THE INTEREST IN INSECTS 



31- 



In the same circumstances, a man 

 would have soon given up the task, for 

 every twig", every leaf and every stone 

 in the path, played a part in hindering 

 the progress of the hard working in- 

 sect. But the ant would not abandon 

 such a dainty morsel of food, even had 

 it been three times as heavy, and indeed 

 she might have soon reached her des- 

 tination had I not cautiously clasped 

 the cricket by one of its antennae or 

 feelers with a pair of slender forceps. 

 The ant was greatly astonished at find- 

 ins: her burden immovable, but she 

 soon commenced to investigate and 

 finally, after some minutes, came upon 

 the closed end of my forceps. Vainly 

 she tried to free the insect from the 

 grip of steel, and finding herself un- 

 equal to the task, she soon made off in 

 the direction of the mound. Now when 

 pei haps fifteen inches away, the ant 

 suddenly turned, as if by some idea or 

 impulse which must be obeyed. Going 

 straight to the antennae which was still 

 held by the forceps, chewed it free 

 with her powerful jaws and once more 

 made off, this time in possession of her 

 well earned burden ! 



Of course it is possible that upon 

 her return, the ant came by accident, 

 directly to that part of the cricket 

 which was being held in the forceps 

 But it must be remembered never the 

 less, that this time the ant freed her 

 prize by chewing through the crickets 

 feeler, an action which had not, ap- 

 parently, occurred to her, when the jour- 

 ney was first arrested. Although this 

 fact is not a very remarkable one, it is 

 true that the ant was efficient in adapt- 

 ing herself to the circumstances, which 

 were quite unusual. In such cases in- 

 stinct is supposed to be deficient. 



Now let us watch another ant, an 

 inhabitant of the same mound, who is 

 also struggling homeward, bearing the 

 remains of some dry and lifeless insect. 



After towing her burden backwards 

 for perhaps twelve inches, the insect 

 came upon a tall blade of grass, fully 

 a foot in height, which was growing 

 directly in her path. Here I expected 

 to see the ant circumscribe the base 

 of the stem, but what stupidity! In- 

 stead of executing this simple ma- 



noeuvre, she climbed first to the top and 

 finally down again upon the opposite 

 side of the blade, probably with the 

 idea that she had covered with ease 

 a considerable portion of the homeward 

 journey ! 



These two ants which we have fol- 

 lowed with their burdens, were un- 

 doubtedly children of the same queen 

 yet while one was quite competent 

 under the extraordinary conditions, the 

 other lacked even sufficient power of 

 perception to have prevented herself 

 from accomplishing a useless feat. But 

 who can tell? Perhaps had they been 

 each in the others place, the wise ant 



A MOUND AXT CARRYING ITS BURDEN TO 



THE TOP OF A GRASS STEM INSTEAD 



OF CIRCUMSCRIBING THE BASE. 



