THE INTEREST IX IX SECTS 



397 



attack on a pillaged nest if it contains 

 more of the coveted younti'. but if all 

 the doomed slaves had been scooped 

 up at the first onslaught, they will not 

 go on the warpath again. That author 

 demonstrated that sight and smell had 

 nothing to do wMth attracting the war- 

 riors over the long distance separating 

 them from the subjugated nest ; so it 

 must be due to memory of the remain- 

 ing pupae. Wasmann discovered that 

 when the pilfered pupae matured and 

 became accustomed to their masters, 

 they showed a pronounced hostility to 

 their real brothers and sisters, if per- 

 chance these blood relations were en- 

 countered in the field. Friend ?nd foe 

 are attracted by odors which are 

 learned by experience. It is not a here- 

 ditary or instinctive matter. 



Further, such leading specialists as 

 Forel. Wasmann, AMieeler, and AIc- 

 Cook, recognizes a system of communi- 

 cation among ants. This "language" is 

 spoken without education in any sense 

 of the word. \'ariotis signs and sig- 

 nals are employed, such as postures, 

 movements, and stridulation. Does 

 anyone doubt that communication fa- 

 cilitates co-operation ? Every mass-ac- 

 tivity is started by a wide-awake in- 

 dividual. Nearby ants catch the bustle 

 and imitate. Thus the job becomes 

 contageous spreading like a conflagra- 

 tion in all directions, and ere long the 

 entire community is at it. Apparent 

 conflicts are due to simultaneous exer- 

 tion of leadership in several directions. 

 But these differences are trivial and 

 ephemeral, being rapidly smoothed 

 out. The work proceeds as "in a state 

 of anarchistic socialism, each individ- 

 ual fulfilling the demands of social life 

 without guide, overseer, or ruler." 



Writings on animal behavior fall un- 

 der tw^o heads : professional and ama- 

 teur. As a class the former are inclined 

 to be conservative, attributing no men- 

 tal power to an animal unless it can 

 be certainly demonstrated. Amateur 

 observations swing to the opposite ex- 

 treme, the ultra-anthropomorphic view. 

 They fancy the inter-play of human- 

 like emotions, passions, ideas, wills 

 among animals. More than that, lack- 

 ing the instrument of intelligent in- 

 terpretation which comes from Ion"- 

 continued study, thev deduce from 

 isolated observations un warranter! 

 proofs of sagacity, even of prophetir 



insight. Perhaps here as in most dif- 

 ferences of opinion, a conciliatory 

 course which nevertheless skirts the 

 camp of expert judgment comes near- 

 est the truth. 



The Moth Market Exaggerated. 



The responsibility of authors to their 

 readers is illustrated in many ways. 

 One illustration is afforded by the ex- 

 perience of the director of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, which 

 in the last few months has received 

 many pathetic letters coming from all 

 parts of the country, asking how the 

 writers can sell moths and so get 

 money to accomplish some desired 

 object. One girl in a backwoods ham- 

 let of Arkansas writes : "Please rite me 

 how much you pay for moths. I want 

 to make money to go to school." How 

 did the idea of selling moths to the 

 Museum occur to her? Professor Lutz 

 explains : "In 'The Girl of the Limber- 

 lost,' written by Gene Stratton-Porter, 

 we are told how a young girl with a 

 strongly developed love of nature is 

 able to make money enough to pay for 

 her education and provide herself with 

 the necessaries of life by hunting rare 

 specimens of moths, which she sells to 

 a dealer who supplies museums and 

 collectors. Soon after the book made 

 its appearance letters like this began to 

 come in, — only a few at first, but the 

 number increased steadily. One pa- 

 thetic letter was received from a wom- 

 an who hoped she could sell enough 

 rare moths to go to Denver to be cured 

 of tuberculosis. So you see there is a 

 tragic as well as an amusing side to all 

 this correspondence. The author of 

 'The Girl of the Limberlost' sold El- 

 nora's moths for four times what a 

 wholesale dealer would pay even for 

 perfect specimens. But hundreds of 

 readers of the novel evidently have re- 

 garded her story in the sense of a re- 

 port on the market for moths, and the 

 letters still keep coming in." — The 

 Writer. 



The blue crab of our .\tlantic coast be- 

 comes mature at three years and after 

 that nsuall}- ceases to grow or moult. 

 Hefore that time, the rate of growth and 

 the interval between moults depend on 

 the food supply. 



