456 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



by de Lamioy and Bondroit, etc. The names of those investigators 

 who have especially distinguished themselves in separate branches of 

 ant ])ionomics — the knowledge of the relation of ants to their guests, 

 the study of the mode of foundation of the ant colonies, the develop- 

 ment of social parasitism and of slavery, the investigations of the 

 fungus gardens of the leaf-cutting ants, the construction of the nests 

 of the highly interesting weaver ants, who use their larvae as weaver's 

 shuttles, etc. — are much too nmnerous to make their separate men- 

 tion possible in this brief space. 



Through its rapid progress in all directions the modern study of 

 ajits has become on the one hand such a richly developed and richly 

 ramified special science that it is no longer possible for the individual 

 investigator to master the entire field. Division of labor, therefore, 

 more and more took place, particularly also in the investigation of the 

 myrmecophilous Arthropoda, which demands the collaboration of 

 specialists in the most distinct classes and orders of arthropods. 



On the other hand the bionomic science of ants, particularly, has 

 stepped forth from the confines of a special science. Comparative 

 psychology has in an increased measure turned its attention toward 

 the psychological valuation of ant activities. The theory of descent 

 has found among the ant guests a multitude of interesting proofs 

 for the formation of new species, genera, and families of insects 

 through adaptation to a myrmecophilous life. It has also found in the 

 hypothetical phylogeny of social parasitism and of slavery among 

 the ants one of the most instructive examples for the development of 

 instinct. Social science has even made the attempt to find in the 

 ant communities the prototypes for human social customs. But by 

 all means it must be considered here that the ants, in spite of the 

 great analogy which shows itself between many activities of their 

 social instincts and human intellectual acts, are not miniature human 

 beings. Scientific ant study has long ago withdrawn from the roman- 

 ticism of humanization and sees in the wonderfid accomplishments of 

 the little ant brain instinctive activities, which, however, within cer- 

 tain limits, arc plastically modifiable through sensory experiences of 

 the individual. Science can therefore neither accept the ants as mere 

 reflex machines nor as intellectual miniature humans. The truth with 

 regard to the 'psychology of ants lies rather midway between these 

 two extremes. 



For lack of time I must unfortunately deny myself a more detailed 

 development of all these highly interesting relations of ant biology, 

 and must limit myself to placing before you, with the help of stereop- 

 ticon pictures,^ some especially fascinating main points in the life of 

 the ants and of their guests. 



1 Of the 40 photographic lantern slides of the lecture only a part Is here reproduced. 



