* Affection for the Living greater than their Respect
for the Dead.
The little people are most cleanly in their habits.
They not only are indefatigable in their efforts to
free the younger members of their community from
all impurities, but are most careful as to their own
personal toilet, and may be frequently observed
cleaning themselves most assiduously with leg, tongue,
and mandible. The workers of the M, unifasciata I
have had a good opportunity of watching. I have
seen them leaning on one side while resting on two
legs and rubbing the other four together, and again
passing the right fore-leg over the left antenna after
drawing it through its mouth, like a cat in the act of
cleaning itself with its paw. These quaint little
beings often amuse themselves by sitting upright,
their two hind-legs resting on the ground, and their
abdomen between them and at right-angles with the
erect thorax and head, their fore-leg in the air, andANTS AND 7HEIR WAVS.
133
their antennae waving to and fro. Another I have
seen standing on the tip of the abdomen, being
supported by the toe-claws of the hind-legs.
Ants are very particular about their houses, and
keep their many apartments, halls, and corridors neat
and tidy. When any of their companions die they
immediately remove the dead bodies with their
mandibles, and carry them into the open air. Gould
mentions 1 that as soon as a member of the fraternity
dies, “ it is carried out of the settlement, and thrown
upon the ground without ceremony or rites of a
funeral;” but he adds, “Pliny2 informs us that the ants
of his country are wont to bury their dead, which
is a curiosity not imitated by ours in England.” The
observant Roman naturalist, who lived in the first
century, and completed his great work on Natural
History the year before he perished in the eruption of
Vesuvius, which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii,
was not far wrong, as maybe fairly judged from what
I am able to narrate about the marvellous habits of
the closely allied species, F. flava (L.jlavus) and F.
umbrata (L. umbratus). I will be the more explicit,
since they have not, as far as I can learn, been before
noticed by any other observer. Before, however, I
give the result of my own observation I will mention
an astonishing account of the intelligence of an
Australian ant, without which our chronicle of the
funeral rites of the little people would not be
complete.
In the Proceedings of the Linnean Society for 1861
1	An Account of English Ants, by the Rev. Wm. Gould, A.M.,
p. 17.
2	Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 29.134
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
is a communication from a Mrs. Hatton, of Sydney (I
quote now from a manuscript of the late Mr. F. Smith,
which he most generously placed at my disposal), in
which are details of a most remarkable character
attributed to an ant, there called the soldier ant. The
communication is in substance as follows :—
“One day a little boy of mine, about four years
old, being tired of play, threw himself down on a
grassy mound to rest. Shortly after I was startled by
a sudden scream. My instant thought was that some
serpent had stung him. I flew in horror to the child,
but was at once reassured on seeing him covered with
soldier ants, on whose nest he had laid himself down.
Numbers of the ants were still clinging to him with
their forceps, and continued to sting the boy. My
maid at once assisted me in killing them. At length,
about twenty were thrown dead on the ground. We
then carried the boy indoors. In about half an hour
afterwards I returned to the same spot, when I saw a
large number of ants, surrounding the dead ones. I
determined to watch their proceedings closely, and
followed four or five that started off from the rest
towards a hillock a short distance off, in which was
an ants' nest. This they entered, and in about five
minutes they reappeared, followed by others. All
fell into rank, walking regularly and slowly two by
two, until they arrived at the spot where lay the dead
bodies of the soldier ants. In a few minutes two of
the ants advanced and took up the dead body of one
of their comrades ; then two others, and so on, until
all were ready to march. First walked two ants
bearing a body, then two without a burden ; then two
others with another dead ant, and so on, until theANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
135
line was extended to about forty pairs, and the pro-
cession now moved slowly onwards, followed by an
irregular body of about 200 ants. Occasionally the
two laden ants stopped, and laying down the dead ant
it was taken up by the two walking unburdened behind
them, and thus, by occasionally relieving each other,
they arrived at a sandy spot near the sea. The body
of ants now commenced digging with their jaws a
number of holes in the ground, into each of which a
dead ant was laid, where they now laboured on until
they had filled up the ants’ graves, This did not
quite finish the remarkable circumstances attending
this funeral of the ants. Some six or seven of the
ants had attempted to run off without performing
their share of the task of digging; these were caught
and brought back, when they were at once attacked
by the body of ants and killed upon the spot. A
single grave was quickly dug, and they were all
dropped into it.” “ Now,” says Mr. Smith, “ allowing
something for the lady’s imagination, there can be
no doubt of the fact of ants having buried ants. The
lady is well known to connections of the members of
the Linnean Society, and we may feel assured that
unless perfect confidence was felt in the party com-
municating this wonderful account, the paper would
not have been read before the Linnean Society.” I
do not find it difficult to credit this extraordinary
narrative after what I myself have witnessed.
' On the 1st of March, 1866, I established a fortni-
carium by transferring a portion of a nest of F. flava
(.L. flavus) to a glass receptacle. On the 2nd the ants
had thrown up masonry work and constructed cham-
bers and passages, varying from one inch to two inches136
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
between the turf and the glass. Several dead ants had
been brought up from the interior of the nest and
placed on the surface. One ant I observed walking
with only half its body. What an instance we have here
of the continuance of vitality after serious mutilation!
On March 3rd two ants were moving without their
abdomen, one bearing a larva in its mandibles. What
an evidence of the power as well as the vitality, the
strong affection for their infant charge, and also the
immunity from acute sensations enjoyed by these
little creatures! The possibility of the phenomenon
arises from the arrangement of the nervous system,
which, instead of being concentrated, as in the
higher order of animals, in the brain and spinal cord,
is distributed with ants and other insects in the form
of ganglia, or nervous knots, with connecting nervous
filaments. Each ganglion forms a centre of life and
motion, so that if the body of an insect is severed
between the ganglia, the separate portions have for
a season power to move and act as if possessed of
independent life. I have watched for many hours
a fly without a head cleaning its wings as if perfectly
unconcerned at its abnormal condition.
To return. I noticed that the number of the dead
upon the surface of the nest on March 3rd had
increased. On March 4th I found more than 200 dead
bodies lying against the glass, and ants here and
there were carrying the corpses of their companions
as well as the bodies of their living charges, the
masonry now reaching from the turf to the glass
from one inch to two and a-half inches in breadth,
and against the glass from one and a-half to two and
a-half inches in height.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
137
On March 6th the number of dead further increased,
and the ants were more active in carrying them. I
now placed three card-trays with honey for food.
Instead of using them as hospitable and festive
boards, from whence they might satisfy their hunger,
they converted them into cemeteries. About a quarter
Fig. 24.—c„ c2, C3, card-trays used as cemeteries by F.flava (L.jlavus) in one
of the author’s formicaria ; n„ n2, n3> N4, chambers containing pupae.
of an hour afterwards in each of two of the trays
there was one dead ant. About one hour after this
in one tray there was one dead ; in the second, three
dead ; and in the third six. While I was watching,
an ant brought a corpse and placed it tenderly in the
third tray, and so increased the number there to138
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
seven. It was 2 p.m. when I first placed the trays,
and at
4 p.m. in I. there were 2 dead.
At 10.30 in I. „	„ between 40 and 50.
Several of the little sextons I observed with dead in
their mandibles, and one in the act of burying a
corpse.
March 7.—In each tray I noticed between seventy
and eighty.
March 8.—At 1.45 in I. there were about 140.
At 2.30 I placed two more trays on the surface of
the nest, and without honey, on opposite sides of the
formicarium.
At 8.15 in one of these previously empty trays I
found nine dead bodies. Two were deposited while
I was watching, and so the number was increased to
eleven. In the other tray there were ten, two being
deposited while I was observing, and thus the num-
ber in the second tray reached twelve. The dead
were not interred without considerable difficulty, in
consequence of the sides of the trays being almost
perpendicular. The work of the sextons continued
until no dead bodies remained upon the surface 01
the nest, but all were interred in the extramural
cemeteries. Afterwards I removed the trays, and
turned the contents of the formicarium upside down,
and then I placed six trays on the surface of the
Ih tt	tt	4	ft
tt	tt	9	tt
So „ 60.
60 „ 70.
„ in.
180.
180.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
139
earth, two of which I filled with sugar for food. All
six were used freely as cemeteries, being crowded
with the corpses of the little people and their young,
the larvae which had perished in the disruption of
their home.
I have noticed in one of my formicaria a subter-
ranean cemetery, where I have seen some ants
burying their dead by placing earth above them.
One ant was evidently much affected, and tried to
exhume the bodies, but the united exertions of the
yellow sextons were more than sufficient to neu-
tralise the effort of the disconsolate mourner. The
cemetery was now converted into a large vault,
the chamber where the dead were placed, together
with the passage which led to it, being completely
covered in.
The allied species, F. umbrata {L. umbratus), does
not, as a rule, use the trays as cemeteries ; only one
or two dead, and the wings of the males in the swarm-
ing season, every now and then I found therein; but
the workers utilised them to stow away their waste
building material, and I have seen them completely
filled with earth. A partial exception I have noticed
to this rule.
On August 30th of 1879 I established a for-
micarium by filling a glass vessel more than half
full of a portion of a marvellous nest of the umbrata.
Instead of earth, the ant had used comminuted wood
like sawdust, of a rich brown colour, to fashion its
innumerable apartments and their intricate commu-
nications. I soon observed the desolate and dis-
arranged portion of the nest reconstructed through
the crystal wall of their new domicile, the brown140
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
dust being before long consolidated and modelled
into well-formed nurseries and withdrawing-rooms.
The nurseries were at the bottom of the nest, which,
by September 5th, could be seen, by raising aloft the
glass vessel, to be about twelve in number, and
occupying about one-sixth of the entire ground-floor,
and crowded with thousands of larvae. Masonry
work was being rapidly raised on the surface more
than an inch in height, which, on September 6th,
touched the muslin with which the glass was covered :
but the little builders, nothing daunted, cut the
threads of the muslin with their mandibles, and made
holes in several places, which gave them power of
egress and ingress, of which they availed themselves,
using the string which bound the muslin as a ladder,
and reaching thus the stand which formed the base
of their palace. At 8.50 there were as many as 200
or more on the stand, about 20 on the muslin, through
a hole in which one went in and another came out.
At 11.30 p.m. there were nearly 100 on the muslin,
several hundred on the stand, and the strings were
covered with them. When I lifted up the muslin on
September 7th, I found the surface of the nest
covered with hillocks, or turrets, three inches or more
in height.
The sugar placed on the surface for sustenance of
the little people was hidden from view. Numbers of
ants were in the encircling trench, which I had
arranged to keep the little people from roaming,
evidently cast there by active members of the com-
munity, for they were all dead ; and several parts of
ants and two larvae I noticed also in the water. One
ant I watched on the stand with a corpse in itsANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	141
mandibles go to the edge of the trench and return
without its burden. I placed sugar on the surface near
glass at 1045 ; cleared the trench of floating ants, of
which there were immense numbers, at 12.15. There
were about thirty dead bodies on the sugar, and other
dead bodies were sparsely scattered over the surface.
In one spot there were about sixty or more deposited
by the unwearied sextons, one of whom I noticed
with a corpse in its mandibles. At 1.35 I observed
two ants with dead, and I now placed a paper tray
between two turrets, nearly in the centre of the sur-
face. At 2.25 there were three dead in the tray, and
one or two grains of comminuted wood. At 4.10
there were four dead in the tray, and several grains
of wood and one larva. At 10.45 P-m- there was one
moving mass of ants upon the surface, about half of
the bottom of the tray was covered with pieces of
wood, and in the tray only one or two were dead. I
noticed a sexton take a dead ant out of the tray, and
place it in a cavity by the tray, and disappear under
the tray. Then came a second sexton with a dead
body in its mandibles, and moved into the tray and
then out of the tray with its burden, which it also
carried into the cavity. A third I noticed remove a
dead body out of the tray, and a fourth carried a
corpse down the cavity. A few dead were lying on
the surface of the nest, where numbers were seen
earlier in the day. Over the sugar by the glass there
were numbers of dead. This seemed to be now
recognised as the cemetery. Very little sugar was
seen, comminuted wood and dead covered it. No
dead were now scattered over the surface; several
ants were seen carrying dead. There were very fewT42
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
floating in the trench. There was a difficulty now
in reaching it, since the muslin with its strings, which
formed the scaling-ladders of the little people, had
been removed.
September 8.—2.53. I noticed between forty and
fifty dead in the middle of the tray, a thin layer of
wood covering the tray. In the cemetery near glass
about same number of dead. One ant placed a dead
body within its precinct.
September 10. —10.15. The tray was nearly
covered with wood. Seventy or eighty dead were in
the tray on wood. In the tray, about as many on the
shady slope of neighbouring hillock, and about a
dozen in depression near glass.
I kept another formicarium of umbrata, having
taken a portion of the nest in my front border.
When the males were in strong force I placed them
in a confectioner’s glass vase, with a screen of brown
paper, to shade them from the light and induce them
to work against the glass. A card-tray they soon
filled with earth ; and as the males died they were
buried in depressions in the soil, in the upper
chambers against the glass, on the shady side of
the formicarium.
A most interesting incident came under my notice
here. The little sextons utilised the earth-laden card-
tray for the burial of some of their dead by carrying
the corpses into the cavity formed beneath the tray,
the tray forming the slab of, to them, an extensive
vault.
From all that I have witnessed and now narrated,
surely we may safely affirm that, in their due regard
for health and cleanliness, and especially in theANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
143
disposal of their dead, and in their varied funeral rites,
the little people show their wisdom. However, their
affection for the living is greater than their respect
for the dead. One mourner I observed some time
back in another formicarium bearing off a corpse to
burial; it let down its burden that it might rest
a while, when, looking round, it espied a larva lying
helplessly upon the ground. It immediately forsook
the dead body of its comrade, to be interred later
by itself or another worker, and clasped fondly the
tender youngster in its mandibles, and carried it
doubtless to the nursery ; but I had not time to note
the track the foster-mother took.CHAPTER XII.
Ants Live Happily Together—Instance of Unselfish Devotion and
Disinterested Kindness witnessed by the Author — Exhuming
Buried Companions — Concerted Action—Joy at Meeting after
Separation—A Recognition after Four Months’ Absence recorded
by Huber— The Author’s Observation of a Recognition after a
Separation of One Year and nearly Three Months—Successful
Experiments with Members of a Colony of F, sanguined—Sir
J. Lubbock’s observations—Ants recognised by Members of the
Colony when removed as Pupae—Intoxicated and Chloroformed
Ants recognised by their friends.
I HAVE noticed how happily the members of the
same community seem to live together. Harmony
reigns everywhere supreme. The little people ever
help each other when in need or difficulty. When one is
hungry another feeds it. When one is sickly, another
ministers unto it. The smaller workers of not so
stout a build or robust a habit as others are borne
along in the loving grasp of their more stalwart
neighbours. I have seen members of a colony of
Formica rufa marching in single file, each with a
fellow-worker in its mandibles, the object of its
sympathetic regard doubling itself up in order to
give its benevolent companion as little inconvenience
as possible in the transit. The sympathy of the little
people sometimes assumes a most touching aspect.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
145
We are told1 that the eminent entomologist, M.
Latreille, once cut off* the antennae of an ant, and its
companion, evidently pitying its sufferings, anointed
the wounded part with a drop of transparent fluid
from its mouth. When a burden is too heavy for
one to carry, another will surely come to its succour,
and relieve its overtaxed powers by bearing a part of
the weight; and if the commissariat department is to
be strengthened, and unwilling victims to be sacri-
ficed, for the maintenance of the colony, a foraging
party unite to forward the common weal by dragging
to the shambles the struggling captive. This I have
often witnessed.
A remarkable instance of unselfish devotion and
disinterested kindness gave me unmixed satisfaction
at Shirley Common on the 9th of May, 1878. I had,
for the sake of observation, disturbed a colony of
Formica sanguinea, the slave-making ant. When
some of the little people got into difficulties, and
were likely to be buried alive beneath the ruin of
their desolated home, to extricate them from the
fallen debris, was it necessary for me to act the part
of a friendly giant and deliver them from their im-
pending doom ? By no means. Their own tender-
hearted companions were equal to the emergency ; in
fact, were it not for the perturbation and evident
anxiety of those who were at liberty, I should my-
self have been utterly ignorant qf the extent of the
catastrophe and the imminence of the peril which
threatened with destruction several hapless members
of the interesting community.
My attention was directed to a sanguinea which
1 Huber’s Ants, p. 171.
L146
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
was working with great earnestness at a small hole in
the sandy soil with which the nest was constructed,
and which it was trying to enlarge, evidently with
some determined object in view. I watched with
much interest to see what that object was. The little
labourer left its occupation but to return and pursue
it with renewed vigour; again it left its work and
again returned, and then went into an adjacent hole
and reappeared after a careful investigation of the
cavity. Without disturbing the indefatigable san-
guinea, I carefully examined the hole, and noticed
the leg of an ant moving, which at once unveiled to
me the mystery of my little friends persistent move-
ments. It was evidently endeavouring to extricate
an imprisoned companion ! Startled possibly at my
presence, it moved away again, but its philanthropy
overcoming its timidity, it soon came back and ad-
dressed itself to its benevolent task with redoubled
energy. It loosened the earth above the quivering
limb, and then went underneath and fairly extricated
the anxious captive. The liberated ant, in the glad-
ness of its heart, ran a little way from its prison, but
being wearied in consequence of the painful character
of its enforced detention, it rested itself. The liberator
immediately ran towards it, and having ascertained
doubtless that the object of its solicitude was unin-
jured, left it immediately, the latter continuing its
rapid journey from the place of its captivity, while
the former returned to the scene of its recent exploit
to re-enact a similar act of kindness.
In the second instance its difficulties were increased,
since, as well as the superincumbent soil, a small
stone rested on its unfortunate companion. NothingANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
*47
daunted, it went actively to work, and did not cease
until its unremitting efforts were crowned with com-
plete success. It then dragged its friend out of the
uncomfortable and perilous position, and removing it
thus forcibly a few inches from its living grave, and
ascertaining that it was in an exhausted condition,
lifted it in its mandibles and carried it in triumph
through the open door into the inner recesses of the
common habitation.
Fig. 25.—Ants rescuing a buried companion, a drags the body out of the ground
with its mandibles; b and c simultaneously remove pellet of earth from its head.
I have every reason to believe that these are not
uncommon illustrations of the sympathy and kind-
ness, of ants. In a formicarium of sangumea which I
established in my study, the same interesting scene
has been enacted with heightened colour and more
striking emphasis, since in this instance the unhappy
L 2148	ANTS AND THEIR WA VS,
victim of adverse circumstances seemed really hope-
lessly entangled by its surroundings. My frequent
observation of their ways and doings has clearly
proved that ants know, to their never-failing advan-
tage, that union is strength, so that when one proves
unequal to an allotted task, it seeks the co-operation
of others, and the task is sure to be happily accom-
plished. And so it was in this case: concerted action
wrought deliverance for the trembling captive in my
forniicarium.
When separated for a while from each other, the
joy of the little people at meeting knows scarcely any
bounds. Huber has told us1 of a separation having
taken place between the members of a colony for
four months. When the prisoners were released and
brought back by the friendly hand of their emanci-
pator to the home of their childhood, they were
recognised at once and welcomed with every demon-
stration of joy. Antennae met antennae in playful
gladness.
From personal observation I can testify to a recogni-
tion after a separation of one year and nearly three
months! On the 18th of June, 1881, I discovered a
strong colony of Formica sanguinea, the slave-making
ant, at Crowthorne. The year before I had picked up
a specimen on the Wellington College estate, which
prepared me in a measure for my discovery. I re-
moved and transferred to a tin box a large portion of
the nest, with a number of the slave-makers and their
auxiliaries, the workers of the Formica fusca, with
many large pupae. On reaching Stonehouse I placed
the contents of the box in a glass vessel. The ants soon
Huber’s Ants, pp. 171, 172.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
149
settled down in their new quarters, and flourished ; for
in the month of July many females were developed,
this being the first time that I had seen the females
alive.
On the 30th of June, 1882, I visited the same nest
at Crowthorne, and again disturbed the quiet of the
formicariumy and transferred to a tin box another
section of the same, with slave-makers, slaves, and
large pupae, and two or three females, which had,
judging from their pale colour, but recently emerged
from their pupal shroud. I took them that same day to
Stonehouse, and placed them in another glass vessel.
In a few days many more winged ants appeared,
a small proportion of them being males, which I had
never before seen alive. They were readily dis-
tinguished from the females by their black head and
thorax, these being blood-red in the female. It was
a beautiful sight to witness all the members of this
formic establishment in full activity in the brilliant
sunshine of a summer’s day.
On October 8, 1882, I visited the formicariay and
taking advantage of the experience of Sir J. Lubbock,
who introduced the satisfactory expedient of marking
with paint, individual ants for the purpose of watching
their movements, and of recording with accuracy
the results of his observations, I touched with yellow
paint the upper part of the abdomen of an ant from
last year’s section of the Wellington nest established
in the glass vessel No. I, and placed it on the surface
of the earth in vessel No. 3, which contained the
second section of the nest removed this year. It soon
met an ant of this section, and a friendly recognition
was at once manifested by the graceful and mutualANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
150
movements of the antennae, which vibrated joyfully
together. Three such manifestations occurred at
certain intervals between 1.50 and 2.10. Subsequently
another recognition took place between an ant in
No. 3 and one marked yellow from No. 1.
I now reversed the order of the experiment, to
render it as complete as possible. I took a worker
from vessel No. 3, and marked it with vermilion
paint, and placed it on the surface of the earth in
No. I. Very shortly—a minute or two only had
passed—a meeting occurred between this ant and a
member of the last year’s section of the Wellington
nest, and the recognition wras even more marked than
in the former instance, and for full twenty minutes a
quiet satisfaction and enjoyment was evidenced when
the left antenna of the visitor from this year’s section,
in vessel No. 3, touched and rested and then gently
glided over the left antenna of the ant from section of
last year, arranged in vessel No. 1. This satisfactory
recognition was perfected notwithstanding the fact
that the bright vermilion mark of the visitor was
carefully examined by the cautious host.
Sir J. Lubbock records 1 a friendly recognition and
an amicable reception after an interval of one year
and nine months—from August 4, 1875, to May 14,
1877—*n the case °f the members of a colony of
Formica fusca, which had for that period been divided
and kept entirely apart. He has demonstrated also
by careful experiment that young ants are recognised
when removed as pupae. He proves2 how thirty-two
ants, belonging to Formica fusca and Lasius niger,
removed from their nest as pupae, attended by friends,
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, p. 123.	* Ibid., pp. 145, 146.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	151
and restored to their own nest, were amicably received.
And what is even more extraordinary, of twenty-
two ants belonging to F. fuscay removed as pupae,
attended by strangers, and returned to their own nest,
twenty were amicably received. “ As regards one I am
doubtful,” says the indefatigable and careful observer,
“ the last was crippled in coming out of the pupa-case;
and to this perhaps her unfriendly reception may
have been due. Of the same number of Lasius niger,
developed in the same manner from pupae tended by
strangers belonging to the same species, and then
returned into their own nest, nineteen were amicably
received, three were attacked, and about two I feel
doubtful.”
“ These,” and kindred, “ experiments,” he says,
“ seem to indicate that ants of the same nest do not
recognise one another by any password. On the other
hand, they seem to show that if ants are removed from
a nest in the pupa state, tended by strangers, and then
restored, some at least of their relatives are puzzled,
and for a time doubt their claim to consanguinity. I
say some, because while strangers under the circum-
stances would have been immediately attacked, these
ants were in every case amicably received by the
majority of the colony, and it was sometimes several
hours before they came across one who did not
recognise them.”
