NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



It has been suggested seriously that these ants might 

 by culture attain the rank of bees as honey-producers. 

 The difficulty of farming the colonies, and the limited 

 quantity of the product, would prevent a profitable 

 industry. The average amount of honey in a single 

 rotund was by weight about forty (0.3942) grammes, a 

 little over eight times (8.2) that of the ant's body. But 

 counting the number of rotunds in a nest at six hundred 

 — the utmost that observation would justify — the entire 

 product would be only two-thirds of a pound troy, col- 

 lected at the cost of all the honey-bearers' lives. Such 

 results disbar these insects from the field of human 

 industry. 



Let us go back to the home nest. The time chosen 

 for the foragers' exode was in all colonies the same, 

 about sunset at 7.30 p.m. Always there remained a 

 large force, some of whom were seen at all hours of the 

 night on guard around the gate and patrolling the 

 mound, even pushing their pickets beyond. The return 

 home began about midnight and continued until the 

 dayspring, between four and five o'clock. The incomers 

 were challenged by the sentries, who guarded the ap- 

 proach with military vigilance. The antennal counter- 

 sign was always exacted. One could not but wonder, 

 as he saw the sharp arrest and the crossed antennae, how 

 keen must be the sense — the homologue, doubtless, of 

 smell — by which recognition was made. As it is in 

 human industries, there were plainly degrees of success 

 among the returning workers, for some came with well- 

 laden abdomens, and others scantily provided. Nor 

 did size determine the measure of success, for some of 

 the best-filled honey-bags were borne by the dwarf 

 workers. 



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