WHEELER ON ANTS i 



By Robert M. Yerkes 



A series of pleasant pictures comes to mind as I write these words. I see 

 myself, in attentive attitude, standing in the midst of a banana plantation in 

 Colombia. On the ground at my feet I see a train, and isolated groups, of animated 

 leaves moving across my pathway. My first thought is, what a beautiful instance 

 of the mimicry of leaves by some insect. A moment later I detect beneath its 

 green burden the huge head and heavy mandibles of a leaf-cutting ant. I had 

 not expected this interesting sight and in consequence I was slow to appreciate 

 its meaning. Yet another picture vividly presents itself. Gathered beside a 

 drainage ditch at the edge of a road-side jungle is a group of native laborers 

 from the plantation. Each is intently watching the ground between the ditch and 

 the jungle. All are talking animatedly. Soon the group dissolves and I see 

 myself standing where it had been. On the ground busily engaged in carrying 

 bits of leaves from place to place, is an army of ants. They are apparently undis- 

 turbed by being observed. Each seems intent on reaching his goal. There is 

 a seriousness about the business which is impressive. I wonder what the natives 

 were thinking and saying, what in the appearance and behavior of the insects 

 caused them to attend. 



For me these vivid pictures typify the human interest in living things, and 

 they constantly remind me that one need not be a student of the behavior, or 

 structure, or mind of animals in order to be interested in ants. In his book 

 Professor Wheeler treats alike skillfully and in an eminently interesting manner 

 of the structure, the development, the behavior, and the psychology of ants. The 

 work is thorough, although extensive; it is readable even for the amateur naturalist, 

 although scholarly and indicative of careful analytic study of fundamental prob- 

 lems of biology as they are presented in ants. The author is so evidently master 

 of his subject and so deeply interested in making an excellent presentation of the 

 facts that he should be permitted to speak for himself in this review. The book 

 cannot be summarized; one can merely describe it briefly, characterize it in the 

 light of his appreciations, and urge every student of animals to read it. 



' It is a matter of common observation that the higher animals — those, 

 namely, that in structure and behavior are most like ourselves — are also the ones 

 which arouse our keenest interest .... The only lower animals that from 

 immemorial time have retained a like interest for man are certain insects — the 

 social bees and wasps, the termites and the ants. And among these what appeals 

 so forcibly to the imagination is not the structure or activities of the individuals 

 as such, but the extraordinary instincts which compel them to live permanently 

 in intimate associations (p. 1). No other group of animals presents such a maze 

 of fascinating problems to the biologist, psychologist and sociologist. It will 

 suffice to mention the imrivalled material which they present for the study of 

 variation and geographical distribution, both from the taxonouiic and experimental 

 standpoints, the extraordinary phenomena of polymorphism, parthenogenesis 



^ Wheeler, William Morton: Ants: their structure, development, and behavior. — 

 The Columbia University Biological Series, IX. New York: The Macmillan Com- 

 pany, 1910. Pp. XXV +663. With 286 text figures and extensive bibliography. 



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