These experiments were made with ants taken
from the nest as pupae, and though he did not think
the fact that they had passed their larval existence
in the nest could affect the problem, still he acknow-
ledges it might be so.1 “I determined therefore
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, pp. 147, 14S.152
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
to separate a nest before the young were born, or
even the eggs laid, and then ascertain the result.
Accordingly I took one of my nests of F. fusca, which
I began watching on September 18, 1878, and which
contained two queens, and on February 8, 1879,
divided it into halves, which I will call A and B, so
that there were approximately the same number of
ants with a queen in each division. At this season,
of course, the nest contained neither young nor even
eggs* During April both queens began to lay eggs.
On July 20 I took a number of pupae from each
division, and placed each lot in a separate glass, with
two ants from the same division. On August 30 I
took four of the pupae bred in B, and one from those in
A (which were not quite so forward), and after marking
them as usual with paint, put the B ants into nest A,
and the A ant into nest B. They were received ami-
cably, and soon cleaned. Two, indeed, were once
attacked for a few moments, but soon released. On
the other hand, I put two strangers into nest A,
but they were at once driven out.” From these
and many similar observations the learned baronet
remarks, “ they seem to me conclusive as far as they
go, and they are very surprising. In the previous ex-
periments, though the results were similar, still the ants
experimented with had been brought up in the nest,
and were only removed after they had become pupae.
It might therefore be argued that the ants, having
nursed them as larvae, recognised them when they
came to maturity ; and though this would certainly be
in the highest degree improbable, it could not be said
to be impossible. In the present case, however, the old
ants had absolutely never seen the young ones untilANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
153
the moment when, some days after arriving at matu-
rity, they were introduced into the nest ; and yet in
twenty-one cases they were undoubtedly recognised
as belonging to the community. It seems to me,
therefore, to be established by these experiments that
the recognition of ants is not personal or individual;
that their harmony is not due to the fact that each
ant is individually acquainted with every other member
of the community. At the same time, the fact that
they recognise their friends, even when intoxicated,
and that they know the young born in their own nest
even when they have been brought out of the chrysalis
by strangers, seems to indicate that the recognition
is not effected by means of any sign or password.”
In order to test whether ants would recognise their
friends when in a state of insensibility, Sir J. Lubbock 1
administered chloroform to both friends and strangers,
placing them near where a certain number of the
little people were feeding. After many experiments
with Lasius jlavus, it seemed clearly established
that in this insensible condition friends were not
carried into a place of safety, but as a rule, with
the strangers, were picked up and dropped into the
water. But since ants under these circumstances were
to all intents and purposes dead, and hence possibly
the reason why friends and strangers were treated alike,
instead of chloroforming the ants he intoxicated
them. “The sober seemed somewhat puzzled at
finding their intoxicated fellow-creatures in such a
disgraceful condition, took them up, and carried them
about for a time in a somewhat aimless manner.” 2
1	Ants, jBees, and Wasps, pp. 108-111.
2	Ibid., p. 112.154
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
On “November 20, 1879, he first experimented with
six friends and six strangers, beginning at 11.
“ At 11.30 a friend was carried to the nest.
11.30.a stranger was dropped into the water.
12.30
12.31	a friend
1.10 a stranger
1.18
1.27
1.30	a friend (partly recovered) was taken
to the nest.
2.30	a friend was taken up and carried about
till 2.55 ; she was then taken to the nest,
but at the door the bearer met two other
ants, which seized the intoxicated one,
carried her off, and eventually dropped
her into the water.
3.35 a friend was carried into the nest.
“ Out of these twelve, five strangers and two friends
were dropped into the water; none of the strangers,
but three friends, were taken to the nest. None of
the friends were brought out of the nest again.” 1
And this is how these and other allied experiments
are summarised :2—
“ The general results were that the ants removed
forty-one friends and fifty-two strangers. Of the
friends, thirty-two were carried into the nest, and
nine were cast into the water. Of the strangers, on
the contrary, forty-three were thrown into the water ;
only nine were taken into the nest, and seven of these
were shortly afterwards brought out again and thrown
1	Ants, Bees, and Wasps, pp. 112, 113.
2	Ibid.) p. 117.ANTS AND THEIR WAVS.
155
away ; indeed, I fully believe that the other two were
treated in the same manner, though we could not
satisfy ourselves of the fact. But it was only by
very close observation that the seven were detected,
and the other two may well have escaped notice.
It seems clear, therefore, that even in a condition of
insensibility these ants were recognised by their
friends.”CHAPTER XIII.
The Ants have a Language, and are able to Communicate their Ideas
and Wishes to each other—Illustrations from the Author’s Formi-
carium—How they make known the cause of Fear or Anger—How
the Military Expeditions are conducted—The Antennae serve also as
organs of Smell—The Ants are Little Farmers and Cattle Breeders
—Their many Breeds of Cattle—The Blind Clavigers yield Milk to
the Ants, and are maintained by them—The number of Ants’ Nest
Beetles found in Britain.
From the consideration, in the last chapter, of the
power possessed by the little people of recognising
friends under varying circumstances, we are led on to
observe that the ants have a language by which they
communicate their ideas and wishes one to the other.
It is a silent language, yet mutually comprehensible.
How quickly does alarm spread throughout the
colony! Upon any imminent danger, intelligence
is immediately conveyed from chamber to chamber,
from corridor to corridor, from the uppermost apart-
ment to the lowest withdrawing-room of their ex-
tensive domicile, and in a very short time their
treasures are removed out of harm's way. In my
original formicarium I pressed the earth which
covered a chamber full of pupae, and on a laterANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
*57
occasion I, by accident, shook the glass in which
the ants had arranged their commodious habitation,
and through the sides of which I could most con-
veniently watch their movements, and thus altered
the form of another chamber used as a nursery, and
crowded also with the young in their silken swathing-
bands. In less than a minute, in each case, the pupae
were removed by the indefatigable nurses, the ants
running about the while in the utmost consternation.
In some nests, those especially of the yellow tribes
(Formica flava), it has been noticed that sentinels are
stationed in its avenues. When desirous to com-
municate the cause of fear or anger, they strike their
heads against the members of their community in
close proximity to them ; these, in the same way,
convey intelligence to others, until the whole colony
is in a ferment, and measures of defence have been
effectively taken.
Some ants there are which engage in military ex-
peditions, notably the Ecitons, or Processionary Ants,
of Brazil, though, from personal experience, I find
the military instinct is not confined to this species.
These have been observed to send out spies, or
rather, a small party, detailed for the service. If the
intelligence gathered by the scouts is favourable, the
march commences in regular order, communications
are maintained between rear and van, and during a
contest, should occasion demand it, couriers are de-
spatched for reinforcements. The officers, who are
distributed at regular intervals along the line of
march, are distinguished by very large heads. They
are never found carrying either the young or the
spoils of war, which consist of all kinds of soft-bodiedi5»
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
insects, such as locusts and cockroaches. There is
one of these large-headed fellows before me as I
write.
The relative proportions in the size of the heads of
the large and small workers is about similar to those
of the heads of the large and small workers of the
Madeira Ant which I discovered in the baker’s shop
in the Borough. I there ascertained that the large-
headed workers are not employed in foraging expe-
ditions for the purpose of furnishing the commissariat
department, which is the province of the small
workers. It may be that they belong to a military
order, and that their duty is to defend the more
peaceable members of the community. Though in
the colonies of the British species we do not find any
of these large-headed individuals, yet, as a rule, the
size of the workers varies considerably, and in some it
is much more marked than in others. As an instance,
I would call attention to Formica sanguinea. In the
nest of this ant we find some very large workers, and
I have noticed that, when the nest is disturbed, it is
only these workers who make their appearance and
stand in a threatening attitude at the entrances and
in the environs of their dwelling, prepared to resent
most determinedly all intrusion upon their privacy.
When quite a boy, I remember well how I used to
rejoice in handling the fat maggots which I found in
the folded leaves of rose-trees, and which developed,
when undisturbed, into some dipterous insect, and I
was accustomed to place these maggots near the en-
trance of an ants’ nest, which was that of the common
garden ant, Formica nigra. I then watched some of
the colony examine the grub, and then hasten toANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
159
convey the news of their prize to others, since num-
bers would sally forth, and, with united effort, would
drag the unwilling prisoner into their castle to be
devoured.
The antennae are the chief organs of speech. By
their means useful discoveries are reported, the hun-
gry ask for food, the nursing mothers gently tap
their helpless babies when wishing them to open
wide their mouths for the luscious and dainty meal,
and with them the military tribe are placed in march-
ing order and rallied for a contest: and you should
know, my readers, that these antennae, besides being
sensitive feelers and facile talking machines, serve
also other purposes in the marvellous economy of
this little people.
The antennae have also been considered the organs
of hearing, but this I think very doubtful, since ante
seem insensible to any sound. When I have rapped
the glass side of the vessel in which they are esta-
blished, so as to produce a sharp ringing series of
vibrations, no effect upon them has been produced.
Sir John Lubbock tells1 us that he has over and
over again tested them with the loudest and shrillest
noises he could make, using a penny pipe, a dog-
whistle, a violin, as well as the most piercing and
startling sounds he could produce with his own voice,
but all without effect. • A solitary species, Mutilla
Europcea, I have noticed, produces a distinct sound
when handled, as it does also of its independent will
when left to its own devices, as Miss M. Pasley has
observed. Since it is the apterous female which
makes the noise, it is quite possible that it may be a
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, p. 222.i6o
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
call to the winged male to assure her lord of her
presence, which he may recognise in some manner
quite beyond our power to understand.
But if the antennae do not serve as organs of
hearing, they seem to serve as organs of smell. Sir
J. Lubbock tells 1 us how he took a large female of
F. liguiperda and tethered her on a board by a thread ;
when she was quite quiet he tried her with the tuning-
fork, which however did not disturb her in the least
He then advanced the feather of a pen very quietly,
so as almost to touch first one and then the other
antennae, which however did not move. He next
dipped the pen in essence of musk and did the same,
and then the antenna was slowly retracted and drawn
back; he repeated the same with the other antenna.
If he touched the antennae, the ant started away,
apparently smarting. He repeated the same experi-
ment with essence of lavender, and with a second ant,
and the result was the same.
This experiment is certainly very significant and
suggestive. It shows us that the sense of smell is very
delicate and acute, and that in some way or other it is
associated with the highly sensitive and beautifully
fashioned antennae. I made inquiries on one occasion
in Stanhope Place in reference to the power of the
cosmopolitan house ant, D. domesticum, to discover
its favourite food, though hidden from view and
far from its formicarium, and I learnt that when
sweet almonds or sugar were placed in a cupboard on
the ground floor, the ants in the kitchen below in a
comparatively short space of time, not longer thaLh
•a day or two, detected the store and rifled it, though
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, pp. 234, 235.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
161
the kitchen is underground and the little people
would have to traverse diagonally the wall of a
passage from the pavement to the ceiling in order to
reach the hidden treasure.
The ants are little farmers, not only clearing the
land round their dwellings, sowing the prepared soil
with grain, reaping their corn when ripe, and gathering
it into granaries for future use, as one species cer-
tainly does, and has in consequence justly merited the
designation of the “agricultural ant”; but the little
people also possess beasts of nearly as many sizes and
colours as are owned by country farmers and cattle
breeders. In their farm stock they have their gentle
Jerseys—more familiarly known as “Alderneys”—
yielding a rich supply of milk, and their larger Guern-
seys, similarly serviceable : their Shorthorns, with, as
their name indicates, horns shorter than many other
breeds, and of beautiful structure, and with face of mild
and pretty aspect; their South Devons, large and well
favoured. Neither of the last two yield milk so
plentifully or so rich as the first. Then they have
what answers to the Midland home breeds, of snowy
whiteness, which are usually kept within the precincts
of their homestead, the property generally of the
yellow tribes, though I have found that other tribes
or species possess them, but in less abundance.
The ants’ nests in the neighbourhood of Stone-
house abound with them ; whether they yield milk or
not is not yet known. It may be so, but after many
years’ observation I have seen nothing to justify this
determination of their province in the economy of
the little people. I would suggest that they act the
part of scavengers ; that their constant presence in
M162
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the colony is not only favourable to their own de-
velopment and maintenance, but serves also to pro-
mote the health and comfort of the little people
themselves.	.
These little cattle, or scavengers, have, strange to
say, many legs, and look like woodlice. They have
curiously formed horns, which move tremulously and
rapidly as they traverse the passages of the formi-
carium. They are really crustaceans, and bear the
euphonious name of Platyarthrus Hoffmanseggii. The
Devonshire breed has pretty horns, six legs, and
short winged cases, and belongs to the Coleopterous
family Brachelytra, a family represented by many
species among the Myrmecophilous, or ants’-nest
beetles. They are characterised by short elytra
which entirely cover the folded wings, and long,
narrow bodies, which they turn up when in the act
of running. They are known to live in offal, manure,
or under plants in a state of decay, and subsist on
animal substances. My impression, therefore, is that
they are also serviceable to the ants as scavengers,
though they may also be used by them as cattle,
since the species we are specially referring to has
been known to supply a secretion between the rings of
its abdomen, which the little people appropriate to
their use as pleasant milk.
This species is called A 'temeles emarginatus, and
Mr. Smith has informed me that he has found it in
large numbers beneath the flat stones near Waters-
meet, in the enchanting valley of the East Lyn,
North Devon, in association with Formica fusca and
the species of Myrmica which are common in the
neighbourhood. Their Shorthorns, of a reddish-ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
163
brown colour, possess the singular name of Claviger
testaceus. They have short horns curiously fashioned,
and their hide is of a tough texture; their form is
most quaint, and, strange to say, they are perfectly
blind. The yellow ants are fond of these, and hold
them in almost exclusive possession. Mr. Smith states
that they are the representatives of a rare exotic
beetle, found nowhere in Britain but in the colonies of
this tribe of ants, who set great store by them. He
disturbed a colony of F. jlava, and discerned several
representatives of Claviger testaceus perambulating
the nurseries of the little people. As soon as danger
threatened they were seized immediately by the
anxious nurses, though the helpless babies were lying
sprawling on the floor. I examined a specimen
through a lens, and found it had a cavity on its back,
in which is distilled a honeyed liquor, which is lapped
up with avidity by the foster-mothers and given to
the hungry children of the colony.
According to Muller and Lespes, the little Clavi-
gers who afford nourishment to the ants are in return
fed and thus maintained by their grateful hosts.1
Muller first pointed out that the Clavigers seem to be
quite dependent upon the ants, for they never are
seen to feed thehiselves.2
I once discovered Claviger testaceus in the neigh-
bourhood of Clevedon, Somerset, under a stone on
the pleasant slope of the Court Hill, overlooking the
smiling valley of Walton. I captured two specimens
in friendly association with a colony of Formica fiava.
About forty different species of beetles are found
1	See Les Fourmis de la Suisse, par Auguste Forel, p. 425.
2 See Ants, Bees, and Wasps, p. 76.
M 2164
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
in British ants' nests,1 thirty-three of which are in my
possession. Three of these are generally met with only
in the larva state, notably the brilliant beetle Cetonia
aurata, the splendour of whose metallic lustre, when
it rests in the sunshine on the opening petals of a
crimson rose, forms a sight not readily to be forgotten.
The larva of an allied species, the Cetonia cenea, also
finds a congenial habitat in the nests of ants. The
third species which in the larva state inhabits the
dwellings of our attractive little friends is the Clythra
Arpunctata, so called from the four spots which orna-
ment the pale brown wing-cases of the perfect insect.
The beetle itself has also been found in ants' nests.
A letter I received from Mr. Frederick Smith,
bearing date nth January, 1878, says: “The larva
of both Cetonia and Clythra 4-punctata are found in
nests of F. rufa. I once found the latter in larva
and perfect condition in great numbers in the nests
of the wood-ant in Yorkshire. In this part of the
country (i.e. the London district) Clythra is not often
found. I could have taken hundreds in Yorkshire.
Cetonia I know is only occasionally found in the
nests, and I look upon it as quite accidental its being
there at all. Cetonia cenea is common in Scotland,
and at Loch Rannoch the collectors took it in
plenty, and occasionally found it in the nest of
F. rufa.”
Setting aside, however, these three species, the
remarkable fact remains that there are at least be-
1 See Cat. Brit. Foss. Hym., Fred. Smith, Appendix, pp. 223, 224 ;
Entomologist's Annual, 1857, pp. 95, 96 ; Observations on the Myrmeco-
philous or Ants' Nest Beetles of Britain, by Edward W. Janson, Sec.
Ent. Soc.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	165
tween thirty and forty different kinds of beetles found
exclusively in the nests of the ants. Their special
function is not easy to determine. Some few, it may
be, as already hinted at, are used as cattle, and, as
before suggested, many may serve as scavengers ; or
the presence of a differing order of insects in ants’
nests may imply, as Sir John Lubbock urges, that
the little people are fond of domestic pets.CHAPTER XIV.
The Aphides or Ant Cows Preserved and Bred by the British Ants—
Their Form and Habits—How the Little People Milk their Cows—
Huber’s Observation—Do the Ants Breed their Cows ?—The
Author’s Observations and Discovery—Are the Aphides both Vivi-
parous and Oviparous ?—The Marvellous History of the Milch-kine
—The “Eggs” are Pupae or the Nymphal form of the Aphis—
Bonnett’s view, indorsed by Huber, correct—Sir J. Lubbock’s
Judgment—The Cocci or Gallinsecja—The Cochineal insect—Some
Ants Omnivorous.
WHATEVER doubt may exist as to the relation
existing between the ants and the coleoptera and
the crustaceans, as represented by Platyarthrus Hoff-
manseggiiy none can exist concerning their association
with the aphides and cocci, popularly called plant-
lice and scale insects, and both belonging to the order
Hemipterciy an order which embraces also the crimson
cochineal insect of commerce, the brilliant lantern-fly,
and the musical and classical cicadae.
The aphides, the gentle Alderneys of the ants,
•furnish the sweetest milk in great abundance, and are
known emphatically as ant-cows. In almost every nest
of the Yellow Ant, F. flava (L.flavus) I came across
in my Blackheath excursion—a*nd remember it was
the winter season—I found some of these little cattle;ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
167
and such has been my experience in all subsequent
investigations in the neighbourhood of Stonehouse,
among the conical domiciles of F. flava (L.flavus).
And though the British species, of - ants do not store
grain for future consumption, as the Agricultural Ant
Fig. 26.—1, Wingless Aphis ; 2, Aphis with rudimentary wings, antennae bent back
3, Winged aphis, a, magnified, b, natural size.
of Texas, the Provident Ant of India, and the Har-
vesting Ants of the south of France, Italy, and Pales-
tine, their wonderful habit of preserving and breeding
their aphides is established as an unquestionable
fact.i68
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
The ant-cows are of many colours, both apple and
olive green, grey, black, white, and delicate violet.
Their bodies are either roundish or oval; they are
found both winged and wingless. Their antennae are
sometimes long and tapering to a point, or shorter
with cylindrical joints. They are provided with a
rostrum, or tube, which is sometimes of great length ;
and when at rest it is folded against the under part
of the abdomen. With this instrument they suck
the sap of plants, by which they are nourished.
They possess six legs, but are very slow in their
. movements. The punctures caused by their rostra
sometimes so alters the form of the leaves and leaf-
stalks they frequent, that excrescences or cavities are
produced which serve to shelter them in large numbers.
From this circumstance they are not inaptly termed
“ blight.”
They now and then eject from their bodies the
sweetest limpid drops, which are eagerly devoured by
the ants when at hand. When such is not the case
this viscid exudation falls upon the leaves of trees and
shrubs they inhabit, and is known as honeydew.
The little people oftentimes visit trees and plants on
which the little cattle browse, to satisfy their appetite
and carry off the honeyed aliment to their hungry
young. When I see ants on trees or rose-bushes, the
lordly oak or the worthless thistle, I know the cause
of their presence at once, and am almost sure to find
the aphis on a careful search.* Sometimes, however,
the fruit itself forms a dainty and luscious meal, and
sometimes the honey in the nectaries of flowers, and
even the sweet and tender buds and petals of expanded
blossoms. The viscous liquid of the aphis is theANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
169
principal support of many kinds of ants, F. flava
(L.flavus) especially, and the liquid they can obtain
without waiting the pleasure of their cows.
Huber observed a thistle-branch covered with brown
ants and pucerons, as he calls the cows. He noticed
an ant station itself near one of the smallest of their
cattle; it appeared to caress it by touching the
extremity of its body alternately with its two antennae
with an exceedingly rapid movement. He saw with
much surprise the fluid proceed from the body of the
puceron and the ant take it in its mouth. Thus it is
that the little people milk their cows. What the170
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
Swiss naturalist saw I have seen, and, strange to
say, it was upon a. thistle-branch that I first watched
the ants milk their cows; and the ants were brown,
and they milked the aphides by causing their antennae
to vibrate over their bodies, as it has been aptly said,
like the play of the fingers in a shake upon the
pianoforte.
In one of my formicaria I observed both on March
22nd and 24th, 1868, a lilac-coloured cow being
milked by several of the yellow tribe, F.jiava (L.flavus),
and on each occasion the operation took place in the
same spot and in the same chamber. A little later in
the same year I again witnessed an ant milk one of its
cows, and after the operation I saw it seize its little
Alderney in its mandibles and carry it to a place of
shelter. The yellow ants lap up the milk with their
tongues; the red, it has been confidently affirmed,
with their antennae, the last joint being enlarged, it
may be, for this very purpose. The yellow ants breed
their cattle and rear them through the different stages
of their existence as carefully and tenderly as they
do their own young. They construct their habitations
oftentimes in situations especially suitable to their
sustenance, their subterraneous corridors and cham-
bers generally being found among the roots of grass,
from the pleasant juices of which the milch kine
extract their necessary nutriment by means of their
invaluable sucking-pipes. But do the little people
really breed their cows ? Undoubtedly they do—I
speak from personal observation.
At the close of winter, in March, 1877, I made
forcible entrance into one of the elevated domes of
the F. Jiava which adorn the Great Western RailwayANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
171
enbankment near Stonehouse. In the upper part of
the nest not far from the surface I uncovered a
chamber which, at first sight, looked like a granary.
It seemed stocked with a number of minute black
and shining seeds, interspersed with a few of a pale
brown colour. The. contrast between the ebony-
coloured grain-and the yellow bodies of the ants who
were sedulously guarding their treasure was very
pleasing. Upon being disturbed, the ants seized
little parcels of the bright shining grain in their
mandibles in the same way as is their wont with their
own eggs and pupae, and hastened off with thefn to
hide them, if possible, from the unceremonious in-
truder. I was able, however, to secure many parcels
of this supposed grain, and many of the yellow store-
keepers also. I found that they adhered together like
the minute white eggs of ants, and to which they were
not dissimilar in form.
After sending off a parcel of what I now hoped
might prove to be the “ eggs ” of aphides to the
British Museum for Mr. F. Smith’s examination, I
placed some with their guardians, the yellow ants, in
a receptacle which I had arranged for observation,
and others I placed upon damp-wool, to hatch them
out, if possible, without the intervention of their
adopted guardians ; having learnt from Mr. Smith,
that, apart from the ants, a damp atmosphere was
necessary for their development. In a few days my
patience was rewarded, and, to my great delight,
both from the “eggs” in custody of the ants, and
from those left to themselves on the damp wool, came
forth two kinds of aphides, one being white, with
dale-violet decorations, and the other being olive172
ANTS AND THEIR WAVS.
green, the former having a semi-spherical form, with
somewhat short antennae and legs, the latter more
ovate and elongate, with similarly short antennae and
legs. I should notice that it is absolutely necessary
to keep the wool moist for a successful experiment.
The eggs in charge of the ants are moistened by the
little people themselves, who constantly watch them
and cherish them with this end in view.
