FRATERNAL CONFEDERACIES AMONG ANTS 



dividual mounds appeared to be conducted indepen- 

 dently. The following will illustrate these experiments. 

 [McC. 2, p. 282.] 1 



A small oak-branch covered with aphides and their 

 attendant ants was broken from a tree and placed 

 erect upon a mound twenty rods distant. It was 

 thought that if anything would incite to hostility, it 

 would be the intrusion of members of a separate com- 

 munity upon a congener's feeding -grounds. On the 

 contrary, the ants being called from the hill, came out 

 and mounted the branch with the usual excited bearing, 

 and then mingled with its original occupants on friendly 

 terms, and began to feed quietly from the galls and 

 aphides. A larger branch having many more ants 

 upon it was cut, and planted upon a mound a consider- 

 able distance beyond the first one. The insects were 

 called out by tapping upon the surface. The usual 

 whirl of angry sentinels and other workers followed, 

 and then all blended with the intruded ants without a 

 sign of hostility. 



A spadeful of earth was swiftly cut from the mound, 

 and with ants, cocoons, and broken cells, thrown into a 

 pail, carried to a cone fifty rods distant, and cast upon 

 the surface and around the lower gates. One could not 

 distinguish between the citizens of the two mounds as 

 masses of excited ants poured out and began their 

 usual movements, but no marks of hostility appeared. 

 After the first sharp challenges with crossed antennae 

 the imported ants melted away into the general com- 

 munity as though at home. 



The only other test of this nature which need be 

 mentioned was made with three hills (D, E, F), to 



1 See " Table of Authors," Appendix. 



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