Foibles of insects and men / by William Morton Wheeler.

  • Wheeler, William Morton, 1865-1937.
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Foibles of insects and men / by William Morton Wheeler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    i°5 habited so long by the inquilines. They fought like two dogs. Finally one seized the other by the mandibles, carried her out of the chamber to the edge of the sponge and dropped her overboard. Fifteen minutes later the banished Leptothorax returned to the chamber and the struggle was re¬ newed. The ants seemed to be in earnest as they both extruded their stings and sought for weak places in each other’s armour. They separated, how¬ ever, without serious results, and were soon licking the female Myrmicas in the adjoining chamber as if nothing had happened. Apart from the cases which I ascribed to intoxication, it is impossible to see anything of a serious nature in these combats. They show clearly how difficult it is to ascertain the motives that lead to the unusual behavior of such animals as ants. One observer might be inclined to regard it as a manifestation of the play instinct, while another might interpret it as the result of displeasure or animosity. The difficulty lies in the limited range of expression at the command of organisms so much simpler than ourselves in structure and so very different in psychological endowment. The fact that in compound nests the Leptothorax are able to procure their own food directly from the manger suggested the possibility of keeping colonies of these ants for some time isolated from the Myrmicas. About two hundred of the inquilines, including a few males and dealated females, with many larva: and pupa:, taken from several compound nests in the Colebrook meadow, were accordingly removed from their hosts and placed in a large Fielde nest on the morning of September 17. By 7 o’clock in the evening the ants had formed three compact and separate clusters. Two of them were in the damp sponge and contained none of the brood which had been dropped on the glass floor while the ants were being installed in the nest. The re¬ maining cluster was in a piece of earth which had been introduced with a fine lot of ants, larva: and pupa:. This cluster also neglected the larva: and pupa* that had fallen out of the nest. The ants in the different clusters passed their time shampooing one another with the most remarkable assiduity, as if compelled to expend on one another the attentions normally lavished on their hosts. None of the workers, ergatoids or queens was seen to feed on the honey and egg-yolk in the manger. One of the males, however, while wandering about the nest, happened on the food and partook of it. A few days later (September 2.0) there were five separate clusters of ants in different parts of the two large chambers. Although they were unmolested and had very roomv quarters, they still displayed the tendency to occupy several small chambers instead of a single large cavity. But this tendency soon ceased to manifest itself. On reaching Texas September 2.6, the ants had all congregated to form with their brood a single mass in a concavity of the damp sponge and thenceforth there was no attempt to form isolated clusters, although the colony was much larger than any single one seen