On 26th March, 1877, I heard from the British
Museum. Mr. Smith observes: “ Have hatched a
1 2
Fig. 28.—1, Aphis bred from nest of F.flava {L. flavus). 2, Aphis bred from nest of
F. flava {L, flavus). Underneath showing sucking-tube.
number of the little aphis. The aphis that I bred
from eggs some years ago1 were dark insects with
mottled wings and long legs. Those I have now
reared are light-coloured and short-legged.” It is
generally believed that aphides are both viviparous
and oviparous, those produced in the autumn being
oviparous, this being the harvest season with ants as
with the lords of the creation, when they collect the
“eggs” of the aphides and store them up for future
1 See an account of this successful experiment in Mr. F. Smith’s
“ Notes on Hymenoptera” in ihe. Entomologist's Annual for 1871, p. 60.ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
173
development in their domiciles. A marvellous history-
have the milch-kine of the ants. When, in the late
winter or early spring, these “ eggs,” as they are called,
hatch, only females are produced, who soon become
mothers, and so on, until the tenth, or as some1 think
the eleventh generation, when the' autumn has again
come round, and both males and females are produced,
and “ eggs ” are again deposited—a wondrous chain of
being! and almost interminable, since it has been
computed by Reaumur2 that a single aphis. may
thus become the progenitor of 5,904,900,000 descen-
dants during its life. This number would comprise the
fifth generation according to Bonnett, who carefully
observed that a single female produced generally
90 young ones, and so the computation thus runs,
viz.:■—90x90= 8,100 at the second generation ; these
again give a third generation or 8,100x90 = 729,000,
and these a fourth generation or 729,000x90 =
65,610,000 and these, multiplied by 90, a fifth or
5,904,900,000—and if we continue the calculation to
the tenth or eleventh generation we should be utterly
baffled in an attempt to conceive the true significance
of the vast enumeration. I am strongly of the opinion,
that these so-called “eggs” are really pupae, or the
nymphal form of the ant-cow, so that the aphis is not
really oviparous. Such was the conviction of Bonnett,
and evidently indorsed by Hfiber, and I believe the
judgment of these eminent observers will be found to
be correct.
Sir John Lubbock having examined sections
of these u eggs” microscopically, has come to the
1	See Insect Worlds by Louis Figuier, Eng. Trans. 1869, P- 126.
2	Rennie’s Insect Transformations, 1830, p. 19.174
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
conclusion that they are really eggs, and not the pupal
form of the aphis. If such is the case, it seems to be
remarkable that Mr. Smith should have observed
issuing from them aphides perfectly equipped for
flight. This certainly looks as if these mysterious
bodies are a mere pupal envelope containing the young
aphis.
It has been noticed that some ants take possession
of a branch, upon the leaves of which their little
cattle delight to browse, and prevent foreign colonists
from interfering with what they hold to be their
valuable estate. Some erect a wall of earth, and
thus inclose their cattle, to remind the stranger that
trespassers will suffer. The cows I found upon the
thistle-branch were thus enclosed. About four or five
other species keep cattle at their homesteads, but.
some erect a covered way of earth from their dwell-
ings to the pleasant pastures on which the cattle
graze, by means of which they can communicate with
them without the knowledge of others, and along
which they can transport them at pleasure to their
commodious domain.
I must not pass over the most interesting history
of the relation of the ants to the aphides described
by Sir John Lubbock as the result of his pleasant
experience. In 1879 “ the eggs commenced to hatch
the first , week in March. Near one of my nests of
Lasius flavus, in which I had placed some of the eggs
in question, was a glass containing living specimens of
several species of plant commonly found on or around
ants’ nests. To this some of the young aphides were
brought by the ants. Shortly afterwards I observed
on a plant of daisy, in the axils of the leaves, someANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
175
small aphides very much resembling those from my
nest, though we had not actually traced them con-
tinuously. They seemed thriving, and remained
stationary on the daisy. Moreover, whether they had •
sprung from the black eggs or not, the ants evidently
valued them, for they built up a wall of earth round
and over them. So things remained throughout the
summer ; but on the 9th October, I found that the
aphides had laid some eggs exactly resembling those
found in the ants’ nests, and on examining daisy-plants
from the outside, I found on many of them similar
aphides, and more or less of the same eggs. I confess
these observations surprised me very much. The
statements of Huber, though confirmed by Schmaida,
have not indeed attracted so much notice as many of
the interesting facts which they have recorded, because,
if aphides are kept by ants in their nests, it seems
only natural that their eggs should also occur. The
above case, however, is much more remarkable. Here
are aphides not living in ants’ nests, but outside, on
the leaf-stalks of plants. The eggs are laid early in
October, on the food plant of the insect. They are of
no direct use to the ants, yet they are not left where
they are laid, exposed to the severity of the weather
and to innumerable dangers, but brought into their
nests by the ants, and. tended by them with the
utmost care through the long winter months until the
following March, when the young ones are brought
out and again placed on the young shoots of the
daisy. This seems to me a most remarkable case of
prudence. Our ants may not perhaps lay up food for
the winter, but they do more, for they keep during six
months the eggs which will enable them to procure176
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
food during the following summer, a case of prudence
unexampled in the animal kingdom/’
The Cocci, or Gallinsecta, as Rdaumer calls them,
are the Guernseys of the little people. They, like
aphides, yield a serviceable secretion, either letting
it fall on the trees and plants on which they feed, or,
when waited upon by the ants, offer it to them in
return for their antennal caresses. The female is
like a scale of a brown colour formed of many seg-
ments, convex above and flat below, and it fastens
itself upon the stalks, branches, and leaves of trees,
shrubs, and plants by means of its beak, with which
it sucks up the vegetable juices. It is found on the
elm, oak, lime, oleander, myrtle, etc., and its presence
is familiar to us on many greenhouse plants in com-
pany with ants, which visit it for its sweet and plea-
sant milk, where it is called the scale insect. The
male is winged and active. The valuable cochineal
insect which belongs to this family is called Coccus cacti.
It is found in Mexico on the nopal, or prickly pear,
and it is said that they are always accompanied by
ants.
Some ants are omnivorous, eg., Myrmica Icevinodis,
which is a common ant in Stonehouse; my vicarage
garden abounds with it. I have seen it feasting in
the yellow blossom of the buttercup, on the crimson
petals of the rhododendron, and on the tender buds of
the yucca. I have noticed it milking its cows, and
holding high festival on the dead body of the green
linnet. The Formica rufa I have noticed bearing
off insects wherewith to replenish its larder, and
visiting trees for the purpose of milking its kine. A
bird or a rat thrown upon its heaped-up nest willANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
177
soon be devoured by the myriads of its inhabitants,
who leave nothing but a skeleton as if prepared for
an anatomical museum.
The common garden ant, Formica nigra (Lasius
niger), is omnivorous, as may be gathered from what
has already been narrated. It delights to milk its
cows, and it luxuriates in larvae in fine condition.
The Myrmica domestica (Diplorhoptrum domesticum)
also, the pest of many a London house, as it is often
reckoned, yet renders friendly service, for while it
rejoices in almonds and sugar, it considers a cockroach
a delicacy.
The Madeira Ant, Tapinoma gracilescens, also, does
not object to any kind of food. Sugar is its ordinary
diet, yet I have seen it, assisted by a companion,
bearing along in triumph, for the benefit of the
home circle, many a fine house-fly. The slave-
making ant has a taste for animal food as well as a
sweet mandible. I have seen it in my formicarium
devouring a wasp, as well as sipping at a tray of
moistened sugar; and in its native haunts I have
seen it hurrying along with a rare beetle, Ccenopsis
fusirostris> a dainty meal, to tempt the appetite of the
old folks at home. Into the extraordinary history of
interesting species of ant I propose to enter in the
next chapter.
NCHAPTER XV.
The Slave - makers—How Formica sanguinea may be distinguished
from Formica rufa—The Author’s Visits to Shirley Common in
search of the Formica sanguinea-^Discovery of a Nest—The Slaves
—Other Species of Ants besides F. fusca found in the Slave-maker’s
Nest—The Workers, Males, and Females of the Slave-makers
described.
THOUGH it is twenty years since I commenced the
study of ants, it was not till 1877 that I discovered
the habitat of Formica sanguinea—the slave-maker.
In 1876 I visited Weybridge, where it used to be
abundant, and though I followed strictly the explicit
directions of Mr. F. Smith, I did not find sanguinea
at home. Formica rufa} the common wood-ant, I
found in abundance, but not the slave-maker. Formica
sanguinea is very similar in its general appearance to
Formica rufa, and it may easily be taken for it by the
uninitiated, especially the small workers.
There is, however, a distinct, well-defined character-
istic, by which Charles Darwin identified the species,
and with which characteristic he was furnished by
Mr. Smith, who also pointed it out to me, and which
enabled me to distinguish it from any number of
F. rufa. While describing the construction of anANTS AND THEIR WA KS\
179
Fig. 29.—Formica sanguinea. a, worker ; b, head of ditto.
a.—1, scape, and 2, flagellum of antenna; 3, lateral eyes; 4; ocelli; 5, prothorax;
6, mesothorax; 7, metathorax; 8, coxa; 9, trocanter ; 10, femur; n, tibia;
12, tarsus.
b—j, scape, and 2, flagellum of antenna; 3, lateral eyes; 4, ocelli; a, fronta
area; 6, emarginate clypeus.
Fig. 30.—Formica rufa. The wood-ant.
a, male; b, female; c, worker.
N 2i8o
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
ants mouth I mentioned that the upper lip, or
labrum, is protected by its shield, the clypeus. The
clypeus extends from beneath the frontal area (see
Fig. a), a triangular plate at the insertion of the
antennae, to the upper lip, which it conceals. Now
the anterior margin of this clypeus is distinctly
emarginate in F. sanguinea—i.e., instead of having an
even edge, and lightly keeled, as in F. rufa, it is
decidedly notched. (See Fig. 2$, /8.)
Furnished with this unfailing characteristic, I
started from London on June 5th, 1877, in search of
the slave-maker, being supplied also with a plan of
Shirley Common and its neighbourhood, whither I
was bound ; and on the plan sketched by Mr. Smith
were two spots indicated, where he assured me I should
be certain to find sanguinea. I soon reached Croydon
by rail, and lost no time in hastening past well-kept
gardens bright with rhododendron and scarlet may,
through open fields, to the first spot indicated, between
Croydon and Shirley, at the stump of an old oak-tree. I
searched most carefully, but, alas 1 in vain. Sanguinea
had either migrated or become extinct. I went for-
ward and reached the elevated common—a lovely
piece of broken ground, covered with heather and fern
and gorse, studded here and there with the aromatic
and picturesque Scotch firs, fringed with the tender
green of umbrageous oak, elegant silver birch, and
other deciduous trees, and commanding an extensive
view of a well-wooded, undulating country; and full
of hope that my search after sanguinea would be
crowned with the much-coveted success, I examined
and re-examined the second spot in my plan indi-
cated as its habitat. At the very spot I found whatANTS AND THEIR IVA VS,
131
might surely prove to be the little people I longed
to meet with. I brought my lens to bear upon
the clypeus of many, but, alas! they proved to be
members of a somewhat extensive colony of Formica
rufay every one.
Having now lost all clue to the object of my
search, I returned to London. Nothing daunted,
I presented myself again at the British Museum
and received fresh instructions from my kind friend,
and a third habitat was explicitly described ; and on
9th June I again sallied forth, sustained with a new
hope and fired by a fresh enthusiasm. Once more I
reached Shirley Common, and hurried to the dry
ditch and its associated bank, where I was assured
the slave-maker had established itself in strong
force, and this time my patience and perseverance
were most happily rewarded. My attention was soon
arrested by ants of an unusual appearance and
peculiar gait traversing the ground with wondrous
expedition, and I felt sure I must be within the
charmed circle of sanguinea's domain. The head
and thorax, of a blood-red colour, attracted me,
and with a confident assurance that I had at last
realised the desire of my heart. I seized one of the
little creatures with the utmost tenderness and care,
and scrutinised it through my lens, and oh ! the joy
of that moment I am utterly unable to describe.
The clypeus is emarginate; the unfailing characteristic
is clearly revealed to my wondering gaze. I see
another, and another, and another. They come
thick and fast, and I trace them to a stump of an old
gorse bush.
After identifying the species around the gorse182
ANTS AND THETR WA VS.
stump, on the sunny bank at Shirley, I watched it
more closely, and was gratified in finding it very
numerously represented in this locality. The ants
abounded and were in constant motion ; and how
were they occupied ? Wondrous to relate, two of the
workers were carrying each a black ant, called Formica
fusca. And I watched also individuals of Formica
fusca on most friendly terms with those of Formica
sanguinea, going in and coming out of the entrances of
a common domicile, while workers of sanguinea were
busily and laudably engaged in replenishing the larder,
one carrying a beetle, of a very rare species, and which
I presented to Mr. Smith, since he had not a repre-
sentative in his collection. Two other workers carried
between them a caterpillar, which would form doubt-
less a most delicious banquet for the hungry inmates
of the formic castle. A worker of Formica fusca was
carrying material for either the repair or the enlarge-
ment of the messuage.
I had thus furnished me unmistakable evidence that
Formica sanguinea is a slave-holder; and to set the
matter at rest, I thought I would inquire within, and
rapped, as it were, at the door by tapping the bark
where the nest was situated ; and out came the slave-
owners in large numbers to see what was the matter.
I then disturbed their equanimity by unceremoniously
intruding upon their privacy. I discovered within,
numbers of the workers of F. fusca. These were
the slaves, or, rather, the domestic servants of
F. sanguinea, I came upon another nest, and with the
same result. In the second, however, I did not find
quite so many as in the first nest investigated. I here
observed a slave assisting to replenish a larder byANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
183
carrying a fly. This nest, as well as the first, was
formed around a gorse stump.
Other species of ants are sometimes found in the
nest of sanguined. In the stump which formed the
central support of the first nest I examined, I found a
species of the family Myrmicidce> called Leptothorax
acervorum, both its pupae and larvae being contained
in perforations in the wood. I discovered this ant
also, about two years ago, in a post of an old fence of
my kitchen garden, which post, and its tenants, I had
until lately in my greenhouse. I have come across the
species also at the root of a Scotch fir at Bournemouth,
and I twice met with it at Lynmouth, in the valley of
the East Lyn; on one occasion in an old stump, the
workers being very busy in enlarging the chambers of
their habitation; and on another occasion I found aANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
184
party of the species enjoying themselves on the top of
a rock, males, females, and workers being represented
in what was evidently a family gathering.
The head, thorax, and legs of the large worker of
F. sanguinea are blood-red ; in some examples of the
worker the vertex in the region of the ocelli is dusky.
This is especially noticeable, however, in the smaller
workers. There seems to be a graduated scale observed
in the size of the workers, varying from about four
lines to three, or even less. In fact, some of the
b
Fig. 32.—a, Formica sanguinea (male), b, natural size.
small workers seem to. be less than half the size
of the largest individuals. The abdomen is dark-
ash coloured, and slightly red at the extremity, and
characterised by a glittering sheen. The males and
winged females are to be found as a rule in the
months of July and August. The female has the
head, thorax, and legs red ; the head, however, being
dusky on the vertex, or in the region of the ocelli.
The head is broader than that of rufay the abdo-
men being shorter, the antennae a little longer,ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
185
and the wings a shade darker towards their base,
being of a pale brown. The abdomen is coloured
as in the worker. The head and thorax of rufa are
of a rusty-red colour—the abdomen as well as the
scutellum (a little plate in. the middle of the thorax)
being shining black. The tibiae, tarsi, and tips of the
femora being of a reddish brown. The male of
sanguined is black, and the legs entirely red ; antennae
longer than in male of rufa, and abdomen broader
Fig. 33.—a, Formica sanguinea (female), b, natural size.
and shorter. The neuration of the wings is slightly
different, the marginal and submarginal cells being
complete. The male of rufa is blackish ash-coloured,
with rufous or reddish legs; the base of femora, the
tibiae and tarsi, being more or less fuscous.
Mr. G. A. James Rothney, of Calcutta, who for
several years most carefully examined the formicaria
of F. sanguinea at Shirley and its neighbourhood,
discovered the following species in one nest—I quote
now from a paper on “ Hymenoptera,” by Mr. Smith,ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
186
contained in the Entomologists' Annual for 1868, which
contains a record of Mr. Rothney’s captures—“Formica
fusca, common ; F. nigra and F. flava, several speci-
mens ; Tapinoma erratica, Myrmica ruginodis, and
M. scabrinodis, common; M. lobicornis, the workers very
abundant, but only one female; Leptothorax acervorum,
all the sexes abundant in August; L. Nylanderi, several
specimens. No nest of Formica fusca or of F. flava
could be found near that of F. sanguinea, but those of
F. nigra, T. erratica, Myrmica ruginodis, and M. scabri-
nodis, were all within the distance of a few yards.”
Though I have only found L. acervorum besides
F. fusca in the nests of the sanguinea, I have dis-
covered all the species in Mr. Rothney’s list on Shirley
Common or its neighbourhood, with the exception of
Z. Nylanderi. This uncommon species I have met
with near Lee, Blackheath, in an unusual position—
viz., inhabiting an old stump, since Mr. F. Smith says
that it has never been found in any other situation
than in ants’ nests.
Mr. Smith adds : “ I have not found F. cunicularia
in nests of F. sanguinea, but I have found a few
Myrmica scabrinodis ; in all nests I have found fusca,
and I have seen a few flava!' Strange to say,
though I have not seen flava in sanguineds nest, I
discovered in the summer of 1879 a few of their
species in the heart of a nest of F. rufa in the delight-
ful valley of the Horner, near Porlock, where the red
deer come down from the wilds of Exmoor to quench
their thirst.
Having verified the well-attested fact that F. san-
guinea is a slave-owner, it now became my strong
desire to verify the still more marvellous, and no lessANTS AND THEIR WA YS
187
well-authenticated fact, that F. sanguinea is a slave-
maker, though there have as yet been but few witnesses
of so extraordinary an instinct.
I resolved to pay another visit to Shirley on my
return from Suffolk, whither I was bound, after a
short sojourn in London. In Suffolk, at the pleasant
watering-place of Lowestoft, I discovered what I
believe will prove to be the metropolis of Formica
aliena (Lasius alienus), an ant which has not many
years been identified as British, which I have found
also at Bournemouth, and on Stinchcombe Hill,
Gloucestershire, and in strong force under stones
near Minehead, as I have already mentioned, the
two last-named localities, as well as Lowestoft, being
new habitats.
On July 3rd, the same year, I again made my
way to Shirley with one of my sisters, to prosecute
researches. We soon reached the dominion of san-
guinea, stormed one of the slave-holders’ citadels,
and captured a large number of the slaves with
their owners, and many infant charges—viz., the
pupae, which had evidently become developed since
my last investigations, for then I saw none. The
contents of this nest of sanguinea I carefully pre-
served in a tin box, bringing away also the old
gorse stump, which formed a part of the common
habitation, for a chamber in the wood formed a
nursery, where lay the babies of sanguinea reposing
sweetly beneath their silken coverlids. Both the
slave-owners and the slaves were still in existence
on July 11, 1879, living together most happily, and
associated in labour most harmoniously in a crystal
vase in my study. But to return. While carefully188
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
examining the sanguined ground—for there were
several nests besides the one I had secured—I was not
a little interested in observing a worker of sanguined
carrying a pupa smaller than the pupae I had appro-
Fir,. 34.—Slave-makers returning home after a victorious expedition.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
189
priated from the captured citadel, and I was still
further interested in noticing another worker of
sanguinea hastening along with a similar burden, and
yet another and another, each laden with what
evidently was a precious charge.
The little carriers were hurrying forward with a
jubilant and triumphant air, and a peculiar cantering
motion, and nothing would turn them from their
course. Soon we noticed that numbers of sanguined
were carrying burdens, a few being larvae, but almost
all the burdens were pupae. The jocund little people
seemed all eager to reach their home, which as usual
was formed around a gorse stump. Some were march-
ing quicker than the rest; their powers of endurance
were evidently greater, and those who lagged behind
were perhaps weary with their long journey and with
the weight of their burdens, since we could see that
they had come from far. I watched one worker, who
travelled thirteen of my paces in three minutes,,
stopped a little to converse with a slave it met with
on its way, and hastened on to its nest. I watched
one worker of sanguined travel twenty-three paces or
yards, and carry the pupa to its nest. On its^way it
fairly outstripped two others who were journeying in
the same direction and on the same errand. I was
determined to trace back the scattered file of san-
guined to the spot from whence they had come, and
so ascertain from whence they had obtained their
precious burdens. I walked back forty-six paces,
and discovered that they were filing out of a nest*
among the fern, and from this nest to their own there
was constant motion, constant activity, and constant
excitement.190
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
But what of the nest which was evidently being
pillaged of its infant inmates ? There were two
workers of F. fusca running frantically about upon
the surface, with pupae in their mandibles; and, in
order evidently to escape from the fell determination
of the marauders who were desolating their home,
they hurried into the fern, and so endeavoured to
ward off from themselves and infant progeny the
threatening danger. I opened a portion of the nest,
and found a nursery crowded with pupae some depth
below the surface of the nest; only one or two workers
of fusca were left. The rest had evidently escaped
with as many of the pupae as they could manage to
take charge of and save. I noticed several wander-
ing over the desolated nest with pupae and larvae in
their mandibles. I watched a fusca carrying off a
pupa from behind the entrance whence the sanguinece
were issuing forth. Immediately it saw one of the
enemy approaching, it dropped its charge and left it to
its fate. The sanguinea then gave it a push, and drove
it off in double quick time. I then saw another fusca
wandering over the nest, and trying to escape, as it
were, by the back door, with a larva in its mandibles,
but it was seen and overtaken by a small worker of
sanguinea, who seized the baby from its perturbed
and luckless foster-mother, and bore it off in triumph.
I noticed a sanguinea coming up out of the nest with a
pupa ; and a fusca observing it, went up a fern-frond
with the utmost expedition. My sister then observed
a tussle between a fusca and a sanguinea. The fusca
tried to force an entrance into its pillaged home ; but,
meeting with an antagonist, thought discretion the
better part of valour, and turned tail with all speed.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.	191
These observations were made in the afternoon
from 2.30 to 4.20. I now noticed a sanguinea take
off a pupa from the same entrance into which the
fusca vainly endeavoured to force its way; and
I noticed, further, another pupa within the same
entrance; hence was explained the persistency and
anxiety of the fusca. It had most likely concealed
these pupae in the hope that they would be saved from
the general wreck. A sanguinea had evidently found
these out, and the fusca was endeavouring to rescue
them from their inevitable fate. Several fuscce were
wandering over the disturbed nest. One took off a
pupa, and fled with it in a direction contrary to that
taken by the marauders ; at the same time I watched
a sanguinea frighten off a fusca. Another fusca met a
sanguinea on the nest, and ran away precipitately.
Another fusca then appeared wandering over the nest
with a pupa locked in its embrace, knowing not which
way to turn for succour and safety. One thing was
patent from our observations—that between the fuscce
and the sanguinece there was a well-defined and clearly-
pronounced antagonism. In presence of the sanguinece
the fuscce were terror-stricken. In fact, the depre-
dators had it all their own way, and were able in this
instance at least to carry out their marvellous instincts
without destroying a single life. I now clearly under-
stood that my most sanguine and anxiously-cherished
hopes had been fully realised, and that I had con-
firmed in my own experience the wondrous fact
that F. sanguinea is not only a slave-owner, but a
slave-maker.CHAPTER XVI.
