ANT COMMUNITIES 



jaws, and by sounds made by various organs in sundry 

 ways, they convey to one another the primitive and 

 simple emotions of their kind and of all animate beings. 

 In taking up the subject as it bears upon ants, we shall 

 best reach such conclusions as seem at present attain- 

 able by considering it in relation to insects in general. 



The language of insects may be regarded as mimetic, 

 when emotions are expressed by gestures or acts; pter- 

 atic, when by wing vibrations; spir ocular, when made 

 known by sounds issuing from the breathing tubes or 

 spiracles; stridulatofy, when conveyed by the friction of 

 one organ against another; and antenna! , when the an- 

 tennae, or " feelers," are the media of communication. 



Insects express emotion mimetically that is, by 

 bodily gestures. Mimetic language, though more limit- 

 ed in its ability to convey ideas, is not less intelligible 

 than vocal speech. Indeed, a glance of the eye, a move- 

 ment of the hand, a shrug of the shoulder, a stamp of the 

 foot, a toss of the head, may betray in man the true 

 thought or feeling within him, even when spoken language 

 is used to conceal it. How apt a medium mimetic 

 language may become for expressing clearly a wide 

 range of ideas one may see among the inmates of in- 

 stitutions for the deaf and dumb. We may find, per- 

 haps, that this medium serves insects no less effectively 

 for communication within that limited range of ideas, 

 shall we say? to which their faculties are confined. 



Let us stand before this oak-tree and watch a double 

 stream of mound-making ants thronging up and passing 

 down the well-marked trail that leads to a herd of 

 aphides upon some oak-tree branches. The motion of a 

 finger near the trunk attracts the attention of a sentinel, 

 one of a number that seem to be guarding the flanks of 



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