Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.Romanes, George John
Science
Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.
Romanes, George John
Animal behavior; Animal intelligence
Here a little hollow was made in the earth,
quite up against the glass, wherein a number of bodies
were laid. Portions of bodies were thrust into the
chinks formed in the dry sod. This flat became the
permanent charnel-house of the colony, and here, in
corners, crevices, and holes, for the most part out of
sight, but not always so, the dead were deposited. But
the living never seemed quite reconciled to their
presence. Occasionally, restless resurrectionists
would disentomb the dead, shift them to another spot,
or start them once more upon their unquiet wanderings.
Even after the establishment of this cemetery, the
creatures did not seem able to lay away their newly
deceased comrades--for there were occasional deaths in
the formicary--without first indulging in this
funereal promenade.
In the formicaries established in glass jars, both of
_barbatus_ and _crudelis_, the same behaviour
appeared. So great was the desire to get the dead
outside the nest, that the bearers would climb up the
smooth surface of the glass to the very top of the
jar, laboriously carrying with them a dead ant. This
was severe work, which was rarely undertaken except
under the influence of this funereal enthusiasm. The
jar was very smooth and quite high. Falls were
frequent, but patiently the little 'undertaker' would
follow the impulse of her instinct, and try and try
again. Finally, as in the large box, the fact of a
necessity seemed to dawn upon the ants, and a portion
of the surface opposite from the entrance to the
galleries, and close up against the glass, was used
as burial-ground and sort of kitchen-midden, where all
the refuse of the nest was deposited. Mrs. Treat has
informed me that her artificial nests of _crudelis_
behaved in precisely the same way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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