The Slave-making Instinct first observed by M. P. Huber in Rufescens
—Huber’s Historical Sketch of the Amazon Ants—A Slave-making
Expedition described—Sir J. Lubbock’s Experiment—Mr. Frederick
Smith the first in England to witness the Slave-making Instinct in
Active Exercise—Charles Darwin also observed it—The Important
Relation the whole History of Ants bears to Darwin’s Theory of
the Origin of Species—The Author’s Experiences—Sir J. Lubbock
witnesses Polyergus in Captivity carrying off the Pupae of F. fusca—
Other Slave-makers—Forel’s Account of S. testaceus—A Conflict
between a Mixed Community of S. testaceus and T. ccespitum and
an Independent Colony of T. ccespitum—Strange History of Anergates
atratulus—Two Alternatives proposed for the Solution of the
Mystery—Cataglyphis viatica a Slave-maker—Aphenogaster Barbara,
the Harvester, a Slave.
IT should be known that the slave-making instinct
was first observed by M. P. Hfiber in Rufescens,
which is not a British species; it belongs to an allied
genus, viz., Polyergus, which may be distinguished
from Formica by having the maxillary palpi four-
jointed instead of six, and the labial palpi two-jointed
instead of four. The mandibles being slender and
curved, acute at the apex, and not dentate within,
Polyergus rufescens, as Formica sanguineay is associated
with the family Formicidce. It is found in France
and Switzerland, and it was in the latter country thatANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
193
Huber studied its marvellous economy. He says in
his historical sketch of the Amazon ants :1 “ On the
17th June, 1804, whilst walking in the environs of
Geneva, between four and five in the evening, I
observed close at my feet, traversing the road, a
legion of rufescent ants. They moved in a body, with
considerable rapidity, and occupied a space of from
eight to ten inches in length by three or four inches
in breadth. In a few minutes they quitted the road,
passed a thick hedge, and entered a pasture-ground,
where I followed them. They wound along the
grass without straggling, and their column remained
unbroken, notwithstanding the obstacles they had
to surmount. At length they approached a nest
inhabited by dark ash-coloured ants—i.e., Formica
fusca—the dome of which rose above the grass at a
distance of twenty feet from the hedge. Some of its
inhabitants were guarding the entrance, but on the
discovery of an approaching army, darted forth upon
the advanced guard. The alarm spread at the same
moment in the interior, and their companions came
forth in numbers from their underground residence.
The rufescent ants, the bulk of whose army lay only
at the distance of two paces, quickened their march
to arrive at the foot of the ant-hill. The whole
battalion in an instant fell upon and overthrew the
ash-coloured ants, who, after a short but obstinate
conflict, retired to the bottom of their nest. The
rufescent ants now ascended the hillock, collected in
crowds on the summit, and took possession of the
principal avenues, leaving some of their companions
to work an opening in the side of the ant-hill with
1 The Natural History of Ants, pp. 248-252.
Oi.94
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
their teeth. Success crowned their enterprise, and
by the newly-made breach the remainder of the army
entered. Their sojourn was, however, of short dura-
tion, for in three or four minutes they returned by
the same apertures which gave them entrance, each
bearing off in its mouth a larva or a pupa. They
retraced the route by which they had arrived, and
proceeded, one after another, without order or regu-
larity. The whole army might be readily distin-
guished in the grass by the contrast afforded by the
rufescent ants and the white larvae and pupae they had
captured. They repassed the hedge and the road in
the place they had previously crossed it, and then
directed their course through a field of ripened corn,
where I experienced the regret of not being able to
follow them. I now retraced my steps towards the
scene of the recent assault, and there found a small
number of ash-coloured labourers, perched upon the
stalks of plants, holding in their mouths a few larvae
they had rescued from pillage ; these they shortly
carried back to their former station.” “ This feature,”
he adds, “so prominent in the history of rufescent
ants, of whose real name I was then ignorant, induced
me to give them the appellation of Amazon or
Legionary ants, as being most analogous to their
martial character.”
Hfiber shows how utterly dependent these Amazon
ants are upon their slaves, which spring from the
captured larvae and pupae, and which they sometimes
draw from the colonies of the Formica cunicularia as
well as the Formica fusca, both being mining ants.
The F. cunicularia is very similar in appearance to
the small workers of the F. rufa, but its habits areANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
195
different from the wood-ant, which is more of a builder
than a miner, though some of its chambers are sub-
terranean—these, however, are merely the under-
ground offices of their thatched dwelling, into which
they retire during hibernation. The auxiliaries are
alone employed in establishing a new domicile, and in
carrying thither the rufescent ants with their pupae
and larvae, whenever their masters wish to change
their abode. As a rule they build the nest, rear the
young, and furnish them with provisions, and even
feed their masters. Huber says,1 “ I have never seen
the Amazons take nourishment but from the mouth
of the negroes. I have presented to them honey
and fruit, which they left untasted. When hungry
they approach their auxiliaries, and these disgorge in
their mouths the juices they have obtained from
the aphides, the ant-cows which they milk for the
common benefit.”
Sir John Lubbock records2 how he had a nest of
this species under observation for a long time, but
never saw one of the masters feeding; how he kept
isolated specimens for weeks by giving them a slave
for an hour or two a day to cleanse and feed them,
without which assistance they would have perished in
two or three days. He says: “ I know no other case
in nature of a species having lost the instinct of feed-
ing.” Huber also discovered the slave-making instinct
in F. sanguinea, which, as we have seen, is not nearly
so dependent upon its auxiliaries as F. rufescens,
since it shares with its slaves the work of the common
home. Other continental entomologists have verified*
Huber’s observations, especially Auguste Forel, who
1 Ants, p. 286.	2 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, pp. 83, 84.
O 2196
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
has recorded the results of his investigations in his
interesting work on the ants of Switzerland.
Mr. Frederick Smith was the first in England to
witness the slave-making instinct in active exercise.
In a letter dated 7th March, 1878, he gave the following
information about the species in answer to my inquiries
as to his knowledge of its habitat: " I have found
F. sanguinea in four localities—Blackwater, Hants,
Weybridge, Chobham Heath, and Shirley Common,
all on the Bagshot sands.” It was at Blackwater
that he witnessed a slave-making expedition. “It
was,” he says,1 “ in the summer of 1843 I discovered
a colony of this slave-making ant, and very closely I
watched it, in the hope of witnessing what others had
described; not that I doubted the truth of such
relations, but it almost seemed necessary that I should
myself be a witness of such a fact before I could
attribute to these creatures such an extraordinary
and odious instinct. Three successive years passed
without any satisfactory result. In the nests I found
plenty of slaves, or, at least, plenty of a very different
species to the F. sanguinea, all being black and
smaller. One morning, on passing the nest, swarms
of ants were spread over the bank in which the nest
was situated. The larger ants, the soldiers, were very
active, and constantly assuming the most threatening
attitudes, standing erect, occasionally springing up on
their hinder feet, and snapping their jaws with great
ferocity. The sun burst out, and the whole host rapidly
retreated to their subterranean abode. Again, in the
evening, I visited the spot, and to my delight I found
the army again in battle array. Numbers of the
1 From an unpublished manuscript in the possession of the author.' ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
197
largest ants at length separated from the rest, and
formed the advanced guard or van, and the whole
body was in motion. At a distance of about twenty
yards was a nest of Formica fusca. This was the
object of their attack. Without the slightest pause,
the advanced warriors boldly entered the nest, and in
poured swarms after them. After a few moments had
elapsed numbers issued forth, each carrying their
slaves in their jaws. Occasionally, a number of black
ants rushed out of the nest and gallantly attacked
their invaders, but they were quickly overcome, and
carried off to the nest of the victors. Frequently,
however, they were torn limb from limb, in which case
their mangled bodies were borne off, no doubt as food,
to the nest. In plundering a nest, although numbers
of ants are carried off, by far the greater number con-
vey the pupae, or young brood, of the black ants, and
I have some suspicion that it is these which, being
born in the nest, become slaves from birth.” .
This suspicion is undoubtedly correct. While
watching the triumphant procession of F. sanguinea
returning from the successful marauding expedition,
I did not observe a single black worker being borne
along. The spoils of conquest consisted almost
entirely of pupae, a small proportion being larvae.
Charles Darwin, whose recent death is esteemed so
great a loss to the scientific world, was the second
naturalist who observed in England the slave-making
instinct of sanguinea in active exercise. Charles
Darwin was a most accurate observer, and has rendered
brilliant services to science by the diligent accumula-
tion of facts in the domain of zoological research ; but
while we welcome his facts we are forced to repudiatei9S	ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
his theory of the origin of species since, it is not borne
out by the result of scientific inquiry. For its
establishment it demands transitional forms of life
when none have been proved to exist in the historical
era, and when no trace of their existence has been
found in the stony records of prehistoric or geological
epochs.
In passing I cannot refrain from alluding to the
important relation which the whole history of ants bears
to this theory. It is my conviction that as surely as
the Brazilian Saiibas defoliate, and thus jeopardise
the life of the orange trees of Pard, so surely do the
ants rob the theory of development of its seemingly
fair proportions and fancied triumphs. Darwin him-
self, with that candour which ever characterised him,
acknowledges1 that the existence of several forms or
castes among the workers having different functions
presents the greatest difficulty to the acceptance of his
theory of the origin of species by natural selection.
The supposition he hazards to solve the problem
and overcome the difficulty seems to me to be destruc-
tive of the very essence of the theory he desired to
establish. As a rule, this worker class of different
forms and varying instincts, whose existence seems so
advantageous to the species, has not the power to lay
eggs, and so is unable to transmit the beneficial
modifications to be garnered up and carried forward
for the permanent advantage of future generations.
The scene would to a certain extent be changed,
and the prospect would in a slight degree brighten
in favour of his theory, if instances could be re-
corded of the production of ova and the subsequent
1 Origin of Species, pp. 235, 236.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
199
development of the perfect insect by the worker caste.
Such instances have been noted by scientific observers,
Sir J. Lubbock among the number. But what do
we find ? Strange to say, all the ants that are matured
from these worker eggs in nowise resemble the parent
with its beneficent function and beneficial instincts and
endowments—for they are all males !
Another difficulty the little people offer to the
acceptance of the theory of evolution as interpreted
and illustrated by Darwin, is the constantly manifested
and clearly defined antagonism between members
of the communities of the different families, genera,
and species, nay, even between the members of the
different colonies of the same species, which seem to
forbid peremptorily a common origin or ancestry.
And lastly, the marvellous intelligence of the little
people, which seems so closely allied to reason as to
differ from it, as Sir J. Lubbock justly observes, in
degree though not in kind, and which places these
aculeate Hymenoptera next to man in the ranks of
intelligent being, rather than the anthropoid apes,
which resemble him only in anatomical structure and
physiological endowment, appears still further to
disturb the conclusions of the advocates of the
evolutionary philosophy, and leads the earnest and
unprejudiced searcher after scientific truth to pause
before adopting it as his creed.
Darwin has recorded1 how, during the months of
June and July, in three successive years, he had
watched many hours several nests of F. sanguinea in
Surrey and Sussex, and in the year on which he wrote
his narrative he witnessed a migration from one nest
1 Origin of Species, p. 220.200
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
to another, the masters carrying instead of being car-
ried by their slaves, as is the case with P. rufescens.
Another day he watched about a score of the slave-
makers haunting the same spot They approached,
and were vigorously repulsed by an independent com-
munity of the slaves (F. fusca), sometimes as many
as three of these ants clinging to the legs of the
slave-making F. sanguinea. The latter ruthlessly
killed their small opponents and carried their dead
bodies as food to their nest, twenty-nine yards distant,
but were prevented from getting any pupae to rear as
slaves. He then mentions how he dug up a small
parcel of the pupae of F. fusca from another nest and
put them down on a bare spot near the place of com-
bat. These were eagerly seized and carried off by the
tyrants, who perhaps fancied that, after all, they had
been victorious in the late combat. “ One evening,”
he says,1 “ I visited another community of F. sanguinea,
and found a number of these ants returning home and
entering their nests, carrying the dead bodies of F.
fusca—showing that it was not a migration—and
numerous pupae. I traced a long file of ants burthened
with booty, for about forty yards, to a very thick
clump of heath, whence I saw the last individual of
F. sanguinea emerge, carrying a pupa. But I was
not able to find the desolated nest in the thick heath.
The nest, however, must have been close at hand,
for two or three individuals of F. fusca were rushing
about in the greatest agitation, and one was perched
motionless, with its own pupa in its mouth, on the
top of a spray of heath, an image of despair over its
ravaged home.”
1 Origin of Species, pp. 222, 223.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
201
The wonderful instinct of F. sanguinea witnessed
by Messrs. F. Smith and C. Darwin has been ob-
served in active exercise in England only, I believe,
by one other student of God’s marvellous works, viz.
the humble member of the Entomological Society
who is now placing on record an account of his
experience of the ways and doings of the little
people.
Mr, Rothney, who discovered so many species of
ants in sanguinea nests at Shirley, has not witnessed
the manifestation of its slave-making instinct. In
his letter dated 9th March, 1879, he writes: “I am
glad to hear you were fortunate in finding sanguinea
on a slave-making expedition, and I should much like
to read your account of it. I must say that, after
spending hours per week for even four years, and never
seeing any sign of such military expeditions, although
I knew and visited the nests of all the fuscas on the
heath, I began to feel sceptical on the subject, and
fancied that either these expeditions required French
or German eyes to see, or were a matter of pure
romance, and that fusca took up its quarters in the
nest of sanguinea from a love of mixing in good
society, viz. that they were a little better than toadies,
and were glad to do the dirty work, to be seen in the
company of the great. There is one point I particu-
larly noticed in my rounds of the nests, and that was,
that F. fusca seems at home as a quiet, easy-going
ant, with a strongly-developed sense that discretion is
the better part of valour. But the fusca found in the
nest of sanguinea is a very different sort of fellow,
and the bravest of the brave ; sanguinea is bold, but
the retainer, fuscay is bolder. Is this not strikingly202
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
like native troops and English officers ? the black
require the lead of the white or red.”
On the i ith of March, 1878,1 heard from Sir John
Lubbock, and it appears that he has not witnessed
F. sanguined in its native haunts conducting a slave-
making expedition. He says, however, “ I have had
a nest of Polyergus a long time, and having put a
colony of F. fusca near it, they made an expedition and
carried off the pupae.” He adds, “ I have never found it
on the Continent. F. sanguinea and P. rufescens feed
well on honey. I also occasionally give them meat.”
In addition to F. sanguinea and P. rufescens, there
are several other slave-makers among the little
people. Sir John Lubbock, in a paper read before
the Royal Institution of Great Britain, on January
26th, 1877, thus refers to two remarkable species:—
“ In P. rufescens, the so-called workers, though thus
helpless and stupid, are numerous, energetic, and,
in some respects, even brilliant, In another slave-
making species, however, Strongylognathusy the workers
are much less numerous, and so weak that it is
an unsolved problem how they contrive to make
slaves. Lastly, in a fourth species, Anergates
atrattiluSy the workers are absent, the males and
females living in nests with workers belonging to
another ant, Tetramorium ccespitum. In these cases,
the Tetramoriums, having no queen, and conse-
quently no young of their own, tend the young
of Anergates. It is, therefore, a case analogous to
that of Polyergus, but it is one in which slave-owning
has almost degenerated into parasitism. It is not,
however, a case of true parasitism, because the
Tetramoriums take great care of the Anergates, and*ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
203
if the nest is disturbed, carry them off to a place of
safety.”
The Strongylognathus here spoken of is doubtless
the S'testaceus, Mr. F. Smith thus wrote in a letter
to me, dated March 7th, 1878:—“ Strongylognathus
testaceus is the only species belonging to that genus.
It is a minute species of Myrmicidce, and I had not
known of its having been discovered to be a slave-
making ant. What species can so minute a creature
carry off? Anergates atratulus is unknown to me.”
Forel has given1 most interesting details of the
economy and habits of these two species. With
reference to	testaceus, he mentions how it holds in
servitude Tetramorium ccespitum.	He describes a
spirited contest between the mixed community and
a colony of T. ccespitum, which he had placed near
their nest, and which contest I think may throw light
upon a hitherto insoluble mystery, viz., as to how
the 5. testaceus procures its slaves. The workers of
Strongylognathus displayed undoubted courage in the
attack, and were on the winning side. Their victory,
however, was owing entirely to the skill and endurance
of their auxiliaries, and though many of the Strongy-
lognathus perished in the conflict, they were not able
to kill a single opponent; and, further, it was the
auxiliaries, the Tetramoriums, of the mixed commu-
nity who carried off the pupae from their antagonists,
the independent colony of the Tetramoriums. Forel
tells2 us how the faithful record of the combat
1	See Les Four mis de la Suisse, chapters xv. and xvi.
2	Ibid., p. 347. These are his words : “ Je crois que le recit fidele
de ce combat suffit pour montrer que cette nouvelle Amazone n’est
qu’une triste caricature du P. rufescensP204
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
serves to show that the new Amazonian ant (S. tes-
taceus) is but a poor caricature of P. rufescens. I may
add that it has the • advantage over the rufescens
in being able to feed itself, though it seems that
it cannot unaided, like the historic Amazonians,
capture slaves.
This incident seems to show that testaceus is able
to procure slaves, and thus perpetuate its mixed
community through the willing and effective co-
operation of its auxiliaries.
Forel has made a most interesting discovery of
another species 1 of Strongylognathus, which is un-
doubtedly a slave-making ant, and which is able
unaided to engage in military expeditions and in-
crease the number of its auxiliaries, and so satisfy
the exigencies of its economy. Sir J. Lubbock
alludes to this species in his recent work, and well
summarizes its interesting habits. He tells2 us that
this species, discovered by Forel, and which is
designated Strongylognathus Huberi, very much re-
sembles Polyergus rufescens in its habits, that “ they
have sabre-like mandibles, like those of Polyergus, and
their mode of fighting is similar, but they are much
weaker insects; they make slaves of Tetramorium
ccespitum, which they carry off as pupae. In attacking
the TetramoriumSy they seize them by the head with
their jaws, just in the same way as Polyergus, but have
not strength enough to pierce them, as the latter do.
Nevertheless, the Tetramoriums seem much afraid of
them”
The strange and anomalous species, Anergates
1	See Les Four mis de la Suisse, chapter xvii.
2	Ants, Bees, and Wasps, p. 84.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.	205
atratulus, which was unknown, to Mr. Smith, I have
briefly referred to, under exceptional forms in ant-life
and structure, in a former chapter. The history of
the ant, its economy, and the, constitution of its
forniicarium, is fully chronicled by Forel.1 The
colony consists of males and females, the males being
apterous, and, having no workers, their place being
supplied by the workers of that invaluable species
Tetramorium ccespitum, upon which the males and
females of the colony are entirely dependent. Mr.
Smith has unconsciously alluded to the species in his
Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects, part vi., “ Fortni-
cidce,”2 where it is called Myrmica atratula, according
to Schenk. The ant was in fact first discovered by
Schenk, who took the workers to be of the same
species. Sir J. Lubbock mentions3 how Mayr first
pointed out that the workers were those of Tetra-
morium ccespitum. The question arises whether
Anergates atratulus is a guest-species, living with
Tetramorium ccespitum, or a slave-making ant, holding
T. ccespitum in bondage. If the former, how is it
that only workers of Tetramorium, and not also larvae,
pupae, or apterous females, have been discovered in
the mixed communities by observers such as Forel
and Von Hagens ? If the latter, how can it secure
a supply of slaves, being too weak and too few in
number to organise and successfully undertake a
marauding expedition? Sir J. Lubbock suggests4
the tragic hypothesis that Anergates might enter
the nest of Tetramorium, assassinate the queen, and
remain an unbidden guest. But this, I think, is quite
1 Les Fourmis de la Suisse, chapter xv.
3 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, p. 86.
2 P. 117.
4 Ibid., pp. 87, 88.206
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
untenable, since it would not have the power to
execute so daring a plan, and its violent intrusion
would be followed by instant extermination. Two
alternatives I would suggest: ist, that Anergates is a
guest-species, living with Tetramorium, the queen of
the Tetramoriums having died, and in her place a
permanent welcome been accorded to the males and
females of Anergates, or the apterous Tetramorium
female, by whose presence an adequate supply of
workers might be secured, may have been overlooked
by observers; or, which is more likely, being more in
accordance with precedent, the Anergates is a slave-
maker, with habits similar to S. testaceus, using its
auxiliaries, upon whom it is absolutely dependent, to
capture the pupae of Tetramoriumy and so keep up a
supply of servitors, without whose help the species
would soon become extinct.
There is another slave-making ant, which has not
yet been brought into prominence or received that
attention which its interesting history deserves. Mr.
Smith first brought it under my notice. He says :—
“ In the sixth volume of the Journal of the Proceedings
of the Linncean Society I published descriptions of
species of ants from the Holy Land ; amongst them
was Cataglyphis (or Formica) viatica, a slave-making
ant.” The slave in this case is the harvesting species,
Aphenogaster barbara. The identification of the har-
vester as the slave of viatica might be overlooked
by the ordinary reader, since in the paper, the ant,
in dependent association with viatica, is called the
A tta cephaloteSy which Mr. Smith gave me to understand
is Latreille’s designation for A. barbara.	Viatica is
a magnificent ant, considerably larger than barbara}ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
20 7
with long legs. It has a black shining abdomen and
brilliant mahogany-coloured head and thorax, some
specimens being paler than others, while some again
have those parts as dark as the abdomen. I have
beautiful specimens both from Algeria and Syria, one
fine form being from Acre. Thus runs Mr. Smith’s
record1:—This ant and the Atta cephalotes, according
to the information that I have been able to obtain,
are usually, if not always, found in the same localities,
and it would appear that, in some degree, they are
dependent on each other. It is now a well-ascertained
fact that other species, in the fulfilment of their
economy, require the aid of a distinct race, or rather
are dependent on slave labour for the rearing of their
young brood, and for the performance of many other
offices connected with the duties of their formicarium.
The connection between the F. viatica and Atta
cephalotes appears to be similar to that which exists
between F. sanguinea and F. fusca. The substance
of the following account was communicated by
M. Roussel to Dr. Nylander. M. Roussel observes
that both species are common in Algeria, that they
live in numerous societies, and construct their formi-
caria usually in banks, frequently at road-sides. It
would appear that fierce combats take place occa-
sionally between the Formicce and the At tee, the
former being always victorious and carrying off
captive members of the Attce, which henceforth be-
come the nurse-slaves of F. viatica. M. Roussel
frequently observed evidences of fierce encounters
between these species of ants, having found the
ground in the vicinity of the nests of the Attce strewed
1 Proceed. Linn. Soc. for 1861, vol. vi. pp. 2, 3.208
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
with the mangled remains of both combatants ; but
he does not appear to have ascertained whether the
F. viatica carries off the Atta in the pupa or perfect
condition. Probably the former, since, judging from
analogy, it would appear necessary that such should
be the case, as under such circumstances the F. fusca
in the nests of F. sanguinea appears to form, as it
were, an absolutely necessary part of the community.
Probably such perfect individuals as are sometimes
carried off by slave-making ants are not intended to
form part of the living population. Mr. Bates, who
resided several years in Brazil, communicated to me
some very interesting accounts of the habits of various
predacious species of ants. Not only did he observe
the slave-makers carrying off pupae from the nests of
more peaceable communities, but he also witnessed
the slaughter of the defenceless species—their furious
assailants tearing the larger and more weighty females
limb from limb, and then carrying away the mangled
remains to their own habitations. Such, probably, is
the fate of such living examples as may be frequently
observed vainly struggling with their more warlike
invaders. M. Roussel observed Atta cephalotes in
great numbers living in perfect harmony in the nests
of F. viatica.
