ANT COMMUNITIES 



matter of course that no one notes it as extraordinary, 

 and a war-scarred veteran may be seen dragging its 

 maimed limbs into action, or in some obscure corner 

 licking its hurts and waiting for the end without nurse 

 or comforter. It has done its duty, and accepts the 

 result with imperturbable unconcern, as do its fellows. 



Apropos of these studies of police administration of 

 our ant commonwealth is an observation incidentally 

 made while conducting experiments to determine the 

 mode of recognition among ants. Starting upon the 

 theory that it was a specific odor or emanation analogous 

 thereto by which our mound -makers recognize one 

 another, the matter was tested by subjecting individuals 

 to baths of clear water, and infusions of wintergreen, 

 cold coffee, and tea, and then returning them to their 

 mounds. The individuals thus treated were immediate- 

 ly attacked by roundsmen, a dozen or more sometimes, 

 and dragged away like culprits. These assailants were 

 then taken with their victims, submerged, and festered 

 to the hill with the same result. So with a third 

 series; the assailants of the assaulted ants were in turn 

 attacked, and invariably the same measure meted to 

 them that they had measured to others. They had lost, 

 for the time at least, the "mark" 1 of their citizenship. 

 [McC. 2, p. 281.] 



In some cases the parties assailed were soon released, 

 as though the mistake had been perceived. But for 

 the most part there was every indication of a mortal 

 purpose and a fatal issue. It was here that a curious 

 trait was developed. The demeanor and conduct of the 

 immersed and "tainted' 1 ' ants were in marked contrast 

 with their character for valor in battle and pluck 



generally. They were quite passive under the fierce 



14 



