CHAPTKR XI. 



THE HABITS OF ANTS IN GENERAL. 



"La fourmi, qui nYst point dedaigueuse et accepte toute nourriture, cst, 

 pour iH'la iiu'-mr, nioiiis inquiete et moins egoiste. C'est hicn a tort qu'uii 

 1'appi-lait ai'iir,-. Loin do la, elle ne semble occupee qu'a multiplier dans sa 

 ville la nonibre des copartagcanls. Dans sa maternite genereuse pour ceux 

 qn'dk' n'a pas m ('antes, dans sa sollicitucle pour ces petits d'hicrs qui devienuent 

 aujiiiird'liui dc jeunes citoyens, nait un sens tout nouveau fort rare chez les 

 insectes, crlui di- la fratcrnite." Michelet, " L'Insectc," 1857. 



I it- fore proceeding to a more detailed account of the extraordinary 

 habits and instincts exhibited by certain groups of ants, it will be 

 advisable to say something about the activities that are more gener- 

 ally manifested by these insects as a group. And as the ants, like 

 all other living organisms, pursue the three-fold aim of securing food. 

 perpetuating their species, and shielding themselves and their offspring 

 from enemies and the inclemencies of a changing physical environ- 

 ment, I may properly include my remarks under the general heads of 

 nutrition, protection and reproduction. The activities implied by these 

 terms, which must, of course, be taken in an elastic sense, neces- 

 sarily coimplicate and supplement one another in the most manifold 

 and intimate manner. 



IVrmanent social life is, generally speaking, possible only for 

 animals that have access to an abundant food supply. Species that have 

 great difficulty in securing food or succeed in finding only a scanty 

 and precarious amount, are compelled to lead solitary lives, or at any 

 rate, can never form populous communities of long standing. It is 

 evident, moreover, that only vegetable food is ever really abundant 

 and that animal food is in the majority of cases limited in amount, 

 difficult to obtain, or abundant only during certain seasons or in cir- 

 cumscribed localities. Predatory animals like the mammals, birds and 

 msect> of prey, arc', therefore, solitary in their habits, whereas vege- 

 tarians, like the rodents, ruminants and many plant-eating insects, 

 are prone to be more or less social. Ants, at first sight, would seem 

 to be an exception to this rule, but this is only conditionally true. 

 Although primitively carnivorous, these insects are unreservedly such 

 only in the lower subfamilies like the Ponerin;e and Dorylinze. The 

 colonies of the former are usually rare, like those of the social wasps, 

 and of small size, and the colonies of the Dorylinre, though often very 



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