Slave-making ants are found in America. Dr. Me
Cook mentions1 how the nests of six species of true
ants and of the northern species of white ant, Tertnes
flavipes, are found parasitic upon the nests of the
Occident ant, the agricultural ant of the American
plains, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis. He says : “ On
1 See The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident
Ants of the American Plains, pp. 152, 153.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
209
three separate pavements I found colonies of the
sanguine slave-maker, Formica sanguinea. Each
colony was located upon the clearing not far from
the mound, and was marked by openings into the
earth quite surrounding the bases of one or two
tall weeds or wild flowers—one of them a sun-
flower. The openings were large, three-fourths of an
inch wide, and served as the gates into the interior
of the formicary. The sunflower nest had an open-
ing around the plant, one and one-eighth inch- in
diameter. The branches of the plant were covered
with aphides, who were attended by numbers of the
slave species, Formica Schauffussi, intermingled with
whom were many of the slave-makers. Another
slave species, a small black Formica, new to science
(apparently), occupied one of the colonies in lieu of
F. Schauffussi. The number of ants in these com-
pound nests was quite large, judging from those in
sight; and the territory occupied by them, as deter-
mined by an outside example explored, embraced a
goodly portion of the interior nest-space. Yet there
was nowhere upon any of the three formicaries at any
time discerned the slightest trace of antagonism to
these guests on the part of their Occident hosts. The
species were not greatly unequal in size, but the
disparity in numbers was such that the Occidents
could soon have exterminated the Sanguines and their
kidnapped retainers. That they did not do so seems
to indicate a peaceful and tolerant nature. Again, in
the larger nest of Occidentalis explored by me (Ex-
cavated Nest No. 2) there were found three nests of a
small red species, one of a small black ant, and one of
a large blue-black Formica—all within the compass210
ANTS AND THEIR WAVS.
of the underground nest-space, all showing full or-
ganisation, with queens, males, cocoons, and larvae,
and all having galleries and chambers perfectly
formed and wholly undisturbed. Besides these, three
colonies of the Erratic Ant were established upon the
clearing. The nests of the small red ants were found
within the cone itself, and one of them extended for
eight inches directly across it. The small black ants
were also nested within the cone, and had a domicile
which was almost a miniature reproduction of the
interior of an Occident nest.”
In conclusion, though we cannot exactly sympa-
thise with the sanguinea in their kidnapping pro-
clivities, yet we are forced to commend their wisdom
in taking off their slaves when in an unconscious
state, their diligence in educating them, their kind-
ness to them at all times, as evidenced by the
affection of the slaves towards their masters, for
though possessing ample opportunities to escape,
being at perfect liberty to go in and out of the com-
mon home, according to their pleasure, they yet never
attempt to run away. In fact, from personal observa-
tion, I can confidently assert, without fear of contra-
diction, that the masters treat their auxiliaries as
Seneca tells one of his correspondents that he should
treat his slaves, not like beasts of burden, but as
humble friends.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Variety in the Architectural Designs of the Ants—Habitation of
the Common Yellow Ant described—F. aliena (L. alienus) a Miner
and a Mason—Typical Nest of Formica—Dimensions of the Nests
of the Wood Ants—The Common Garden Ant storming Exsecta’s
' Castle and destroying the Garrison.
Let us now notice the construction of the houses of
the little people. The extraordinary variety in their
architectural designs must necessarily constrain us to
be brief in describing each. The young folks of the
ant colony are weavers, and the labourers careful
nurses. Not only are the young or larvae of ants—
as a rule those of the family Fortnicidce, and among
the Myrmicidce those belonging to the genus Myrmecia,
skiful weavers,—but, what is not so generally known,
sometimes even the workers are weavers also, viz.,
those of the genus Polyrachis. I have a beautiful
nest of P. Icevissimus from Calcutta. It is in form
and texture very similar to the shuttle-shaped, pale
yellow cocoons which the larvae of the British moth
called the Drinker (Odonestis potatorid) fashions and
hangs upon the grass stems in the late spring-tide.
It is about twice the size, being rather more than 2§
inches in length, and two-thirds of an inch in its
P 2212
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
largest diameter, the cocoons of “ the drinker ” being
ij inch in length and half an inch in diameter at
its thickest part. The nest is pale buff in colour, like
that of the cocoon of Myi'tnecia piliventris, and
leathery in texture, but when a portion of the outer
surface is removed it is found to be composed of a
web of fine white silk. It was Mr. T. C. Jerdon who
first brought to light the constructive habits of this
interesting genus. He thus1 describes the nest of
the species nidificans:—“ This ant makes a small nest,
about half an inch, or rather more, in diameter, of
some papyraceous material, which it fixes on a leaf.
I have opened two, each of which contained one
female and eight or ten workers. It is very rare, and
I have only seen it in Malabar.” Mr. F. Smith adds,
“ Since the publication of these remarks, a nest of
one of the species has been received from Malacca;
it was discovered by Mr. Wallace, and exactly agrees
with Mr. Jerdon’s description.” Among the labourers
are found not only weavers but miners, masons,
bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters, wood - carvers,
thatchers, and tent-makers, and some there are
who combine the profession of civil engineer with
that of architect.
The reader is doubtless familiar with the habita-
tions of the common yellow ant, Formica jiava, which
are frequently found adorning—some would say
disfiguring—the surface of meadows and commons
and slopes of railway cuttings and embankments.
Generally they look like grassy mounds; in form
they are as a rule conical, but sometimes, like the old
1 See Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects, part vi. ‘ ‘ Formic ideet ” by
Frederick Smith, p. 58.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
213
Irish round towers, cut down and protected with a
semi-spherical roof. They vary in height, being some-
times less and sometimes more than a foot. They
are so constructed as to ensure perfect drainage.
Innumerable chambers and passages are formed
within the dome and beneath it. The dome increases
in height and circumference as the colony multiplies,
the growing population requiring additional accom-
modation. The waste material caused by the en-
larged chambers is thrown upon the surface by the
provident labourers, and while adding to the height
of their dwelling, gives greater protection from
the variable climate. At the same time they take
good care that the symmetry of the building is not
destroyed.
Having placed the habitations of this little people
in glass vases of different sizes, and created artificial
darkness by covering the transparent surface of their
prison-house, either with green baize or brown paper,
which answers equally as well, and so leading them
to believe their dwelling to be underground, I have
oftentimes induced indefatigable labourers to work
against the glass with vigour and animation. As
to the many thousands of bricks they prepare with
their tiny saws and feet, the many labyrinths of
chambers and corridors they construct in their
densely-peopled houses, all leading into each other,
like the halls and galleries of some lordly castle,
all fashioned with accurate precision, of differing
dimensions, yet of uniform symmetrical proportions,
and the many bricks of their numerous vaulted
galleries and departments supporting each other
effectually on the scientific principle which keeps214
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
the arch in true position, no words of mine can give
any adequate description. The reader must see their
handiwork in order rightly to appreciate how, in the
construction of their dwellings, the little people are
exceeding wise.
It is said that they sometimes utilise mole-hills for
the purpose of constructing their houses. This may
very possibly be the case. The only instance I have
met with of an ant colony taking possession of a
mole-hill was in 1879, when I found one side of a
mole-hill occupied by M‘ Icevinodis in strong force.
M. scabrinodis sometimes shares the grassy mounds
above referred to with F. jiava, and fashions its less
numerous chambers and galleries upon a similar plan.
In hilly districts, where many flat stones are lying
scattered over the undulating ground, F. jiava often-
times dispenses with the usual mound or tower, and
utilises the stones for comfort and protection.
Such I find to be the case on the sunny slopes of
the Cotswolds, not only with F. jiava, but with
many other species of Formica and Myrmica before
enumerated. F. cunicularia, a true miner, takes
advantage of such a shelter, as also F. nigra and
F. aliena. F. nigra is most common in gardens at
the side of gravel paths, the entrance to its burrows
being at once discovered by the little heaps of refuse
earth which it casts up from its subterranean
chambers. M. Icevinodis, which I have also found
under stones, throws up usually among the growing
grass masonry of an ovate form.
The F. aliena, which is both a miner and a
mason, I have found occupying a mound at Bourne-
mouth; when in the open sand it, however, formsANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
215
circular entrances to its subterranean domicile, which
is sometimes funnel-shaped, the rim of the funnel
being formed of masonry cast up with its waste
building material, which it thus utilises. This is the
case more especially in Suffolk. F. umbrata, for the
greater part of the year, lives underground, but when
swarming in the autumn it appears in large numbers
on the surface, issuing from its subterranean chambers
by innumerable entrances, which it at that season
arranges in the soil, throwing up a perfect fretwork
of masonry, which I have before alluded to when
describing the habits and work of the species in my
artificial formicarium. The workers, however, some-
times issue forth at night earlier in the season. In the
year 1879 I found in a net, with which my little boy
had in the dusk captured moths from the vicarage
shrubbery, several specimens of this species closely
allied to F. flava. They were possibly foraging for
the benefit of the home party; perhaps gathering
honey-dew or searching after aphides. This ant is
well named umbrata, when we take note of its love
of retirement and shade.
One other ant is, perhaps, a still greater lover of
privacy—the Diplorhoptrum (Solenopsis) fugax, the
smallest British species—which prefers sometimes
trodden pathways to burrow in, and I believe has
only once been seen above ground in England. This
was by Mr. F. Smith, who captured a female on the
sand-hills at Deal. He it was who first discovered it
at Southend by digging. We have already incidentally
mentioned that F. sanguinea, with the assistance of
its auxiliary, F. fusca, constructs its residence around
the stumps of the golden gorse. Its chambers are216
ANTS AND THEIR WA VS.
fashioned with much skill out of the friable soil of
the Bagshot sands, though bits of stick and chips of
fern-root are introduced and worked in according to
the discretion of the little builders. At Crowthorne
I have found its nest fashioned in a turf bank, many
chambers full of pupae, and two or three winged
females among the number, being arranged between
the layers of turf.
When in the Crown Woods, Eltham, I chanced to
strike my foot against a stump of quaint and rugged
twist. It split, and I found myself for the first time
in presence of a colony of negro ants, their dusky
skins brought out into bold relief by a fine skirt of
brassy silk upon their loins. I captured two queens,
and numbers of their sable subjects. These negroes
are really miners, but they had taken up their winter
quarters in the stump. It may be that this power
of adapting itself to circumstances, which is, as we
shall see, possessed by many other species of the
little people, may be enjoyed by F. sanguined,
or it may be that the versatility of the negro’s
architectural genius may have have been introduced
into the master’s home by the black dependant, and
there have manifested itself to the common ad-
vantage; since in the mixed ant-hill I have found
the central gorse stump channelled and tenanted by
the two species, some of the chambers being set apart
as nurseries.
The F. rufa, so closely allied to F sanguinea, I have
discovered more than once occupying a stump of an
old tree, and heaping up its singularly-constructed
nest both above it and around it, for though the
conical nest looks like a small hillock formed ofANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
217
bits of stick and pine-needles, it is built upon a
well-conceived plan, and executed with undoubted
architectural skill. The conical structure is arranged
as a rule not around a stump, but on the open ground
in the shades of pine woods or in their neighbour-
hood, and covers a space of considerable extent. I
have found them full forty feet in circumference.
The ground beneath the dome—as is also the dome
itself, about two feet in height—is wrought into
chambers and connecting passages, amply sufficient
to accommodate the many thousands of its inhabit-
ants. The entrances to the marvellously-constructed
domicile are as a rule in the well-thatched dome, for
never was hay-stack or corn-rick thatched with more
consummate art than is the nest of the wood-ant;
and what is most worthy of notice about these
entrances is that as the shadows lengthen and the
twilight intervenes, they are closed by the intelligent
little people, and so closed that while they secure
protection, the air is not excluded. The shutters and
doors are formed of lattice-work, the labourers cross-
ing and recrossing little sticks until free ingress and
egress is completely barred. I have watched the
inhabitants of a palatial residence of F. rufa in the
valley of East Lynn thus putting up their shutters
and closing their doors at eventide as the sun was
hastening to its setting, and its departing golden
glory was reflected in the running stream which
made pleasant music on its journey to the sea.
The drawing of Mr. F. Smith, from which Fig. 35
was engraved, forms the representation of a typical
nest of Formica, doing service for the constitution of
a nest both of F. rufa and also of F. fasca. In theFig. 35.—Section of nest of Formica rufa.
From a drawing of the late Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
219
former case the conical roof is the thatched dome of
the heaped-up nest of the intelligent builder, and, in
the latter, the conical-shaped bank which forms the
upper surface of the subterranean habitation of the
ingenious miner. The chambers and corridors of the
formic castle, as disclosed in the section, being in
each case constituted upon a similar plan. I have
found F. rufa acting as a miner by arranging its nest in
a bank at Budleigh, Devon, and at Weybridge, Surrey.
And I have also discovered an allied species, F. con-
gerens, acting as a miner in a turf bank at Bourne-
mouth. This ant, and also F. exsecta, constitute the
two other British species of wood-ant. The former
(F. congerens) is the common wood-ant of Bourne-
mouth, and, as a rule, constructs its habitation on the
same architectural principles as F. rufa. The common
wood-ant (F. rufa) is very rare at Bournemouth.
That it is found there I know, since Mr. C. W. Dale
has kindly given me a specimen of the queen of this
species, which is readily distinguished from F. con-
gerens by its glabrous abdomen, which his father,
the late Mr. J. C. Dale, discovered in the locality.
A very large nest of F. congerens I discovered on a
sloping bank of fern and heather and gorse, on the
margin of the running stream which gives the name
to this charming retreat on the southern coast. A
careful measurement gave the depth at the crown of
the nest twelve inches, and eighteen inches down the
slope of the bank seven inches across the nest; from
the upper part to the base on the declivity seventy-
two inches; and a foot from the crown, fifty-three inches
across. The circumference measured eighteen feet
and four inches. There were seven entrances through220
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the cleverly-arranged thatch, and as my wife sketched
the nest, we watched the busy workers arranging the
trellis at the entrances with narrow sticks and the long
pine-needles of the Scotch fir for doors and shutters.
This species is very difficult to distinguish from the
common rufa. It is more pubescent, and the abdomen
of the male and female is not so shining as is that
of the more familiar species. Besides Bournemouth,
it has been met with at Loch Rannoch, in Perthshire,
and Other localities. The third wood-ant, F. exsecta,
seems to belong almost exclusively to Bournemouth
and its neighbourhood, having been discovered also
at Poole and on the outskirts of the New Forest,
near Ringwood, by myself, on the heathy carpet of
the neighbouring woods, its interesting nest rising up
gracefully from the heather. The thatched dome is
very much smaller than that of the two other species,
and formed of little bits of grass, fern-frond, and ling.
I discovered a little nest at Boscombe, near Bourne-
mouth, the dome of which was charmingly situated
among the heath and the bracken, and measured in
circumference thirty-two inches,, and in height only
three inches. F. exsecta is a brilliant ant, having a
blood-red thorax and legs, the occiput widely notched,
and the scale of it is smaller than the two allied
species. Mr. F. Smith1 endeavoured to establish a
colony in his garden at Islington, which he trans-
ported safely from Bournemouth, but unhappily his
intentions were frustrated by the common garden
ant, F. nigra, who resented the trespass upon what
it doubtless considered its own rightful domain, and
in strong force attacked and stormed exsecta s lillipu-
1 See Ent. Annual, 1869, pp. 70, 71.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
221
tian castle, and took the whole garrison prisoners,
forming a triumphal procession from the citadel to
its subterranean stronghold, each warrior of F. nigra
bearing in its mandibles a captive exsecta. Strange
to say, not a single member of the captured garrison
Fig. 36.—Nest of Formica exsecta. Boscombe, near Bournemouth.
ever reappeared, and the inevitable conclusion drawn
from the incident was, that the conquerors devoured
their luckless prisoners, and not, as Mr. Smith had
hoped, that he had discovered F. nigra (L. niger) in
the act of conducting a slave-making expedition.CHAPTER XVIII.
F. rufa and F. sanguined take in Lodgers—Distinct Species found in
the Nests of other Ants also—The Jet Ant both a Carpenter and
Wood-carver; sometimes a Miner—The Garden Ant discovered to
be a Wood-carver—Thb Author also discovers F. umbrata (L.
umbratus) as a Wood-carver and Carpenter—The Plasterer and
Tent-maker from Sierra Leone—The Umbrella Ant—The Thorn-
Nests of Pseudomyrma modesta from Panama—The “Bull Dog”
Ants in South Australia—The Driver Ant of Africa.
We have noticed in a previous chapter, while
investigating the domestic arrangements of F. san-
guined, how its mansion is sometimes transformed
into an hotel, this enterprising ant, with the help of
its sable dependants, offering accommodation to
many other species, who seem well satisfied with
their comfortable quarters. F. rufa takes in lodgers
also. I have already called attention to the presence
of a small party of F. fiava in the commodious
domicile of F\ rufa in the valley of the Horner. You
must know that a very distinct species of ant, pale-
reddish, smooth and shining, is found in the nests of
F rufa and F. congerens.	I have only heard of its
being discovered in association with F. rufa in this
country. They have been found in the nests of F.
rufa in some abundance at Weybridge. The nameANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
22 3
of the species is Stenamma Westwoodii. I have
already referred to the rare ant, Tetramorium lippula,
which I found at Lynmouth in the year 1878, and
many years before, when I first began my researches,
in a nest of F\ umbrata, at Charlton,' Kent. Others
have found it in association with the jet ant (F.
fuliginosa). The jet ant is both a carpenter and
wood-carver. It fashions the chambers and colon-
nades of its beautiful habitation in the heart of forest-
trees. I have already mentioned having found a
strong colony established in an oak on Hampstead
Heath. This ant sometimes departs from its usual
habit, and arranges its many-chambered home in the
ground.
I have discovered extensive colonies of this species
following the trade of a miner in the pleasant copses
at Clevedon. It should be noted that when estab-
lished in a tree, its carved work is always stained
black, and I have noticed that when prepared for the
cabinet a dark stain is left upon the card on which
it is extended. The perfume of this ant is most
agreeable, similar to the fragrance of the brilliant and
long-horned musk-beetle. Other species adapt them-
selves to circumstances, and change their trade to
meet the peculiar exigences of their surroundings.
To give but two illustrations of this change of habit
and happy aptitude in ants to adapt themselves to
altered conditions of life.
When at Bournemouth in 1876, I sauntered up the
valley of the Bourne. I soon reached the outskirts
of the pleasure-grounds, entered upon the open heath,
and came upon the sunny bank near the spot where
I discovered the extensive and interesting colony of224
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
F. congerens. I was watching the little people busily
employed in putting up their shutters, when my
attention was attracted by an old Scotch fir stump
in the midst of the purple heath, golden gorse, and
antlered fern, I removed some of the bark, and, to
my delight, I discovered the common garden ant (F.
nigra) in full force, which, though usually a miner,
was here following most intelligently the trade of a
wood-carver. Passages and chambers innumerable
were wrought most skilfully in the wood, which,
though firm, was in some places somewhat soft, and
bordering on decay. There were many nurseries
crowded with larvae. My wife sketched the pic-
turesque stump, and before the work of art was com-
pleted, every larva had been removed by the careful
and indefatigable nurses. The girth of the top of
the stump was thirty inches, the height above ground
was twelve inches, the extent of the chambers exposed
was twenty-four inches, and hundreds of larvae were
reposing snugly in their nurseries. I had removed
the greater part of the stump with the aid of spade,
chisel, mallet, and the willing shoulder of a stalwart
labourer, to my lodgings, whence it was in due course
transported to my study, and as I write I can
plainly see and admire the skilful work of the little
wood-carvers.
Again, F. umbrata, as a rule, is found following
the occupation of a miner. Last year, when cutting
down what was once a magnificent willow adorning
my paddock, but which for the last year or so had
been gradually losing its beauty and hastening to
decay, I was astonished at discovering in the very
heart of the tree a strong colony of F. umbrata. ItANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
225
was here occupied as a carpenter as well as a miner.
The work of destruction had been commenced, I
believe, by a wood-boring beetle, but had been
effectually continued and well-nigh completed by the
little people, who had shown their wisdom in utilising
the decaying wood and fine comminuted particles,
which it had doubtless accumulated by its mandibles,
which acted as sharp saws, to fashion its many
chambers and accommodate the countless numbers
of the rapidly-increasing family. In fact, the tree
measured ten feet ten inches in circumference; its
centre, to the height of four feet six inches, was
tenanted by a formic population of unnumbered
thousands. The rich, brown, honeycombed, finely-
wrought woody material occupied a space of about
one foot four inches in diameter.
But what is more remarkable, the same year, 1878,
was memorable in that I discovered F. umbrata to be
not merely a carpenter, but a wood-carver, and a
workman as skilled in his craft as the famous jet ant.
I had been noticing for some little time that a fine
shrub of the Weigela rosea, indigenous to the Flowery
Land, identified with the name of “ Fortune/’ who im-
ported it into this country, and which for many years had
ornamented with its beautiful rose-coloured blossoms
the left side of my dining-room window, had been for
a while languishing until almost all the branches had
perished, and most reluctantly I had to give orders
for it to be cut down and uprooted ; what was my
astonishment to find, when the stock was split open,
that F. umbrata (L. umbratus) had made it its resi-
dence, and most beautifully had the hard wood been
chiselled into numerous chambers and corridors. I
Q226
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
have it before me, and I can count as many as twelve
different storeys to this exquisitely-fashioned formic
mansion. The ceiling of one chamber forms the floor
of the next, and the passages are so constructed as
to give perfect access to the different chambers, and
at the same time to occupy as little space as possible,
so that the wants of the increasing colony may be
most economically, yet perfectly, provided for.
Though I am giving an account of the British
ant-world, I cannot forbear referring to two foreign
species which are abundantly represented in my
collection, and specimens of whose architectural skill
I have also in my possession. Both I have received
from Sierra Leone by a friend, the Rev. J. Hamilton.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
227
One of the species is a plasterer, the other a tent-
maker.
The plasterer belongs to the genus Crematogaster,
which walks with its abdomen over its thorax, hence
the name, and makes its nests in trees, of laminse of
manure or prepared earth. The nest is of a dark-
brown colour, and of a spherical form, and has, as
Fig. 38.—1. Formica virescens, larger worker (CEcophylla).	2. Natural size.
I have mentioned, acquired the name of the negro-
head, on account of its marked resemblance to the
woolly hair of our sable brother. In the Brazils it
generally goes by this cognomen.
The tent-maker is the Formica virescens of Africa
and Australia. It is also called QScophylla, and most
appropriately too, since it forms its nest of leaves,
by drawing them together and keeping them in true
position by means of a fine web. I have a fine
series of each order of the colony from Sierra Leone:
Q 2228
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the large females, the small males, and the larger
and smaller workers. I have many of the commo-
dious tents of this clever artificer.
I must again refer to the umbrella ant of Brazil,
QScodoma cephalotes, which as we have seen thatches
its house with circular bits of leaf cut with accurate
precision from coffee and orange trees, which they
oftentimes defoliate to carry out their bold architec-
tural designs, their mansions being forty or fifty
yards in circumference, though only two feet in height.
This enterprising tribe of the little people are wont
to carry each a piece of leaf in an upright position,
apparently utilising their burden as an umbrella
or parasol to shield themselves from the burning
heat of the tropical sun. When numbers of these
wondrous ants walk in procession with their little
umbrellas a very grotesque effect is produced. IANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
229
have conversed with a gentleman who graphically
described these ants at work upon their umbrellas.
In their preparation they observe a division of labour.
While some of the little workers are in the trees
cutting the little circles from the leaves, their com-
panions are* below waiting for the tiny umbrellas to
fall, that they may pick them up and carry them to
their homes. These little people are civil engineers
as well as architects, excavating as they do a tunnel
under wide and rapid rivers as broad as the Thames
at London Bridge, their triumphs of engineering skill
Fig. 40.—Umbrella ant (female).
having been executed long before such subfluvial
thoroughfares were even heard of by the human family.
