Andrew Wilson

“ The ant-nest forms a very interesting subject for consideration, and the various groups of ants differ widely in the outward form and internal plan according to which the nests are constructed, as well as in the materials of which the habitations are built. Clay, earth, and vegetable matters form the chief sources of supply, and excavations in the ground, or erections above ground, in trees, walls, and house-roofs, may be mentioned as the most common situations for the nests. ”

“ The exodus generally takes place on damp evenings, or cloudy mornings, and many extend over several days, or until such time as all the males and females have emerged from the nest. Having reached the ground, the wings of each ant are shed by a natural effect a seam or place of separation existing at the roots of the wings and after the throwing off of the wings, the surviving males and females pair, and become the parents of new colonies. ”

“ The ant-colony, powerful as we have seen it to be, and well protected as it undoubtedly is, is nevertheless subject to the attacks of enemies which wage a successful war against it. Certain species of ants appear to be more subject than others to the attack of such higher forms as the mammalian ant-eaters (Echidna and Myrmecophagidce) and armadillos, as well as to the onslaught of the insect ant-lion (Myrmeleo) . ”

“ The exodus or swarming of the Termites appears to resemble more nearly that of the bees, although lake that of the true ants, it is more purely reproductive in its nature, and not so much connected with the departure of fully grown forms from a hive which has become inadequate to the comfortable accommodation of all its inmates. The lame, prior to the swarming, are fed and tended by the workers, the youngest larvae receiving the greatest share of attention. The workers apparently feed the larvae by injecting a fluid from their mouths into the larval cells ”

“ The Hypoclineas rush out on being attacked, bearing their pupae and larvae in their jaws; but the Ecitons at once seize the young ants, although they never appear to injure the parent Hypoclineas. The latter appear a cowardly race, as they make no effort at self-defence, their habits leading them chiefly to milk aphides, which they desert at ouce on seeing another and even smaller species of ant approach. Birds and opossums are terrified, as well as insects, at the Foraging Ants, and frequently fall victims to the deter mined onslaught of the little furies. ”

“ Both classes of neuters are blind; and from a close examination of the eggs, the distinctions, not only between males and females, but also between the soldiers and workers, may be easily seen. The difference in food, so powerful in the development of sex and characteristics in other insects, does not therefore operate in the case of the Termites. The entire white ant colony and species also exhibits a division into subordinate groups and classes, the recognition and characters of which are very difficult of determination. ”

“ The slave making forays are by no means invariably destitute of bloodshed or warfare, and frequent and hot combats appear to be engaged in between the would-be masters and the species of intended slaves. Once captured, developed, and domiciled within the nests of their masters, the slave-ants appear to be thoroughly at home, and no effort at insurrection or attempt to gain their freedom appears ever to be made. ”

“ The food of ants has formed a debatable point ever since the attention of naturalists was directed to the investigation of their economy. As already remarked, many species are truly carnivorous, and prey upon the soft parts of other insects, and particularly of larva?, which they are enabled to seize and capture with little danger and trouble. The well- known partiality of ants for animal food is taken advantage of by those who wish to obtain the hard parts or skeletons of animal forms ”

“ The Termite community consists, as in the true ants, of males, females, and workers or neuters. In the true ants the latter are undeveloped females, whereas in the Termites the sex of the neuters is wholly undeterminable; and in addition the workers are invariably divided into two distinct classes: the " soldiers/ with largely-developed jaws, whose sole office is to defend the community; and the ordinary " workers," on whom devolves the entire labour of the nest. ”

“ The neuters are, accordingly, quite distinct from the sexual forms, and do not pass through any similar developmental phases, but differ from the others, even in the egg, as has been already mentioned. Occasionally a new termitarium may be found, in which a king and queen are absent, and which contains workers only. These, however, gradually prepare the nest for full completion, by bringing eggs into the cells from a neighbouring termitarium, from which the due population of the colony will be in time produced. ”

“ The antennæ in insects are certainly the organs of touch, but in ants these organs appear to subserve some undeter mined function, in that through their agency communication may be made from one ant to the other. ”

“ The more ordinary operations of ant-life are purely instinctive, as has been already shown; but it may be a matter for considera tion if the theory of some naturalists, that the higher development of instinctive powers is akin to reason itself, may not be tenable. Such instances as these just given of the curious and extraordinary acts of the Foraging Ants may serve to show from what circumstances the theory obtains support. ”

“ Lastly, and in accordance with the more per fect appreciation of external objects through sensations and perceptions, we have to note in the higher being the operation of the educative power we entitle experience. ”

“ The white ants inhabit the tropical regions of the world generally, but are found in the greatest abundance in tropical South America. Their nests form characteristic structures, rising sometimes to a height of 5 or 6 feet, and constructed of earthy particles worked into a mass as hard and durable as stone. Many species of Termites are known, but they resemble one another in essential structure and habits. ”

“ The horns are large, curved, and spreading. The klippspringer (Oreo- tragus saltatrix) of South Africa has a close resem blance in size and habits to the European chamois. The koodoo (Strepsiceros Koodoo) (Plate I. fig. 1) , inhabiting South and West Africa, and otherwise widely distributed over the continent, is provided with very long spiral horns, which, however, exist only in the male animals. These latter antelopes represent " solitary " species, that is, they are generally found living in detached pairs, or as solitary individuals. ”

“ The ant or bee, when first introduced into the special sphere of its labours, assumes its functions, and performs its duties as perfectly as if it had been engaged in their perform ance for a lengthened period. ”

