The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live In — John Shaqi
The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live InLubbock, John, Sir
Philosophy
The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live In
Lubbock, John, Sir
Astronomy; Natural history; Physical geography
In our English Ants the workers in each species are all similar except
in size, but among foreign species there are some in which there are two
or even more classes of workers, differing greatly not only in size, but
also in form. The differences are not the result of age, nor of race,
but are adaptations to different functions, the nature of which,
however, is not yet well understood. Among the Termites those of one
class certainly seem to act as soldiers, and among the true Ants also
some have comparatively immense heads and powerful jaws. It is doubtful,
however, whether they form a real army. Bates observed that on a
foraging expedition the large-headed individuals did not walk in the
regular ranks, nor on the return did they carry any of the booty, but
marched along at the side, and at tolerably regular intervals, "like
subaltern officers in a marching regiment." He is disposed, however, to
ascribe to them a much humbler function, namely, to serve merely "as
indigestible morsels to the ant thrushes." This, I confess, seems to me
improbable.
Solomon was, so far as we yet know, quite correct in describing Ants as
having "neither guide, overseer, nor ruler." The so-called Queens are
really Mothers. Nevertheless it is true, and it is curious, that the
working Ants and Bees always turn their heads towards the Queen. It
seems as if the sight of her gave them pleasure. On one occasion, while
moving some Ants from one nest into another for exhibition at the Royal
Institution, I unfortunately crushed the Queen and killed her. The
others, however, did not desert her, or draw her out as they do dead
workers, but on the contrary carried her into the new nest, and
subsequently into a larger one with which I supplied them, congregating
round her for weeks just as if she had been alive. One could hardly
help fancying that they were mourning her loss, or hoping anxiously for
her recovery.
The Communities of Ants are sometimes very large, numbering even up to
500,000 individuals; and it is a lesson to us, that no one has ever yet
seen a quarrel between any two Ants belonging to the same community. On
the other hand it must be admitted that they are in hostility, not only
with most other insects, including Ants of different species, but even
with those of the same species if belonging to different communities. I
have over and over again introduced Ants from one of my nests into
another nest of the same species, and they were invariably attacked,
seized by a leg or an antenna, and dragged out.
It is evident therefore that the Ants of each community all recognise
one another, which is very remarkable. But more than this, I several
times divided a nest into two halves, and found that even after a
separation of a year and nine months they recognised one another, and
were perfectly friendly; while they at once attacked Ants from a
different nest, although of the same species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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