The singular nest of another noteworthy ant I
desire to call attention to, and it is that of a species
of the genus Pseudomyrma called modesta, which
constructs its habitation in the long thorns of a kind
of acacia. I have in my collection two thorns from
Panama just four inches long, gradually tapering to
a point, which have been hollowed out and utilised as
a dwelling by the inventive genius of the little people,
who gain access to the interior of the thorn through230
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
a small perforation which they make towards its
pointed end. Mr. Smith1 tells us that “ the number of
pupae found in one nest was twenty-nine, and about
twenty mature ants ; all of these were workers. The
pupae are not inclosed in cocoons. These ants sting
very violently.”
There is another ant of the same genus with a simi-
lar habit, which Mr. Belt mentions 2 as having been
found in Nicaragua. This species is called P. bicolor.
It inhabits the curved spines of the buH’s-horn thorn,
a species of acacia which receives its name from the
spines, which are set in pairs and bear a strong resem-
blance to the horns of a bull. Mr. Belt tells us that
“ these thorns are hollow, and are tenanted by ants,
that make a small hole for their entrance and exit near
one end of the thorn, and also burrow through the
partition that separates the two horns, so that one
entrance serves for both. Here they rear their young,
and in wet seasons everyone of the thorns is tenanted;
and hundreds of ants are to be seen running about,
especially over the young leaves. If one of these be
touched, or a branch shaken, the little ants, Pseudo-
myrma bicolor, Guer., swarm out from the hollow
thorns, and attack the aggressor with jaws and stings.
They sting severely, raising a little lump that does
not disappear in less than twenty-four hours. These
ants form a most efficient standing army for the plant,
which prevents not only the mammalia from browsing
on the leaves, but delivers it from the attacks of a
much more dangerous enemy—the leaf-cutting ants.
For these services the ants are not only securely
1	Trans. Ent. Soc. vol. i. 3rd Series, Pt. I.
2	See The Naturalist in Nicaragua, p. 218.ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
231
housed by the plant, but are provided with a bountiful
supply of food ; and to secure their attendance at the
right time and place, this food is so arranged and
distributed as to effect that object with wonderful
perfection. The leaves are bi* pinnate. At the base
of each pair of leaflets, on the mid-rib, is a crater-
formed gland, which, when the leaves are young,
secretes a honey-like liquid. Of this the ants are
very fond; and they are constantly running about
from one gland to another to sip up the honey as it
is secreted. But this is not all ; there is a still more
wonderful provision of more solid food. At the end
of each of the small divisions of the compound
leaflet there is, when the leaf first unfolds, a little
yellow fruit-like body united by a point at its base
to the end of the pinnule. Examined through a
microscope, this little appendage looks like a golden
pear. When the leaf first unfolds, the little pears
are not quite ripe, and the ants are continually going
from one to another examining them. When an ant
finds one sufficiently advanced, it bites the small
point of attachment; then, bending down the fruit-
like body, it breaks it off and bears it away in triumph
to the nest. All the fruit-like bodies do not ripen at
once, but successively, so that the ants are kept about
the young leaf for some time after it unfolds. Thus
the young leaf is always guarded by the ants; and
no caterpillar or larger animal could attempt to
injure them without being attacked by the little
warriors. The fruit-like bodies are about one-twelfth of
an inch long, and about one-third of the size of the
ants; so that the ant bearing one away is as heavily
laden as a man bearing a large bunch of plantains/'232
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
As the workers of the P. bicolor form a “ standing
army” for the protection of the acacia in Nicaragua,
so, strange to say, those of another ant—called from its
combative habit and the form of its head the bull-dog
ant—is found to protect the blackberries in South
Australia. This I have been told by a lady who has
recently returned from a sojourn in that country.
She with a party of friends were in the bush thirty
miles from Melbourne, and while attempting to pick
the luscious and tempting fruit, were warned off and
unable to effect their purpose by the defiant attitude
and determined attack of the little “ bull-dogs ” who
swarmed over the richly laden briars.
Neither would it be right to pass over without
further notice the driver ants of Africa, Anomma,
who are totally blind, and whose sting is said to be
like the puncture of a red-hot needle, who, like the
Arabs of the desert, have no certain dwelling-place.ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
233
These are truly the scavengers of the deserts, before
whom rats, mice, lizards, cockroaches, and every kind
of vermin fly in terror, but are soon overpowered and
destroyed—before whose deadly advance the largest
serpent is driven, and, if gorged, soon falls a victim
to its countless hordes, in whose presence horses and
mules become unmanageable. On occasion of their
visit families have to leave their houses, only to
return and find their visitors their greatest friends,
being as they are the certain death of every noxious
and unclean intruder within the sacred domestic
precincts. Before the dauntless and determined pro-
gress of these driver ants every obstacle is overcome,
every difficulty vanishes—onwards, still onwards, is
their motto. In their blind career they pass through
houses, over hill and dale, and across water—and how ?
Not simply like the little sugar-ant, which passes
over the floating mass of the bodies of its companions
who have accidentally fallen into the tiny trench
which environs the food it is intended to preserve
from their attack; such a method would be simply
impracticable where running streams and rapid tor-
rents have to be crossed. They actually link them-
selves together until the living chain reaches a length
equal to the breadth of the stream, and thus form a
floating bridge more marvellous than the bridge of
boats across the Rhine, and over which the serried
ranks of their resistless army passes. Over rapid
torrents this would not be possible. So in this
case an animated suspension-bridge is formed, more
astonishing in its construction than that which spans
the Menai Straits, or that at Clifton, which gracefully
connects the opposite shores of the River Avon.234
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
This bridge, as in the former case, is formed of
the living bodies of some of the countless legions
of this valiant and triumphant little people, one
end being fastened to an overhanging branch, while
the other, assisted by a friendly breeze, is wafted
to the opposite shore of the brawling waters, and
there safely and securely anchored for the benefit
of the passing crowd.CHAPTER XIX.
The White Ants of Tropical Climes—The Four Classes found in the
Colony of the White Ant described—The Destructiveness of the
White Ants—How the True Ant as well as the “ White Ant”
becomes a Blessing in the Tropics—The Concluding Summary of
the Ways of the Little People.
Our narrative would not be complete without
some reference to the white ants of tropical climes—
Africa, America, and India. These are not true ants,
i.e. they do not belong to the order Hymenoptera,
which embraces the industrious bee and the crafty
ichneumon, as well as the little people we have
been particularly discoursing upon, but they belong
to the order Neuroptera, which embraces the brilliant
though voracious dragon-fly, the ephemeral May-fly,
and the wily ant-lion. They are called ants because
they are similar to them in their habits and in the
constitution of their colonies.
They erect buildings on a most magnificent scale,
being sometimes five hundred times the height of
the builders, it having been computed that if our
houses were built according to the same proportion,
they would be twelve or fifteen times higher than
the London Monument, four or five times higher236
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
than the Pyramids of Egypt, with corresponding
dimensions in the basements of the edifices, com-
prehending an area just ten times that of Lincoln's
Inn Fields. These habitations are, as a rule, of a
conical or sugar-loaf form. They are worked up
from the soil of the country by the ants, and are
of the consistency of stone, and so strong that a
buffalo has been known to take up its position on
the top of the conical knoll for the purpose of obser-
vation. I have several specimens of these nests ; some
are conical, some of the form of turrets, of different
stories, with overhanging eaves ; one of them is of the
form of a negro-head, though of course considerably
heavier than the nest usually going by that designa-
tion ; and another is of the form of a mushroom. All
these came from Sierra Leone, and were presented
to me by Mr. Hamilton. The different forms answer
to different species of the white ants, or termites,
as they are called.
There are four classes found in the colony of
the white ant. The king and the queen, who live
together in a central chamber near the ground,
after having lost their wings ; the workers, who
build and nurse their young; the soldiers, who never
build or nurse, whose duty consists in defending the
nest when attacked. Neither the workers nor the
soldiers have wings. The largest worker is supposed
to be a fifth of an inch long. The soldiers, which
have an enormous head and formidable mandibles,
are at least twice as long, and are said each to weigh
as much as fifteen workers. The male is reported
to weigh as much as thirty workers, attaining the
length of nearly four-fifths of an inch. While theANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
237
female, when she has become a queen and about to
form an extensive colony, attains the length of six
inches, and lays eggs at the rate of sixty a minute,
or more than eighty thousand a day.1
a
4
Fig. 42—The white ant ( Termes bellicosus).
1. Male. ^	2. Soldier.	3. Worker.	4. Female, half natural size.
a. Nat. size	b. Nat. size.	c, Nat. size.
From a diagram by the late Mr. Frederick Smith, British Museum.
The white ants are most destructive to houses,
furniture, clothes, and books. I have a piece of
wood from West Africa honeycombed by them, and
1 See The Insect World, by Louis Figuier, Eng. Trans, pp. 406,
407.238
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
the journal of a native catechist similarly treated ;
and in 1879 I noticed an appeal from the Bishop
of Sierra Leone for funds in order to repair the
churches, which, he said, are “ ant-eaten.” The
following letter, which, many years ago, I received
from the late Colonel Mann, long resident in Ceylon,
will convey a very good idea of their destructive
habits :—“ Anything that is reducible to powder
will, where they have located themselves, fall to
certain destruction. I was once proceeding from
Ceylon on duty somewhere that would entail an
absence of some months, and it became necessary
that I should pack up and stow away all my belong-
ings, that they might be placed in safety during
the time I was away. Among other things, a large
chest about four feet square was applied especially
to my books, and because I had not sufficient
to fill it entirely, the vacancy was supplied by a
quantity of what we used to call European clothes—
viz., thick coats, shooting jackets, and such things
as would never be used except in the hills, where
the climate requires warm clothing as much as in
England. This box or case was thus filled, secured
down, and left to its fate. I was absent quite a year,
and on my return had occasion to have the box
removed to a new residence. My attention wras
first drawn to it by my observing that two men
lifted it and carried it in, while I felt confident that
the box of books and clothes I had left had taken at
least six to move it to the cart that took it away !
I had the case opened, and when the lid was taken off
it was a little more than one-third full of a reddish
dust, with a very few remains of unfinished works,ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
239
sufficient to show that the leather was the first point
of attack ; not a vestige of the clothes remained, and
the only two volumes that were rescued from utter
ruin were a Bible and a volume of Shakespeare.
The Bible I still have, though of course rebound.
This was thought at the time (even by those accus-
tomed to the destructive character of these creatures)
a singular instance of their power. They work
unseen. Wooden pillars and beams are continually
made perfect shells by their operations, and the
safety of houses is frequently affected, though exter-
nally they would appear strong and good.” Mr.
Hamilton assures me that the library at the Fourah
Bay Church Missionary College, Sierra Leone, was in
a great measure destroyed by their instrumentality.
Though these little people are so annoying that
hardly anything is proof against their attacks, they
are a great blessing in tropical climes, their office
being, in the economy of nature in those hot countries,
to hasten the decomposition of the woody and decay-
ing parts of vegetation, which, without their interven-
tion, would render these regions uninhabitable by
breeding a pestilence.
Before drawing my remarks on the termites to
a close, I should not omit to state that two species,
viz., the Termes lucifugus and Termes flavicollis, exist
in France. The former, which is described as a
little insect of brilliant black (in the males), is said
to be common enough in the moors of Gascony, and
to attack oak and fir trees; and the latter, which
is known as the Yellow-necked White Ant, and
which is reported to live in the interior of trees
is gravely charged with doing a great deal of mischiefANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
241
in the south of France, and in Spain also, to olive
and other precious trees. Latreille has established
the fact that it is the Tertnes lucifugus which causes
such havoc at La Rochelle, at Rochefort, at Saintes,
at Tournay, Charente, in the Isle of Aix, etc., where
many houses have been completely undermined by
these terrible insects. Louis Figuier, from whose
interesting record, entitled The Insect World, I
have gathered the above information, assures us
that “ at La Rochelle these insects took possession
of the prefect’s house, built by the brothers Poupet
(rich shipowners, in whose merchandise it is supposed
these termites have been imported into France from
St. Domingo), and of the arsenal. There they in-
vaded offices, apartments, court, and garden. They
could not drive in a stake or leave a plank in the
garden but it was attacked the next day. One fine
morning the archives of the department were found
destroyed without there being the smallest trace of
the damage to be seen in the exterior.”
We have pointed out how the discovery of the
remains of the white ant in the coal-measures is an
evidence that it was, to a certain extent, through
their destructive agency that the tropical vegetable
matter was accumulated which went to form our
coal. And as the white ant, by hastening the decom-
position of vegetable substances, has ever proved a
friend to man, so the true ants we have seen prove
themselves a boon to the inhabitants of tropical
climes, especially by destroying what are popularly
classed as vermin ; and this their friendly and bene-
ficent office is recognised, their visit being called
by the natives “ de blessing of God.”
R242
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
And now, surely enough has been said, ample
evidence has been brought forward, my own personal
testimony having been confirmed, when necessary,
by the experience of others, to warrant me in earnestly
demanding for my little clients a favourable verdict.
When you bear in mind the self-devotion of the
queen for the commonwealth ; the loyalty of her
subjects, their affection towards their youthful charges,
preserving as they do a happy medium between
undue severity and over-indulgence; their liberal
system of education without the aid of privy coun-
cils and revised codes; their plan of drainage, most
effectual before boards of health and city corporations
had ever been heard of; their public works and national
enterprises, planned and executed with the most
surprising promptitude uncontrolled by parliamentary
committees, orders in council, and circumlocution
offices ; their social institutions, their provident clubs
and savings banks, gathering as they do their meat
in the summer—the continental and foreign ants,
grain and honey ; the British ants, their aphides for
future use:—when you bear in mind their persever-
ance under difficulties, that no poor-house or assess-
ment committee or sanitary authorities are needed,
for all live as brethren, all sympathise with each other
in trouble and difficulty, and share everything in
common as members of the same happy family, “he
that gathers much having nothing over, and he that
gathers little having no lack : ”—when you remember
their habits of early rising, of cleanliness, of modera-
tion, of economy, of temperance, their love of fresh
air, their skill and industry in their many trades,
the magnificent scale on which they construct theirANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
243
houses; their language, which though more difficult
to acquire than Chinese, yet is to them so intelligible
that there are no misunderstandings, all speaking it
fluently, and by means of its mysterious agency
communicating their ideas to each other:—when
you recall how they carry out concerted plans
thoroughly, noiselessly, uninterruptedly, not resting
till their work be finished, animated by one spirit,
pursuing thus the end, fulfilling thus the law of their
brief existence,—you must allow that surely this
“ little people ” are “ exceeding wise.”
And what may we learn from all this ? May we
not learn wisdom ? Wisdom to behold the presence
and the glory of the Omnipotent reflected in His
works ; and find that while we have been discoursing
upon the little people of our enraptured observation,
we have in deed and in truth been communing with
our God ?
“ The Lord of all, Himself through all diffused,
Sustains and is the life of all that lives.
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.”
May we not also recognise the beautiful alliance
that exists between the facts of science and the state-
ments of Revelation, and acknowledge that the Re-
deemer of men is the Lord of the material universe ?
“ One spirit, His
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows,
Rules universal nature.”
And as we are made glad through God’s works,
may we grow in wisdom by having our faith con-
firmed in that glorious Being in whom are hid all
R 2244
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge, and seek
more earnestly, by the help of His life-giving Spirit,
to fulfil the law of our being by shining in His
radiant image, anticipating the happiness of that
joyous season when they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament, and when the bril-
liant atmosphere of the better country shall be vocal
with the praises of a ransomed and a jubilant
throng to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to
the Lamb, this being the burden of the entrancing
anthem, “ Worthy is the Lamb that was slain ”—
“ Great and marvellous are Thy works, Thou King
of saints”—“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honour and power : for Thou hast created
all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were
created.”APPENDIX.
The Author of this work believes he is right in stating
that the following will be found to be the most complete
list of Genera and Species of the British Ants yet published.
In the preparation of this list as well as in the subsequent
differentiation and description of species, though he has
exercised an independent judgment, as the sequel will show,
he desires to acknowledge the assistance he has received
from the scientific works and correspondence of the late
Mr. F. Smith, the Synopsis of Mr. E. Saunders, and the
record of the captures of the Messrs. J. C. and C. W.
Dale, which the latter kindly placed at his disposal. The
Author desires to add, that all the species described have
passed under his review, and that all but seven species
have been discovered and observed by him in their native
habitats.246
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
HYMENOPTERA BRITANNICA.
ACULEATA.
Division I. Heterogyna.
Phalanx I. Socialia. Phalanx II. Solitaria.
{Family I. Formicidce.
„ II. P011 eridee.
„ III. Myrmicidce.
Solitaria ,, IV. Mutillidee.
Family I. Formicidce.
Genus 1. Division 1. Formica.
,,	,,	Division 2.	„	or	Lasius.
„	2.	Tapinoma.
PHALANX I. SOCIALIA.
Genus 1. Division 1. Formica.
(O	Formica	rufa.
(*•)		congeretis.
(3-)	99	exsecta.
(4.)	99	sanguinea.
(S-)	99	cuniculana.
(6.)	99	fusca.
(7-)	99	glabra.
Genus 1. Division 2. Formica or Lasius.
(1.) Formica fuligiuosa		or	Lasius fuliginosus.
<»•) „	nigra	99	99 ni&r.
(3-) „	aliena	99	„ alienus.
(4.) „	flava	99	,, flavus.
(5-) „	umbrata		„ umbratus.APPENDIX.
247
Genus 2. Tapinoma.
(1.) Tapinoma erratica.
(2.)	„	polita.
(3.)	„	gracilescens.
Family II. Poneridje.
Genus, Ponera.
(1.) Ponera contracta.
(2.)	„ pnnctatissima.
Family III. Myrmicid^e.
Genus 1. Myrmica.
(1.) Myrmica ruginodis.
(2.)	„	scabrinodis.
(3.)	„	Icevinodis.
(4.)	„	sulcinodis.
(5.)	„	lobicomis.
Genus 2. Tetramoriwn.
(1.) Tetramorium Kollari.
(2.)	„	coespitum.
(3.)	„	lippula.
Genus 3. Leptothorax.
(1.) Leptothorax acervorum.
(2.)	,,	Nylanderi.
(3.)	„	unifasciata.
(4.)	„	simillimus.
Genus 4. Stenamma.
Stenamma Westwoodii.
Genus 5. Solenopsis.
Solenopsis fugax.248
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
Genus 6. Diplorhoptrum.
Diplorhoptrum domesticum.
Genus 7. Myrmecina.
Myrmecina Eatreillii.
Genus 8. Pheidole.
Pheidole Icevigata.
PHALANX II. SOLITARIA.
Family IV. Mutillim:.
Genus 1. Mutilla.
,,	2. Myrmosa.
3. Methoca.
Genus 1. Mutilla.
(1.) Mutilla Europcea.
(2*)	» ephippiutn.
Genus 2. Myrmosa.
Myrmosa melanocephala.
Genus 3. Methoca.
Methoca ichneumonides.
HETEROGYNA.
I have fully discussed the significance of the designation
Heterogyna in the body of the work. I would simply state
now that in this great division of the Aculeata the female
is diverse from the male, as the name implies. In the
Phalanx socialia, which includes the three families of the
social species, viz. those ants living in society, having males,APPENDIX.
249
females, and workers, the latter called neuters or immature
females, laying eggs only exceptionally, the females, though
originally fully equipped for flight, become apterous before
founding or perpetuating a colony, either unassisted depriving
themselves of their wings or being deprived of them by the
workers. The neuters are always apterous, or without wings;
the males always winged. In the solitary species the females
differ from the males in being always apterous; the males
being always winged.
PHALANX I. SOCIALIA.
Family I. Formicid^e.
The Fprmicidce contain those species of ants which are
stingless^ having a single node or flattened scale, the pupae
being indlosed in cocoons.
Genus 1. Formica.
Maxillary palpi, are six jointed ; the labial palpi are four
jointed; antennae, twelve jointed in the females and workers,
thirteen in the males; ocelli, three on vertex.
The wings contain one marginal, two sub-marginal, and
one discoidal cell.
Division 1. Formica.
Males about same size as or only slightly smaller than the
females, and both males and females much larger than
the workers. In male, the first joint of flagellum about
same thickness as rest; female and workers with first joint
of flagellum longer or as long as the terminal joint.
(1.) Formica rufa.1—Worker-major.—Head and thorax
-rust-red; antennae, head above their insertion, middle of
clypeus, prothorax and mesothorax are stained blackish
brown; the legs and abdomen are blackish brown; the
1 See Fig. 30, p. 179.2jO
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
frontal area is shining; the scale of the petiole slightly
notched and the edges rounded and in colour rust-red.
By careful measurement I find it to be in length 4^ English
lines, 4 French lines or 8 millimetres.
Worker-minor,—As a rule, coloured similarly to larger
worker, but darker and not so brilliant in its hues. In
length I find it to be 2} English lines, 2f French lines or
5 J millimetres. Between the worker-major and minor there
are gradations in size.
I should mention that there are a few scattered hairs on
the thorax and a close-set pubescence on the abdomen,
with a few scattered erect hairs.
The female in colouring is nearly uniform with that of the
worker-major, except the scutellum and abdomen, which are
black and glabrous or shining, the latter being globular.
The wings are stained with brown towards their base.
Length about 5 lines, or 10 millimetres.
The male is dark-brown with legs reddish; base of
femora* tibiae, and tarsi more or less brown or ash-coloured;
abdomen ovate in form, and wings tinted- like the female.
Length about 4J lines, or 9 millimetres.
This ant is generally found in pine-woods or their imme-
diate neighbourhood. Sometimes their conical nests of little
sticks and pine needles are seen heaped up against a tree or
around an old stump. I have found the ant working in a
bank. The sexes are found in the month of June. I have
found the winged ants during this month at Tunbridge
Wells and near Symond’s Yat.
(2.) Formica congerens.—This ant is very similar in
its habits and structure and colouring and size to the former.
The worker may be distinguished from it by a more
abundant pubescence of an oeneous or brassy colour, which
is very conspicuous and distinctive in the sunshine. The
eyes are also distinctly hairy.
The female has a dull abdomen, which at once dis-
tinguishes it from that of rufa,, which is very shining.APPENDIX.
251
The male has also a dull abdomen.
The sexes are developed later than rufa. I have noticed
the winged females and males in the nest in the month of
August at Bournemouth.
This is the common wood-ant at Bournemouth. Its nests,
though often seen in the pine-woods, are as often found
on the open heath. The ant has also been found at Loch
Rannoch, and Mr. C. W. Dale has met with it at Holnest,
Porlock, and Exmouth.
(3.) Formica exsecta is our third wood-ant. This
is known at once from the two former by its small size
and brighter red head and thorax and the dimensions
of its nests, which are very much smaller and formed of
dried grass and ling. It is more pugnacious also. The
structure of the head is very distinctive, being emarginate
or deeply notched behind. The scale also is notched
above. The length is between 2 and 3 lines, or about 5
millimetres.
The female is coloured very similarly to the worker,
except the head above and mesothorax, which is blackish-
brown. The nervures of the wing are yellowish-brown.
The length is about 1 line, or 3 millimetres, more than the
worker.
The male is black, shining, and hairy, with the legs pale-
reddish.
This ant seems peculiar to Bournemouth and its neigh-
bourhood. I have, as I have mentioned in the work, found
it as far east as Ringwood, and Mr. F. Smith as far west as
Poole. These points at present seem to form the extreme
limits of its distribution. The sexes are to be found in July
and August.
