32 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



THE WOOD ANTS [FORMICA RUFA). 

 By J. Bowman. 



I REMEMBER well, how, that years ago, when I 

 was merely a boy, one of the most pleasant walks 

 in the neighbourhood of my native town, Morpeth, was 

 always a source of wonder to me, ov/ing to its being 

 frequented by thousands of wood ants, many of whom 

 were every day crushed to death by the feet of 

 passers-by, the pedestrian being in most cases uncon- 

 scious of the fact that his track, like the track of the 

 car of Juggernaut, was made prominent by the dead 

 bodies of his victims, though, as a matter of fact, he 

 was in no wise to blame ; it being a matter of extreme 

 difficulty, nay, of absolute impossibility to put one's 

 feet down without grinding the life out of some poor 

 unwary ant. They were present in their thousands, 

 and amongst them there were no lazy, basking, 

 idlers, but each and every one seemed to emulate 



cardboard box, and duly arrived at his destination, 

 somewhere in the Bothal Woods. There was the 

 ants' nest in perfect condition literally swarming with 

 its inhabitants. He carefully picked his way towards 

 the nest, and when within a few feet of it he chanced 

 to look down at his feet, he was horrified to see that 

 his boots and the bottom part of his trousers were 

 completely covered with ants. Having an unpleasant 

 remembrance of being at one time the victim of an 

 ant's bite, and that ant being only one of the lesser 

 species, he quickly beat a retreat, and was soon 

 engaged in getting rid of the would-be explorers. 



He was not to be entirely balked by such puny 

 antagonists, and after carefully tying his trousers at 

 the bottoms, so as to preclude the possibility of any 

 adventurous ant getting up the inside, he once more 

 advanced towards the nest, and this time succeeded 

 in getting near enough to fill his box full of ants and 

 the nest material together. He immediately con- 



Fig. 19.— Two members of the F. ru/a family engaged in pulling against each other for the possession of a twig. 



liis neighbours, in their business-like appearance as 

 they hurried to and fro in endless trains. 



My ambition was, as I became acquainted with 

 them, and their huge heaped-up nests, to secure one 

 of these latter with its occupants, and to study more 

 closely the habits of these busy little creatures. 



This seemed to me to be a rather difficult under- 

 taking, and in truth I have not personally attempted 

 it, as yet. 



About two years ago, however, it occurred to my 

 mind that I had not yet attained the wish of my boy- 

 hood as a naturalist — a wood ants' nest ; and accord- 

 ingly I wrote to a Mr. Walton, a friend of mine 

 at that time living in Morpeth, requesting him, if 

 possible, to secure me one and to send it on to me by 

 parcels post. This my friend essayed to do, and his 

 experience of hunting ants' nest, as he afterwards 

 related it to me, was a most amusing one. 



He set off early one morning, armed with a stout 



veyed his prize down to the path from which the 

 nest was a few yards distant ; but, alas ! on reaching 

 it, he found that in his hurry he had neglected to 

 fasten the box-lid securely, and the ants had swarmed 

 out in all directions. With the indomitable perse- 

 verance of a true Briton, he once more returned to the 

 charge, and this time he succeeded in securing and 

 retaining a goodly number of ants, and also of nest 

 material, which he fastened up securely, and, as 

 quickly as possible, consigned to the care of the post- 

 office officials, and in due course I received the 

 precious parcel. 



One of the instructions which I most carefully 

 impressed upon his mind, he unfortunately neglected 

 to fulfil ; that was, to be sure and enclose as many of 

 the pup£E as he could find, and thus my nest was 

 without one of its most essential characters. 



After receiving the box and its contents, the first 

 difficulty which I experienced was in transferring the 



