Nov. 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



211 



ANTS. 



^'^U$££=^£ 



AJ 0^_>_\JU^'.Jk. • 



mtsi 



N July 12th, 1870, 

 I established a 

 formicary from 

 the description 

 given by Mr. 

 Erederic H . 

 Ward, at p. 177 

 of the volume of 

 Science - Gossip 

 has been a com- 

 and the deaths in 



for 1868. It 

 plete success, 



the community were few and far 

 between. Almost all my ob- 

 servations were written down on 

 the day on which they were made, 

 and I have been careful to note 

 nothing but what I have actually 

 seen myself. My formicary was, 

 in all its important details, pre- 

 cisely the same as Mr. Ward's. It was placed on a 

 stand about three feet from the ground, which was 

 a convenient height for sitting to observe the ants, 

 and it was so situated that the sun would shine 

 on it in the course of the day. It should be 

 moved as little as possible, and no one but 

 oneself should be allowed to meddle with it. 



Mr. Ward recommends carrying the formicary 

 itself to the nest to stock it ; but, finding it too cum- 

 bersome to do this with success, I collected the ants 

 first in a covered can, and thence shook them out 

 into the formicary. The species I observed was 

 the Brown Ant {Formica fused). They have no 

 sting, and can only nip with their mandibles, which 

 gives but a momentary smart ; though stocking 

 a formicary with F. rufa would be a delicate, 

 not to say a dangerous operation ; for they have a 

 veritable and a very painful sting ; nevertheless, I 

 hope next year to keep under observation both these 

 and F.flava. 



I originally introduced nearly twenty cocoons 

 and about one hundred ants. Their first impulse 

 was to escape, and they crowded down to the moat 

 with such impetuosity that many fell into the water, 

 and for some time I was fully employed lifting them 

 No. 71. ' 



out. I then gave them a lump of moistened sugar, 

 which was instantly covered with eager ants, and 

 in about an hour the colony began to settle down. 

 Many were busily engaged in carrying the cocoons 

 into shelter among the stalks of the grass, whilst 

 others began to dig in the depressions I had made 

 on the surface close to the glass sides. Each of 

 these depressions they first worked downwards in a 

 semicircle, emerging again about an inch farther on. 

 From the centre of this curve they would then sink 

 a perpendicular shaft, thus making two outlets to 

 one burrow. The number of their tunnels is 

 astonishing ; but since many of them are narrow, it 

 is necessary to make up by their multiplicity, and 

 most were in constant use. It was curious to see 

 how two or three ants would work a couple of bur- 

 rows from opposite directions, and yet would make 

 them both exactly meet. If one had been making 

 a burrow right from the bottom of the case to the 

 top, and then attempted a branch passage close to 

 the surface, it would still carry the earth all the way 

 down and through the interior as it had been 

 accustomed to do, instead of along the inch or so 

 of road leading to the top. And if one ant was 

 going down a narrow cutting with a load of earth, 

 and met a companion coming up to dig, the latter 

 would not relieve him of his burden, but they would 

 both lose no end of time and strength struggling to 

 pass. 



I nevertheless once saw an ant who was coming 

 up with a very large load meet another, who bit off 

 half and carried it up for him; and on a second 

 occasion one relieved a companion of its entire load, 

 which was of very large dimensions. But I never 

 saw any other instances. Each ant seldom digs for 

 long at a time ; and I have frequently seen them 

 come and relieve others which were then at work. 

 When the colony was very busy, I often saw a 

 worker come down to the water, dip his jaws in 

 and drink, and run up again, and continue his 

 labour. 



Mr. Ward remarks that they appear to be as 

 lively at night as in the day ; but my auts at any 

 rate did nothing of the kind. As evening draws on, 



M 