(4.) Formica sanguinea.1—This ant I have so fully
described in the work that I will merely mention that it is at
once distinguished from rufa by its emarginate or notched
1 See Fig. 29, p. 179; Fig. 31, p. 183 ; Fig. 32, p. 184; and
Fig. 33, p. 185.252
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
clypeus; its brighter colour, which is blood-red, hence its
name; its gait is different, being much more rapid and
elastic; its habits also are very distinctive; its nests are
in a great measure subterranean, though the entrances are
heaped up with loose sand and peat fibres; its slave-making
instinct, which has been witnessed by Mr. F. Smith,
Mr. Charles Darwin, and myself, I have fully described. It
makes slaves only of F. fusca in this country, though many
other species are found in its nest. It seems distributed
throughout the Bagshot Sands area. I have found it at
Wellington College, where it is most abundant, and at
Shirley Common, where I witnessed a slave-making expedi-
tion. The winged sexes are found in July and August. I
have found a few winged females just emerged on June 30
at Crowthorne, near Wellington College.
(5.) Formica cunicularia.— Worker.—The bright ex-
amples very like the small workers of the rufa, the dark
examples most difficult to distinguish from fusca. I have a
specimen of this ant and a small worker of rufa on the
same card given to me by Mr. F. Smith, which, without
close examination, it would be impossible to say were not
belonging to the same species. In the present species,
however, the frontal area is not shining as in rufa. This
is the most distinct characteristic. It will be noticed also
that the margins of the segments and the end of the abdo-
men are slightly reddish. The abdomen, I have noticed in
recent specimens, carries a fine, silky gloss. In specimens
that have been in the cabinet for many years I cannot
detect this. Length about 3^ lines, or between 7 and 8
millimetres.
Female, mandibles, sides of face, base of flagellum,
legs, and base and apex of abdomen, rust-red; thorax,
either wholly brown or striped with brown above. Length
about 4 lines, or 9 millimetres.
Male, black, very like the following species, with an-
tennae rather longer and more slender, the scale longerAPPENDIX.
253
and transverse, face not so projected before the eyes, wings
smoky at their base. Length "3^ lines, or about 7 milli-
metres.
This species, though not near so common as the next, is
widely distributed. I have found it on Hampstead Heath,
Halesworth in Suffolk, Bournemouth, Hastings, and at
Brimscombe, near Stroud. It is a miner.
(6.) Formica fusca.—It is distinguished from the last
by having a bright, brassy tinge in all the sexes. The
general colour in each is dark-brown or ash-coloured. The
legs are red; the scale in the male is thickened and rounded.
Some of the workers are pale liver-coloured. The small
worker is about half the size of the larger, which is not far
from 5 lines, or 10 millimetres.
This ant is very widely distributed, and is remarkable
from living in servitude with sanguined, by which it is
enslaved in a pupa state. It is, as a rule, a miner, though
I have found it at Eltham in a stump.
(7.) Formica glabra.—This ant is about the size of
the large worker of fusca. It has a bright glabrous abdo-
men. It is dark brown, with the shining* abdomen of a
pitchy hue, with a few stiff bristly hairs.
Mr. F. Smith, on his first examination after his son had
found it at Bournemouth, recorded the capture in the Ento.
Annual as F. gagalest but he changed his view afterwards
and did not include it in his published list in 1876. In a
letter I received from him on the subject he says that he
considered it to be only a strange form of fusca. Mr. E.
Saunders, in his Synopsis, restores it to the British list,
but having compared it with the continental specimens
of gagates, I have no hesitation in confirming Mr.
Smith’s reversed judgment. It is, I think, sufficiently
distinctive to form a new species, and I have called it
provisionally glabra. The Bournemouth specimens were
found by the side of a road. Its nest has not yet been
discovered.254
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
Divison 2. Formica or Lasius.
Males nearly equal in size to the workers, and, with the
exception of the first species, considerably smaller than
the females. In the male first joint of flagellum thicker
than the rest, and in females and workers the first joint of
flagellum shorter than the terminal one.
(1.) Formica fuliginosa, or Lasius fuliginosus.
—This is the jet ant, and, as its name denotes, it is jet-
black in colour, and highly polished. The worker has the
flagellum, tarsi, and articulations of the legs pale rust-red.
The head is much wider than the thorax, and emarginate or
notched behind, and thus appears heart-shaped.
By careful measurement I find that the large worker is 2§
English lines, 2J French lines, or 3 millimetres.
The smaller worker, if English lines, ij French lines,
or 3 millimetres.
The male, 2 English lines, if French lines, or 3^ milli-
metres.
The female, 2f English lines, 2% French lines, or 5
millimetres.
The wings, both of the male and female, are smoky to
half their extent. The head of the female is wider than the
thorax, though not so wide in proportion as that of the
worker. I have a specimen of an apterous female given me
by Mr. F. Smith, which is blackish-brown in colour. This
species is a very slow walker; has a very fragrant scent, like
that of the musk-beetle, and as a rule fashions its chambers
and corridors in an old tree or post. I have, however, found
it as a miner at Clevedon, and at White Notley, Essex. The
sexes I have found towards the end of June at Clevedon ; and
in August I have noticed numbers of males sunning them-
selves with the workers on an oak at Hampstead Heath.
(2.) Formica nigra, or Lasius niger.—This is the
common garden ant. The worker is dark brown in colour,
with a glittering silky sheen, as is also the female.APPENDIX.
255
The male is nearly black.
The female is about 4 lines, or 8 millimetres, exactly twice
as long as the worker and male. The wings of the female
and male are white with brownish yellow nervures. The
margins of face, flagellum, articulation of legs, and tarsi in
female, and thorax in worker, pale brownish-yellow; the
mandibles with a clear yellowish-red tinge ; the flagellum in
worker, dark brown; the scape of antennae and legs, with
erect hairs.
(3.) Formica aliena, or Lasius alienus.—I have
entered into a full description of this ant in the text. I
will here mention that it is distinguished from the former
by its wanting the erect hairs in the antennae and legs, and
its paler colour. The most distinctive characteristic which
I have been able to discover, and which I find to be con-
stant, is the tinted costal area of the female, which is
yellow. I have also noticed the costal area in the male
a very pale neutral tint. The occasional obliteration of
the discoidal cell I find to be common to the two species.
It usually makes its burrows in sandy places, with a raised
funnel-shaped gate. I have also found it occupying a
small mound at Bournemouth, where I discovered the
males in November. It is widely distributed, as may be
seen from the text. The sexes usually first seen in August.
Mr. G. A. J. Rothney has found them in July.
(4.) Formica flava, or Lasius flavus.1—This is
the common yellow ant, which throws up its mounds in
meadows and lawns, the flat tops of hills, and the sides of
railway cuttings and embankments.
The worker-major, yellow, about 2 lines, the small worker,
pale, and sometimes but a little larger than one line in length.
The female, about 3 lines in length, brown, with antennae
and legs pale brownish-yellow; wings, brown at base.
Male, nearly as large as the worker-major, black, with
a slight tinge of brown; wings, white, with pale yellow-
1 See Fig. 2, p. 17 ; Fig. 8, p. 74; Figs. 9, 10, and 11, p. 75.256
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
ochre nervures. The sexes I have found in July and
August.
(5.) Formica umbrata, or Lasius umbratus.—The
worker, a rich yellow, very like the former, but stouter in
form.
The female has its head as wide, and sometimes wider,
than the thorax, while that of the former is decidedly
narrower; the legs in this species, and also the eyes, are
pubescent. It varies in colour.
I have a specimen, given me by Mr. Smith, pale maho-
gany colour; one from Mr. C. W. Dale, brownish-yellow;
and the swarm this year in the Vicarage dark sepia-
coloured. ’This is much the same tint as that recorded
as L. mixtus by Mr. G. C. Bignold, found by him at Stone-
house, Plymouth.
The males and workers of this ant being, however,
similar to those of the usual type, I cannot separate it from
our species.
The sexes are found as a rule in August and September.
Genus 2. Tapinoma.
This genus is separated from Formica by its decumbent
scale and longer and more slender antennae. It has the
same number of joints in the maxillary and labial palpi as in
Formica.
(1.) Tapinoma erratica—Worker.—Black, with close-
set grey pubescence, and base of tibiae and tarsi paler.
It is difficult to distinguish these species from F nigra
without examination with a lens, when the decumbent scale
at once separates it. I have always found it running
rapidly in the sunshine; when the sun goes behind a cloud
it suddenly disappears. In length it is i\ to 2J lines, or
3 to 5 millimetres.
The male is dark brown ; antennae, long and filiform ; its
wings, hyaline; the tibiae and tarsi, coloured as in workers.
The female is black with grey pubescence.APPENDIX.
257
The males and females are about the same size, from
2\ to 3 lines or from 5 to 6 millimetres long. They are found
in July and August I have met with this ant at Bourne-
mouth, Lulworth, and Shirley, and Mr. C. W. Dale at the
Land’s End.
(2.) Tapinoma polita.—Through the kindness of
Mr. C. W. Dale, I had an opportunity last year of visiting
Glanvilles Wootton, and examining the unique specimen of
this species which is in his extensive and valuable collection,
and I can testify to the accuracy of Mr. F. Smith's descrip-
tion. The ant is pale .redish-brown in colour, and highly
polished, as its name denotes. The thorax is slightly
strangulated between the meso- and meta-thorax; the
decumbent scale I distinctly noticed is long and rounded
above; the abdomen is ovate, and sprinkled with a few
long hairs. The length is about 2 lines, or 4 millimetres.
Mr. Saunders gives the habitat of this single specimen
as Wales. So Mr. Smith has it. It should, however, be
Bournemouth, where Mr. J. C. Dale found it Mr. Dale, his
son, told me that Mr. Smith read the recorded habitat as
Barmouth, hence the mistake. The spot where this ant was
found is now built over, so I fear that the species is extinct.
I keep Mr. Smith’s name, since he considered the ant
distinct from nitens, though closely allied to it.
(3.) Tapinoma gracilescens.—If this ant has been
originally imported into this country from Madeira, it certainly
is now naturalized. For many years a large colony has been
established in my brother’s rectory in the city, and in the
Christmas of 1878 the apterous female or queen was dis-
covered in a sugar-basin with several of her attendants, and
sent t6 me. The species is to be found, Mr. Smith informed
me, at the Crystal Palace, and Kew hot-houses is given as a
habitat. I have the species from Exeter, and Mr. C. W. Dale
from Hastings, so it seems to be widely distributed. It is
black, smaller than T. erraticay with much longer antennae
and legs. The former are very brittle, requiring the
S253
ANTS AND THEIR WAYS.
greatest care in extending them for the cabinet to avoid
mutilation.
The female is considerably larger than the worker. The
colour is the same. The lower segments of the abdomen
bristle with long hairs; the upper segmental plates overlap
the ventral plates; the overlapping edges being beautifully
rounded. These plates seem loosely attached to the mem-
brane, which connects them so as to allow of its expansion,
giving the impression that should it serve its economy, it
might assume the phenomenon of the honey-ant, with
widely sundered abdominal plates. The petiole of the
abdomen is attached to its ventral side, and expands into a
lozenge-shaped process at its junction. The ant is omni-
vorous, as may be seen from the text. The six-jointed
maxillary palpi, I observe, terminate in two hairs.
Family II. Ponerid^.
The species belonging to this family have a single scale
or node, the females and workers being furnished with a
sting, and the pupae are inclosed in silk cocoons.
Genus, Ponera.	1
The body is elongate; the single scale is nodose, being
elevated to a level with the first segment of the abdomen,
which is constricted; the maxillary palpi one or two
jointed, the labial two-jointed. The anterior wings of the
males and females have one marginal, two complete sub-
marginal, and one discoidal cell.
(1.) Ponera contracta—Worker.—Shining, reddish-
brown, eyes and ocelli obsolete, widely scattered and distinct
puncturation.
Female, same colour, rather larger, eyes ovate, placed an-
teriorly at the sides of the head; three ocelli; antennae
in both female and worker approximating at their base, and
clubbed.APPENDIX.
259
Male, shining black, with brown legs; mandibles and
tarsi pale-brown ; eyes large. Length of male and female
about 2 lines or 4 millimetres, and the worker is a little
smaller, about 1J lines or 3 millimetres. Very rare.
Prof. Westwood, it is believed, first discovered it in this
country. Dr. Power met with it at Brighton, and at Merton,
Surrey. Mr. C. W. Dale sent me specimens which he found
at Deal. Mr. Janson found it in company with F. fuliginosa
(Z. fuliginosus). I have a specimen found in the same
situation presented me by Mr. Shepperd of Fleet Street.
(2.) Ponera punctatissima.1—Very similar to former
in structure and colour, but with one-jointed maxillary
palpi. The puncturation decidedly finer. The larger worker
darker than the smaller. Eyes in smaller workers obsolete,
in the larger, seemingly formed of one lens only. About
same length as preceding species, between ij and 2 lines,
or 3 to 4 millimetres.
Mr. Charsley found a Ponera in his hot-house at Oxford;
he submitted it to Mr. F. Smith, who upon a first examina-
tion thought it a new species, the fact being that on account
of the method adopted in killing it, the pubescence was so
laid that the specimen seemed wrinkled instead of smooth
and finely punctured. Mr. Charsley gave it the name of
tarda.	At Mr. Smith's request I gave the insect a
thorough examination, and came to the conclusion that
it was identical with punctatissima. Mr. Smith entirely
endorsed this conclusion. I have since discovered a large
colony of punctatissima in Mrs. Frith's hot-house at
Minchinh ampton.
Family III. MvRMiciDiE.
Number of joints in labial and maxillary palpi differ in
the species. Eyes, as a rule, present in all the sexes.
Workers wanting ocelli—the petiole of abdomen furnished
with two nodes—females and workers with sting. Pupae
1 See Fig 12, p. 79.
S 2
/26o
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
naked, with delicate membranous vesture instead of silken
cocoons.
Genus i. Myrmica.
Labial palpi, four-jointed, maxillary six-jointed. A trans-
verse nervure divides the marginal cell in the male and
female. The five species of this genus, though closely
allied in general appearance, and requiring a Coddington
lens for their identification, yet possess distinctive features,
and are not, I think, as Emery and Forel suggest, races of
one species.
(i.) Myrmica ruginodis.—The worker andfemalehmo;
the nodes longitudinally rugose, and the spines of the meta-
thorax long. In length, female about 3 lines or 6 millimetres;
worker about 2^ lines or 5 millimetres.
The male has two blunt spines to the metathorax and the
nodes shining. Frontal area not grooved. Scape of antennae
curved at base and attenuated. Length same as female.
A widely distributed species. I have found it in Kent,
Devonshire, Suffolk, Sussex, and Gloucestershire in the
neighbourhood of Stonehouse, where it is not, however,
common.
(2.) Myrmica scabrinodis.1—The worker and female
are pale rust-red with darker head, and adorned with bright
yellowish hairs. The scape of the antennae is distinctly
elbowed. The nodes are rough and striated. The spines
are long. The wings are dusky at the base.
The male is dark brown, scape of antennae very short,
about one-half the length of the scape of the former, and
one-fourth that of the flagellum.
This ant is smaller than the preceding. Length of
worker from 1^ to 2 lines, or about 4 millimetres; males and
females about same size, 2\ lines or 5 millimetres.
It is very common. It abounds in the neighbour-
hood of Stonehouse. It is frequently met with under
1 See Fig. 1, p. 17, and Fig. 7, p. 45.APPENDIX.
261
stones. I have found it occupying one side of the raised
mound of flava, and also sharing with this species the
shelter of the same stone. I captured the male of this
species in the August of 1879, flying over the cairn which
crowns the head of Snowdon.
(3.) Myrmica laevinodis.—This ant, as the name de-
notes, has smooth nodes. The workers and females have
shorter spines. The males want them. The antennae of the
latter are shorter than in ruginodis.
This species I find widely distributed, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Stonehouse very common. The vicarage
garden abounds with it. I find it in the flower-beds,
beneath the bark of an old tree, in the stonework of the
house, in the corollas of the flowers, and in the fruit. The
sexes are found in the nest in August.
(4.) Myrmica sulcinodis.—The female about the same
size as ruginodis. Deep rust-red in colour. Head, dark
reddish-brown. Abdomen, nearly black and shining. The
head, thorax, and nodes, very coarsely striated and deeply
furrowed, as the name denotes. The spines are long, sharply
pointed and slightly curved. The wings are clear, with the
nervures and stigma pale brown.
The worker has the thorax more roughly furrowed, and
the spines more erect
The male is very dark brown, nearly black. Antennae,
abdomen at its termination, and legs, pale red. Thorax and
frontal area longitudinally grooved, and first node of the
petiole rough and second node smooth. Area of distribu-
tion very restricted. The sexes are found in August.
I have the ant from Mr. C. W. Dale, who found it in
Dorsetshire, near Wareham, and in Hampshire, near Bourne-
mouth. Mr. J. C. Dale met with it at Holyhead. It raises
a mound like the turf dwellings of the common flava,
(5.) Myrmica lobicornis.—This ant is very similar to
the preceding in colour, rather smaller in size, and very
readily distinguished from it by the structure of its antennae.262
ANTS AND THETR WA YS.
Those of the female and worker are elbowed at their base,
and at the angle of geniculation are furnished with a
distinctly marked acute lobe or spine. Hence the specific
name. The antennae of the male are but slightly curved or
elbowed.
Mr. Curtis found it in Scotland in the year 1825.
Mr. J. C. Dale also found it in Scotland at Rannoch, where
he discovered its habitat. It has been discovered in the
nest of sanguinea by Mr. Rothney at Shirley, and Mr.
F. Smith has taken four specimens of the female at Lowes-
toft, Suffolk, in 1859. I have found many specimens
running in the sunshine on Shirley Common, and I am, I
believe, the first who discovered its habitat in England.
This I have done twice. In the first instance on the borders
of Exmoor, where I found a colony under a stone with the
pupae. In the second instance near the Aber Waterfall,
North Wales, also under a stone, when I captured many
workers and one male. This was in the month of August.
I also have taken a single worker both on Brendon Common,
and on the road near Aber.
Genus 2. Tetramorium.
Antennae: thirteen-jointed in male, twelve-jointed in
female; and in worker, maxillary palpi four-jointed, and
labial palpi three-jointed.
(1,) Tetramorium Kollari.—The worker has its head
and thorax pale red. The head is finely channelled and
reticulated. The thorax is coarsely punctured. The antennae
are uniformly pale. The eyes are unusually large and
numerously facetted.
This species was first discovered by Mr. J. Brewer at
Sheemess in 1866, and recorded as British by Mr. F. Smith,
in the Ento. Annual for 1871. I have since found it in
great numbers in a hot-house at Stroud, and this year (1882)
it has been sent me from a hot-house at Eastington, in theAPPENDIX.
263
immediate neighbourhood of Stonehouse. Its length is
about 1^ lines, or 3 millimetres.
(2.) Tetramorium caespitum.—The female is shining
black or dark brown, with mandibles, antennae, joints of legs
and tarsi pale red. The head narrower than the thorax,
and finely and longitudinally striated. Metathorax is also
striated. The abdomen is ovate in form; spines are short.
It is about 3 lines or 6 millimetres in length.
The worker has the head and thorax finely and longi-
tudinally striated, dark brown in colour, some specimens
paler than others, head wider than the thorax, nodes smooth,
and the abdomen also smooth and shining. It is between
1 and 2 lines or 3 millimetres in length.
The male is polished black. Abdomen dark brownish-
red; mandibles, antennae, and joints of legs, pale red;
head narrower than the thorax. The former being rugose
and the latter striated.
Mr. Saunders separates this and the following species,
considering the antennae of ccespitum ten-jointed; but
Mr. Smith embraces them in the same genus, pointing out
how the second joint in ccespitum is really formed of three
joints, which are, as it were, soldered together. I therefore
retain Mr. Smith’s generic name, both for this species and
lippula, instead of adopting with Mr. Saunders the Asemor-
hoptrum of Mayr as its genus. As I have mentioned in the
body of the work, T ccespitum is usually found at the sea-
side. I have met with its thickly-populated formicaria at
Shoeburyness near Southend, at Bournemouth, at Folke-
stone and Deal. I have also discovered it on Hampstead
Heath. I have found it also at Sandown, Isle of Wight,
and Lynmouth, so that it is widely distributed.
- (3.) Tetramorium lippula.—This species is very dis-
tinct by reason of its minute eyes and petiolated first node.
It is dark reddish-brown in colour. The head and thorax
are reticulated, and the spines of the metathorax short and
pointed. It is very rare. Mr. Janson has found it in264
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
company with the jet ant, F. fuliginosa (L. fuliginosus). I
have found it at Charlton, Kent, in company with F umbrata
(Z. umbratus). I have also found it in the Valley of Rocks,
Lynton, with a dead companion in its mandibles.
Genus 3. Leptothorax.
This genus is distinguished by having the maxillary palpi
five-jointed, and the labial palpi three-jointed. The female
is only slightly larger than the worker; the pubescence on
the body above is somewhat remarkable, the hairs, being
in a measure clubbed, gradually tapering to this base. The
club of the antennae is three-jointed. The number of joints
in the antennae vary in this genus. In the male they are
either twelve or thirteen jointed, and in the female and
worker either eleven or twelve jointed.
(1.) Leptothorax acervorum.— Worker, red head;
club of antennae and abdomen very dark; also dark stain
on top of thorax. Clothed with scattered, stiff, whitish
hairs; head striated longitudinally, and thorax and nodes
rugose; metathorax with two blunt and short spines.
Antennae* twelve-jointed, about 1J lines or 3 millimetres in
length.
Male, black; nodes of petiole and abdomen smooth and
polished; wings, white. About 2 lines or 4 millimetres in
length.
Female, brownish-red head; thorax and abdomen nearly
black; mandibles* scape, and legs paler. Antennae, eleven-
jointed; head; finely and longitudinally rugose. Thorax
and nodes rugose. Metathorax with short blunt spines.
Abdomen and legs with scattered bristly hairs.
This species is very widely distributed. It is said to be
common in Scotland under bark. It is certainly common in
Stonehouse and its neighbourhood. I have found it in my
garden fence, in Leonard Stanley parish in an old post, and at
Haresfield in an old stump. I have found it, in the bordersAPPENDIX.
265
of the Forest of Dean, tenanting a gate-post in the pic-
turesque Wye district between Lydbrook Junction and
Symond's Yat. I have also met with it at Bournemouth,
and on the Wellington College estate in the ground, and at
Shirley Common in the same situation, and also inhabiting
a gorse stump in the centre of a nest of sanguined. Also
at Lynmouth in an old stump, and all the sexes sunning
themselves on a rock on the banks of the East Lynn.
(2.) Leptothorax Nylanderi.—As a rule with the
Myrmicidce, the mesothorax of the male has two deeply-
impressed oblique lines, forming a V-shaped space. Now,
in the present species this space is smooth and polished.
The colour of the male is very dark brown, with antennae,
mandibles and legs pale reddish-brown. With the exception
of the head the body is polished. Length about 1 \ lines,
or 2\ millimetres.
The female is pale reddish-yellow, the head tinged with
brown; the abdomen is beautifully banded with brown,
having a broad belt on first segment, and a narrow mar-
ginal belt on the two succeeding ones. Wings perfectly
colourless and transparent, so that it is with difficulty that
they are seen when extended on a card. Length about
2 lines, or 4 millimetres.
The worker is coloured as in the female. Some specimens
are rather larger than others, and these have the abdomen
banded as in the female; the smaller specimens have the
base of the abdomen pale yellow, and the rest brown. The
length of the larger worker is about 1J lines or	millimetres,
the smaller 1 line or 2 millimetres.
On the 9th of September, 1861, I made the interesting
discovery of its habitat at Lee, Blackheath, Kent. It was
in an old stump. I captured nine females and sixteen
workers. Mr. Saunders has obtained specimens of this
worker by sweeping at Chobham and Wimbledon, and Mr.
G. A. J. Rothney has found the worker in the nest of
san^uinea at Shirley.266
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
(3.) Leptothorax unifasciata.—Very like the preced-
ing, but readily distinguished from it. In the female and
worker the club of the antennae is dark brown, and the
abdomen is not so distinctly banded.
