1852.] Ill 



The Committee on tlie following communication from Dr. C. M. 

 Wetherill, reported in favor of publication : 



Cheimcal Investigation of the Meodcaii Honey A7it. 

 By Charles M. WETHERirx, Ph. D. 



Several of these curious insects, described in a late number of the Proceedings, 

 were handed to me some time since by Dr. Leidy, with the request that I would 

 make a chemical examination of them. I was fearful at the time, from the 

 scarcity of material, and from the endosmosis and exosmosis that had apparently 

 taken place, (as the ants had been preserved for some time in alcohol,) that I 

 could not arrive at satisfactory conclusions. The difficulties were not, however, 

 as great as anticipat^^d. The following are the results of my experiments. 



The ants were filled with a varying quantity of the honey; in some the 

 abdomen was distended, in others quite flaccid. The liquid also varied; 

 in some being of light amber color, and in others deeper in hue. Six of 

 the average sized insects weighed 2.6o3.3 grammes, their bodies weighed 

 0.288 gr. The honey, consequently, of the six ants weighed 2.3653 grammes, 

 and the average quantity of honey in a single ant 0.3942 gr. Since the average 

 wei^^ht of a single ant is 0.04S, it follows that the honey which an average one of 

 these ants contains is 8.2 times greater than the weight of its body. The density 

 of the ants, when filled with honey, and that of their bodies, was ascertained by 

 weighing in alcohol of density 0.8309, and reducing to water as unity. 



The following are the data : 



2.6533 grammes of the ants, with their honey, weighed in alcohol 0.9310 ; and 

 of the bodies without the honey 0.288 weighed 0.061 in alcohol. 



From which the density is calculated; for the ants filled with honey at 1.28, 

 and for the bodies alone 1.05. 



The syrup extracted from the ant had an agreeable sweet taste, the odor very 

 much resembling that of the syrup of squills. It reacted slightly acid to blue 

 litmus paper. When evaporated by the heat of steam, it dried to a gummy mass, 

 which did not exhibit traces of crystallization after standing for a couple of weeks. 

 It was very hygroscopic, becoming quickly soft from the absorption of water 

 from the atmosphere. 



The sugar dried, as stated, by steam heat, dissolved without residue in ordi- 

 nary alcohol, leaving a residue in nearly absolute alcohol. This residue dis- 

 solved in ordinary alcohol completely. The alcoholic solutions were all set 

 aside, for several days, for crystallization, with negative results. These alco- 

 holic solutions had exactly the snriell of the perfumed bay rum. I call attention 

 to these peculiar odors, as perhaps capable, with additional evidence, of throwing 

 some light upon the origin of the honey. 



When exposed for some time in vacuo over sulphuric acid, the syrup dries up 

 to a transparent gum-like mass, but without any signs of crystallization during 

 the process. 2.1065 of the syrup, after standing thus in vacuo for about two 

 weeks, weighed 1.4425, equal to a per centage of 68.478, sugar in the syrup. 

 When thus dried it had the rich sugar smell of candy made by heating sugar and 

 butter together. 



Some of the honey was set aside for crystallization as removed from the insect. 

 After many days it was examined, but no traces of crystallization could be 

 observed, either with the naked eye or with the microscope. Some of the honey 

 was examined alone, under the microscope with high powers; no crystals were 

 observed, but here aqd there fragments of organic tissue. Examined by polarized 

 light, some of these stood out in bright relief against the dark ground of the field, 

 and were at first mistaken for fragments of crystals, until a capillary like tube 

 was observed, which resembled these fragments, and which changed its color by 

 the rotation of the polarization's plane. 



No change could be observed after touching the drop under the microscope with 

 a drop of solution or tincture of iodine- 



17 