“ Under the influence even of external contact with this substance, the ants in Grenada during their ravages of last century, were observed to be singularly affected, and were seen even to attack each other with outrageous violence, an effect also corroborated of late years in Central America by Mr Belt, who saw the rabid ants collected into small balls biting one another, and seizing hold of each other in a most extraordinary fashion under the influence of the mercurial poison. ”

“ As regards their distribution, the antelopes are chiefly found in the eastern hemisphere, and Africa appears to be the great centre of distribution of the group. South Africa is especially rich in antelopes, and they may be regarded ns representing in that continent the deer of other regions of the world. In habits they are, for the most part, gregarious, and are frequently found in immense herds inhabiting the grassy plateaus and plains ; whilst some species are exclusively mountainous in their distribution. ”

“ These ants are truly carnivorous in their tastes, and ravage whole districts, their march being regarded with terror by the natives of Central America. Mr Bates tells us that different species have different modes, of marching, by which they may be recog nised. The Ecitons in Nicaragua are termed "Army Ants," and they appear regularly to change their hunting-grounds in quest of food. Their community comprises males and females, and two kinds of neuters or workers a "workermajor," or large-headed worker, and a small-headed kind, termed the " worker-minors." ”

“ Carbolic acid has been tried with success as a remedy against these ants, the use of this antiseptic killing large numbers; and corrosive sublimate in powder, sprinkled across their paths, has a deadly effect upon the leaf-cutters. Coal tar has also been employed against them. Gigantic black ants, averaging an inch in length, arc found in Central America. They are notable as being solitary in their habits, and possess well-developed eyes and formidable stings. ”

“ Accessory hoofs are wanting in the prongbuck, and the lachrymal sinuses of other antelopes are undeveloped; as also are the "inguinal pores," or groin-sacs, found in most members of the family, and which secrete a viscid substance, the function of which is undetermined. The females are devoid of horns, and those of the males are branched in front, or are " furcate," a conformation of these structures not found in any other member of the antelope family. ”

“ They thus not only construct and build the nest or home, and keep it in constant and assiduous repair, bul they are also the providers of food and sustenance for the community; and they act the part of nurses, in that they carefully attend to the hatching, nutrition, and rearing of the young. ”

“ In tropical climates, rats, mice, and poultry, even in a living state, are said to succumb to the attack of these creatures; and man himself, as related by Prdvost in his Histoire General des Voyages, is even subject to the attacks of ants. Prdvost relates that an Italian missionary in Congo was awakened from sleep by his negroes, with the intelligence that an immense horde of ants was invading his house. ”

“ In the latter case, the mental impulse itself directs alike the physical and psychical operations, and so far from the animal being merely automatic, it assumes the higher phase of nervous action involved in self-originating mental impulse. The actions of the intelligent being are selfdetermined: those of the instinctive being originate from the outer world. Through the higher nervous centres the intelligent being first appreciates the outward circum stances, and then reacts upon them ”

“ In size the nyl ghau resembles a stag ; the tail is tufted ; and the horns, occurring in the males only, are curved upwards, and diverge at their extremities. The nyl ghau is susceptible of being partly domesticated, and it has been ascertained to breed freely in a tame state.
The European species of antelope include the chamois (Rupicapra Tragus) (Plate II. fig. 2) , and the saiga (Coins or Antilocapra Saiga) . The former is essentially European in its distribution, but the latter extends from Poland and Russia into Asia. ”

“ The early state of development in which the pupae are generally captured, would necessarily favour the complete domestication of the captured ants within the home of the slave-making community; and the ants appear to possess and exhibit the greatest care and solicitation for the welfare of their serfs, the slaves being carried in the mouths of their owners when the latter shift their abode, or undertake any expedition leading them from home. ”

“ The reproduction and development of the ordinary ants may be very briefly touched upon in the present notice. The impregnation of the females in their aerial nuptial flight has been already alluded to, as also has the death of the males after the congress. ”

“ Apart from the possession of high instincts, however, we find ants, in common with many other insects, to be pos sessed of very perfect senses. In addition to the large compound eyes with which most insects are provided, they possess simple organs of vision. The sense of smell also appears to be represented in the ants and insects generally, but the seat of this sense has not been well or satisfactorily determined. ”

“ These remarks may be viewed as applying more particularly to the white ants or termites, of which an account will be given, afterwards. For sugar ants seem to have a special pre dilection ; and they appear not only to obtain the saccharine matter from vegetables, but also to abstract it from animal sources. The aphides, or plant lice, become in this way the subjects of very extraordinary attentions on the part of ants. The plant lice possess a glandular structure, situated at the extremity of the abdomen, which communicates with the external surface by two small ducts. ”

“ The mandibles or large jaws of the female and neute Qiits are larger than those of the males, and are frequently found to be serrated or even hooked at their extremities. the external sexual organs of the neuters correspond to hose of the females, although, as already remarked, the sssential internal reproductive organs are wholly unde veloped in the neuter ants ”

“ Hence we find certain species of ants or bees invariably constructing similar series of cells or habitations, and engaging in the same labours as their predecessors, which labours or operations will be faithfully and exactly repeated by succeeding generations. ”

“ But the Termites, or white ants insects which also live in social communities, and which inhabit tropical regions belong to a different order, that of the Neurop- terous insects, and exhibit differences in several important respects from the ordinary ants. ”