The male has the V-shaped space on the mesothorax
finely rugose.
I have found a large colony of this very rare ant between
the laminae of a boulder of Portland stone on the Isle of
Portland, at the foot of the cliff on which stands the
prison. Mr. C. W. Dale has found it on this island, and
also at Lulworth and at the “Burning Cliff” near Wey-
mouth, and he sent me a colony of the same from Seaton,
which he found in a nodule of sandstone. Mr. Saunders
has taken it at Ventnor, Isle of Wight.
(4.) Leptothorax simillimus.—This is about the same
size as the two preceding. It is pale reddish-yellow, with
nodes and edge of thorax dark reddish, and abdomen
dark reddish-brown. The spines are very short. The
abdomen shining with scattered hairs.
Mr. Saunders has kindly sent me this ant, which he
captured at Kew. It has also been taken at Exeter by
Mr. Parfitt.
Genus 4. Stenamma.
Maxillary palpi, four-jointed; labial palpi, three-jointed :
female and worker, eleven joints to antennae. Anterior
wings with open marginal cell—one complete sub-marginal
and one discoidal cell—second node of petiole furnished
with a spine underneath.
Stenamma Westwoodii—Female, reddish, smooth,
and highly-polished; spines short and pointed; wings
hyaline, head very delicately grooved.
Male, blackish brown; antennae, thirteen-join ted; spines
very short and erect; wings milky white. Body with
fine scattered hairs; same size as female, viz. about 2 lines,
or 4 millimetres.APPENDIX.
267
Worker, paler in colour than female. Highly polished
as in female. Abdomen clouded with brown, oblong ovate.
First segment large, second node spined beneath. First node
grooved.
This ant is rare, found in nest of rufa. Mr. Smith gave
me specimens of worker from Weybridge. The ant has
also been taken by Dr. Capron of Shere, near Guildford, in
the neighbourhood of rufa's nest, by sweeping.
Genus 5. Solenopsis.
Workers very small, females and males more than twice
their length; labial maxillary palpi two-jointed. Males
with no oblique lines on mesothorax, and females and
workers without the spine. The number of joints in the
antennae, twelve in male, eleven in female, and ten in
worker.
Solenopsis fugax.—Maley black, and polished, and
hairy; antennae, mandibles and legs, brown; head, thorax
and nodes, rugose. About i\ lines, 5 millimetres, in length.
Female, brownish-black5 club, two-jointed; head, and
thorax, and abdomen, punctured as well as polished.
Length about 2J lines, nearly 6 millimetres.
Smaller worker, in colour and appearance like pale
yellow polished amber. The larger workers of a darker
tint and reddish; whole insect, hairy; head and thorax,
punctured; clypeus, toothed. Smaller worker, not quite
1 line; larger worker, a little over 1 line, about 2 milli-
metres.
I received two large workers from Mr. F. Smith, who
found a colony by digging at Southend. A female he
picked up at Deal, and this year (1882) the Rev. W. W.
Fowler found a large colony under a stone near Sandown,
Isle of Wight. He sent me a large worker and three
smaller workers, and a larva. The large workers were few
in number.268
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
Genus 6. Diplorhoptrum.
This genus is closely allied to the former in that it possesses
no spines, and the male has no oblique lines on the meso-
thorax, and the maxillary and labial palpi have each twb
joints. It differs from the former in the structure of the
antennae, which have in the male thirteen joints, and in the
female and worker twelve joints, and the club three-
jointed.
Diplorhoptrum domesticum.1—This is the common
house ant. Shuckard called it Myrmica domestica, and
Mr. F. Smith, in his catalogue of 1858, Myrmica {Diplor-
hoptrum) molesta, identifying it with the M. molesta of Say,
which it closely resembles 5 but since Say’s ant has only a
two-jointed club, Mr. Smith has separated it, and given it the
name which we have adopted, in his catalogue of 1872. He
rejected Linneus’s designation of Monomorium Pharaonis,
which Mr. Saunders has adopted in his Synopsis, because
the description of Linneus is not sufficiently distinctive.
I retain, therefore, Mr. Smith’s name. It may at once be
distinguished from fugax by its body being destitute of
hairs, and the form of the antennae. I have so fully
described this ant and its habits in the body of the work
that I will merely point out that the worker is about 1 line
or 2 millimetres in length, and the female twice as long.
It is very widely distributed. I have received it from
Stonehouse, Plymouth, and from Stroud; and I have found it,
as I have mentioned, in several parts of London, both in
the City and at the West-end, and at St. Leonard’s and
Folkestone.
Genus 7. Myrmecina.
Maxillary palpi four-jointed, and labial palpi three-jointed;
upper wings with complete marginal cell petiolated or
stalked at the apex; metathorax of females and workers
with spines, and the clypeus toothed.
1 See Fig. 18, p. 117.APPENDIX.
269
Myrmecina Latreillii.—Female, black, with anterior
part of head, antennae, mandibles, metathorax and nodes,
reddish-brown ; scape, thickened and elbowed at base; head
and thorax, longitudinally grooved; scutellum, smooth and
polished; wings, tinted blackish-brown, sprinkled with hairs
and ciliated, or fringed with hairs. Length nearly 2 lines?
or 4 millimetres.
Worker, black; front of head, antennae and legs, red ;
head and thorax grooved as in female, and clypeus formed
as in same. Length, 1 \ lines or 3 millimetres.
Male, same length as worker; black, with pitchy tint,
polished and slightly pubescent; reddish mouth, flagellum,
and legs; grooved on side of metathorax; nodes, finely
rugose, wings blackish-brown and sprinkled and fringed
with hairs.
This species was first discovered by Mr. Curtis, who took
the male at Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight. Mr. Smith
took two males and two females in the vicinity of London,
and one of each sex at Luccombe Chine. The male and
female were taken by Mr. C. W. Dale at Hurst Castle in
August. A colony was discovered since near Sir J. Lubbock's
place in Kent, and I have found it under a stone in company
with the common yellow ant, F flava (L. flavus), on
Stinchcombe Hill, near Dursley, where the following year,
as I have narrated in the work, my elder son drew my
attention to a colony of black ants under a stone in the
same locality, which I identified as this rare species. It
was an interesting establishment, there being workers, an
apterous female, and many males, together with larvae of
different sizes. I have also found a single specimen in
my garden at Stonehouse, in the middle of a strawberry.
Genus 8. Pheidole.
Labial and maxillary palpi each two-jointed, antennae
with three-jointed club, twelve-jointed in worker and female,
seventeen-jointed in the male. The larger worker with270
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
very large head. The smaller worker with head of ordinary
size. Wings with two sub-marginal cells.
Pheidole laevigata.— Worker, reddish-brown; mandi-
bles, antennae, joints of legs, and tarsi, paler; head, thorax,
and abdomen, polished; metathorax, very finely reticulated ;
larger than the house ant, especially the worker-majors, which
have heads of extraordinary size.
I have found representatives of both forms in a baker’s
shop in the Borough. Mr. Smith’s son has also found
specimens in an eating-house in the City. Specimens have
been forwarded to Mr. Smith from a hot-house in Exeter.
An example has been taken on a wall at Battersea, and
three on a garden wall at Hampstead. This ant is identical
with the house ant of Madeira, Hlcophthora pusilla. And
if it has been imported it is now undoubtedly naturalized
and must be retained on the British list.
PHALANX II. SOLITARIA.
Family IV. MuTiLLiDiE.
I have at some length stated my reasons for retaining
Mr. F. Smith’s grouping of the solitary ants under the
division Heterogyna, and have given also a general descrip-
tion of the genera and British species of the family, and
shall, therefore, be as succinct as possible in the following
resume.
The males are winged, the females apterous ; the legs of
female robust and adapted for burrowing; tibiae toothed,
and the tarsi furnished with hairs.
Genus i. Mutilla.
Head in female roundish, compressed in males; eyes
smaller in females than in males; ocelli wanting in
females; antennae tapering to a point ; wings containingAPPENDIX.
2 7
three sub-marginal cells; first segment of abdomen con-
stricted.
(i.) Mutilla Europaea.1—Female, head black, punc-
tured with black hairs; prothorax black, rest of thorax
rust-red; abdomen black, polished, and punctured with
three bands of golden, glittering hair on first three seg-
ments, the second and third interrupted, scattered black
hairs between the bands. Length from 5 to 8 lines, or
10 to 16 millimetres.
Male, head, chalybeous or steel-coloured; sides of meso-
thorax and metathorax, black ; top of same parts of thorax,
red; wings tinted with brown ; bands of pale yellow hairs
on first three segments of abdomen, those on second and
third only slightly interrupted.
Mr. Smith has recorded that this species is found most
abundantly in the sandy lanes of Kent, and frequently
taken about Darenth and Birch Woods. The male has
been taken as late as the 13th of September. I have taken
the male and female at Bournemouth in August, and have
met with the female in June on the Wellington College
estate.
(2.) Mutilla ephippium.—Female, black ; head and
thorax roughly punctured; prothorax and metathorax black
with mesothorax red; antennae, rust-red, with six or seven of
the terminal joints black; mandibles, rust-red, also with the
tips black; legs also red, with long hairs; abdomen with
fringe of silvery hairs in centre of basal portion and at
opposite side of second segment, and third segment adorned
with same pubescence; the terminal segment reddish.
Length about 3 lines, or 6 millimetres.
Male, black; puncturations, coarse; mesothorax and collar,
rust-red; wings, tinted brown; fringe of silvery hairs on
second, third, and fourth segments. There is a variety
entirely black, with same silvery hairs. Length of male
about 2\ to 5 lines, or 5 to 10 millimetres.
1 See Fig. 13, p. 83, Fig. 14, p. 84.2 72
ANTS AND THEIR WA YS.
I have found the female at Charlton, Kent, Bournemouth,
and near Christchurch, Hants, on the Deal sands, and in
Sandown Bay. Mr. F. Smith has found the species also at
Charlton and Sandown Bay, in which latter locality in the
middle of July, 1851, both sexes were captured, amongst
them a specimen of the male 5 lines in length, and also the
very rare black variety. He also found the species at
Weybridge. Mr. Saunders has met with it at Hayling
Island.
Genus 2. Myrmosa.
Female very similar to Mutilla, but differing from it by
possessing ocelli. Male, black ; abdomen with constricted
segments ; wings, possessing four sub-marginal cells.
Myrmosa melanocephala.—Female, head black, as
name denotes; coarse puncturations; thorax, black; abdomen
also black and punctured, with first segment, base of second,
anterior margin of second, third, sometimes fourth, red, and
two terminal segments entirely red. Lower margins fringed
with silvery hairs; lower half of antennae and legs, red.
Length about 1 \ to 3 lines, or 3 to 6 millimetres.
Male, black and punctured strongly, and pubescent;
wings, tinted and iridescent. Length about 3 to 4^ lines, or
6 to 9 millimetres.
I have taken this species at Charlton and Bournemouth.
Mr. Smith records its capture, in addition to Charlton, at
Hampstead, Coombe Wood, Weybridge, Hawley Green,
Hants, Sandown Bay, Luccombe Chine, Deal, Lowestoft,
and Southend. At Weybridge he mentions how twelve
specimens of the female were taken in a small sand-pit, the
males being plentiful on flowers in the second week in
August. Mr. C. W. Dale took both male and female at
Glanvilles Wootton in July.APPENDIX;
273
Genus 3. Methoca.
Female, head nearly round, with ocelli; antennae, long and
slender; abdomen, doubly constricted so as to form three
nodes; the abdomen ovate and conical, with acute apex
highly polished. Male, head compressed transversely;
ocelli large; antennae long and slender; wings, three
marginal cells; abdomen long and narrow with acute spine
at apex.
Methoca ichneumonides.—Female, head and ab-
domen black and polished; thorax, legs, and antennae, red.
Male, black and polished with grey pubescence and more
or less punctured; wings slightly tinted brown ; margins of
segments of abdomen slightly constricted.
This is a very rare insect. I have taken several specimens
of the female at Bournemouth. Mr. Smith captured five
females and three males on one occasion at Weybridge on
the 8th of August, also another male in the same month at
Blackwater. He also records it as having been captured at
Blackgang Chine and Sandown Bay, at Hampstead Heath,
Southend, and Lyme Regis. Mr. J. C. Dale captured
both male and female in July at Lulworth, and the
Rev. F. G. Morris has taken the female at Charmouth in
August.
TINDEX.
ABACUS, LEGEND OF, 2
ALcodoma cephalotes, habits of, 61
nests of, 62
stealing farinha, 64
workers of, 65
Affection of ants, 120
Africa, ants in, 48, 53
Agricultural ants of Texas, 102
Amazon ants, see P. ru/escens
Amber, insects in, 3
America, ants in, 102, 107, ic8,
208
Anergates atratulus, 92, 202, 205
Anime\ 8
Anomma, 232
Ant-cows, 166
Ant-rice, 104
Antennae of ants, 18, 159
Ants : affection of, 120
age of, 73
amber found in, 3
antennae of, 18, 159
architecture of, 211
cleanliness of, 132
cocoons of, 88, 125
colour* effects of, on, 34
courage of, 43
deafness of, 159
eggs of, 120, 128
eyes of, 18
farm stock of, 161
female, 67
flagellum of, 18
flavour of, 48
formic acid of, 47
fossil, 3
Ants, continued—
frolics of, 119
funeral rites, 133
habits of, ill
harmony of, 144
harvesting instinct of, 96
heat, effects of, on, 37, 123
history of, 3
hybernation of, 26
labial palpi of, 44
labrum of, 44
language of, 156
larvae of, 126 ; feeding of, 124
lessons from, 242
light, effects of, on, 27
loyalty of, 116
male, 71
mandibles of, 44
maxillary palpi of, 44
milch-kine of, 166
names of, 12
nests of, 10, 211
nodes of, 47
numbers of colonies of, 67
nurseries of, 121
ocelli of, 19
palpi of, 44
petiole of, 46
pupae of, 125
queens, 67, 116
recognition of, 148
scape of, 18
size of, 16, 93
smell of, 160
stings of, 48
structure of, 462?6
INDEX.
Ants, continued—
swarming of, 68
thorax of, 46
timidity of, 43
vision of, effects of light and
colour on, 23
wannth, enjoyment of, by, 123
wings of, 76
worker, 16, 44
Ants’ nest beetles, 162
Aphenog aster Barbara, eye of, 20
harvesters, 106
slaves, 206
A. structor, 105
Aphides, description of, 166
fecundity of, 173
Ariitida stricta, 104
Atemeles emarginaius, 162
Atta bar bar a, 94
A. cephalotes, 206
A. megacephala, 94
A. pr(widens, 10f
A. structor, 94
Australia, ants in, 53, 134
Bees, ocelli of, 22
Bisulphide of carbon, experiments
with, 39
Blackheatb, ants’ nests at, 10
Borough, discovery of M. loev’gata
in, 52
Brazil, ants in, 61, 89
Bull-dog ant, 232
Camponotus inflatus, 92
C.	ligniperdus, eye of, 20
Cataglyphis viatica, 206
Cetonia <zna, 164
C. aurata, 164
Chloroform allied to formic acid, 48
Claviger testaceus, 163
Cleanliness of ants, 132
Clythra 4-punctata, 164
C burg, alarm caused by swarm of
ants in, 68
Cocci, 176
Colour, effects of, on ants, 34
Copal, 8
Crematogaster, 90, 227
C, in flatusy 92
Cryptoceridcct 90
Cryptocerus discocepka/us, 90
Deafness of ants, 159
Destructiveness of white ants, 237
Diplorhoptrum domesticumy scent of,
160
spines of, 46
D.	fugax, nest of, 215
Dorylus, 93
Driver ants of Africa, 21, 232
Ecitons, eyes of, 89
officers of, 157
spies of, 157
Ecitons, South American, blindness
of. 43
E.	crassicornis, eye of, 21
E. drepanphoray eye of, 21
E. erratica, eye of, 21
E. vastator, eye of, 21
E.	legionisy eye of, 21
Eggs of ants, 120
Emmet, 13
Evolution, theory of, ants opposed
to, 198
Eyes of ants, 18
Foraging ants, see Ecitons
Formic acid, 47 ; allied to chloro-
form, 48
Formica aliena, female, conduct of,
IT4
frolics of, 119
habitats of, 124, 187
males of, 72
nest of, 214
F,	congerensy courage of, 43
flavour of, 48
habitats of, 47, 219
nests of, 219
odour from, 47
F. cuniculariay habits of, 194
nest of, 214
F.	exsecta, courage of, 43
habitats of, 47, 220
nest of, 219
F. flavay cemeteries of, 137
effects of light on, 27
formicarium of, 135
frolics of, 119
funeral rites of, 136
hybernation of, 26, 122
males of, 72
nests of, 12, 212INDEX.
277
F. flava, continued—
numbers of, 67
ocelli of, 22
sentinels of, 157
vitality of, 136
F.fulginosa, 3, 223
F. fusca, attacked by Z7. sanguined,
189
bisulphide of carbon, effects of,
on, 40
colour, effects of, on, 34
light, effects of, on, 30
recognition of, 150
slaves to F. sanguinea, 182
sulphate of quinine, effects of,
’ on, 41
timidity of, 43
F. signs, 93
F. glabra, 80
F. nigra, female of, 112
language of, 158
omnivorous, 177
wood-carver, 224
F. pratensis,
eye of, 20
F. tufa, courage of, 43
habitats of, 47
nests of, 214
numbers of, 67
odour from, 47
omnivorous, 176
resin in nest of, 17
sympathy of, 144
takes in lodgers, 222
F. sanguinea, colour of, 184
courage of, 43
formicarium of, 147
habitats of, 180
labrum of, 180
large workers, 158
migration of, 199
nest of, 215
omnivorous, 177
recognition of, 148
size of, 184
slave-making expeditions of,
189,196
slaves of, 61, 182
unselfish devotion of, 145
workers of, 61
F. Schauffussi, 209
F. umbrata, age of, 73
F. umbrata, continued—
formicarium of, 139
frolics of, 119
funeral rites of, 140
habitats of, 67
males of, 72
miners, 224
nest of, 215
numbers of, 67
solicitude of, for black males, 128
swarms of, ill
wood-carvers, 225
F. virescens, 227
Formicaria, artificial, 24
Formicidce, cocoons of, 88
ocelli of, 89
species of, 77
Fossil ants, 3
Frolics of ants, 119
Funeral rites of ants, 133
Gallinsecta, 176
Garnets on ants’ nest?, 7
Habits of ants, i i i
Harmony of ants, 144
Hatton, Mrs., observations of, on
ants, 134
Harvesting ant of Syria, 95
Harvesting ant, see A. barbara
Heads of ants, 17, 46
Heat, effects of, on ants, 37, 123
History of ants, 3
Holy Land, ants of, 108
Honey ant, see Myrmecocystus
Alexicanus
House ant, see D. domesticum
House ant, of Madeira, see if/.
laevigata
Humble bees, ants found in nests
of. 83
India, destructiveness of white
ants in, 237
Jet ant, see F. fuliginosa
Kauri gum, 9
Language of ants, 156
Larvae of ants, 121 ; feeding of,
124278
INDEX.
Lasius flavus, aphides in nest cf,
174
Z. mixtus, 80
Z. niger, effects of colour on, 36
recognition of, 150
Z. Nylanderiy habitats of, 186
Legs of ants, 46
Leptothorax acervorum, habitats of,
183
Lessons from ants, 242
Light, effects of, on ants, 27
Lowestoft, F. aliena at, 187
Loyalty of ants, 116
Male ant, 71
Methoca ichneumonides, habitats of,
82
Mishna references to ants, 95, 100
Mole-hill, ants’ nest in, 214
Mutilldy ocelli of, 22
M. Ephippiuniy habitats of, 82
M. Europcea, eyes of, 85
female of, 84
habitats of, 82
noise of, 159
M. unifasciatdy loyalty of, 118
toilet of, 132
MutillidcBy 82
Myrmecia piliventris, cocoons of,
89
Myrmecocystus Mexicanusy 90, 107
Myrmica Atta barbdtdy 102
M. domesticciy feast of, 56
food of, 56
habitats of, 54
omnivorous, 177
M. fugdXy eye of, 20
M. Icevigdtdy discovery of, 51
hybernation of, 122
male of, 71
nest of, in mole-hill, 214
nodes of, 47
omnivorous, 176
scape of, 18
spines of, 46
M. Ldtreillii, discovery of, 14
scape of, 18
M. lobicorniSy habitats of, 18
pupae of, 131
scape of, 18
M. ruginodiss experiments with, 115
males of, 73
M. ruginodiSy continued—
nodes of, 47
spines of, 46
M. scdbrinodisy antennae of, 18, 76
effects of light on, 28
eyes of, 18
flagellum of, 18
head of, 17
hybernation of, 26
labial palpi of, 44
labium of, 44
male of, 71
mandibles of, 44
maxillary palpi of, 44
nests of, 214
nodes of, 47
palpi of, 44
queen of, 67
scape of, 18
size of, 16
wings of, 76
MyrtnicidcBy characteristics of, 77
cocoons of, 88
ocelli of, 89
Myrtnosd mtlanocephaldy habitats of,
82
Negro ants, 216
Nodes of ants, 47
Norway, ants in, 49
Nurseries of ants, 121
Occident ants, 107
Ocelli of ants, 19
(Ecodomd cephalotes, 228
CEcophylldy see F. virescens, 227
Petiole of ants, 46
Fheidoky 53
Pismire, 12
Plasterer ants, see Cremdtogdster
Pldtydrthrus Hoffmdnseggiiy 162
Pogonomyrmex bdrbatusy 102
P. crudeliSy 107
P. occidentdlisy 108, 208
Polyergus rufescenSy habitats of, J92
slave-making expedition of, 193
Polyrachis Iccvissimuty nest of, 211
P. nidijicdnsy nest of, 212
Ponerd contracidy eye of, 20
P. pestilentidy 93
P. punctatissimdy eye of, 20INDEX.
279
Poneridce, 78
Processionary ant of Brazil, 89
Processionary ant of India, 94
Pseudomyrma bicolor, 230
P, modesta, nest of, 229
Pupae of ants, 125
Queen ants, 67, 116
Recognition of ants, 148
Red ants, see F. sanguinea
Russian shepherds, artifice of, to
obtain ants’ eggs, 128
Sauba ant of Brazil, 61
Shirley Common, ants at, 181, 186
Size of ants, 16
Slave-making ant, see F. sanguinea
Smell of ants, 160
Social ants, species of, 87
Soldier ant of Africa, black,
marauding expeditions of, 48
Solenopbis fugax, see M. fugax
Solitary ants, see Mutil lidfs
Stenamma Westwoodii, 223
Stings of ants, 48
Strongylognathus Hiiberi, 204
S.	testaceus, 202
Sulphide of quinine, experiment on,
ants with, 41
Swarming of ants, 68
Tapinoma, 53
T.	erratic a, eye of, 20
T. gracilescens, habitats of, 58
omnivorous, 177
Tent-maker ants, see F. virescens
Termes, ancestral history of, 6
coal-measures, in, 241
destructiveness of, 237
king of, 236
nests of, 235
queen of, 236
soldiers of, 236
workers of, 236
T. flavicollisy 239
T. jlavipes, 208
T. grandcevus, 6
T. lucifugus, 239
Tetramoriwn ccespitum, habitats of,
93
slave-makers, 202
T. Kollari, eye of, 19
T. lippula, habitats of, 223
Thorax of ants, 46
Umbrella ant, see (Ecodoma
cephalotes
Umbrella ant of Brazil, 61
Vision of ants, effects of light and
colour on, 23
White ants, see Termes
Wood ants, see F. rufa
Worker ants, 16, 44
Yellow ants, see F.Jlava
THE END.
LONDON ; R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.