v SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 89 



teristics of ants, though we should like to speak of their 

 architecture, of their roads, tunnels, bridges, and covered 



ways ; of their care*for the voung, and sometimes even 



" i & 



for the disabled ; of their proverbial industry, and yet of 



their indulgence in " sportive exercise." It would be 

 profitable to think about the contrast between solitary 

 ants (Mutilidcp) who have no " workers," and the com- 

 plex life of a community in which there are half a million 

 residents ; or about their aesthetic sensitiveness, for they 

 see light and hear sound for which our eves and ears are 



^ 



not adapted ; or about their power of recognising their 

 fellow-citizens (even when intoxicated), and of com- 

 municating definite impressions to one another by a 

 subtle language of touch and gesture ; and, in general, 

 with their marvellous (instinctive) power of doing things 

 perfectly which they have never done before. Their 

 capacities are of a type so different from ours that it is 

 difficult for us to get mentally near them. We consider 

 their ways with ever increasing amazement their 

 pertinacity, their indomitable " pluck," their tireless in- 

 dustry, their organic sociality. Casual observers of ants 

 are often impressed with their futility of endeavour, and 

 they have certainly their limitations, but careful students 

 will agree with Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), to 

 whose observations we owe so much, that, " when we see 

 an ant-hill, tenanted by thousands of industrious inhabi- 

 tants, excavating chambers, forming tunnels, making 

 roads, guarding their home, gathering food, feeding the 

 young, tending their domestic animals, each one fulfilling 

 its duties industriously and without confusion, it is 

 difficult altogether to deny them the gift of reason." 

 Perhaps " reason " is not the right word to use, but that 

 ants exhibit the climax of some kind of mental power is 

 beyond all question. 



Kropotkin says that the work of ants is performed 

 " according to the principles of voluntary mutual aid." 

 " Mutual aid within the community, self-devotion grown 

 into a habit, and very often self-sacrifice for the common 

 welfare, are the rule." The marvels of their history are 

 " the natural outcome of the mutual aid which they prac- 



