N. S. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



in ordinary times because it needs none. Each individual 

 knows her work and does it, and there is seldom any evidence 

 of confusion or conflicting counsel. In war there seems to be 

 a supreme command, or else so perfect and universal a know- 

 ledge of strategy that action is concerted and purpose unified 

 and definite. 



There is one particular in which the ant so far excels us that 

 we can never hope to emulate her. The writer remembers 

 reading Bill Nye's "History of England," wherein is described 

 the fate that befell Charles I. After commenting on the 

 quarrel with his Parliament,the author states that it had the 

 King amputated at the first joint, laconically adding: "He 

 died soon afterwards." An ant has been known to live 41 

 days after its head had been severed from its body, during 40 

 of which it walked about with apparently little sense of loss. 



I should like to add two or three authentic stories which 

 indicate either the ability to reason upon a given situation, or 

 the ability to seize upon accidental circumstances and turn 

 them to the best possible account. 



The first I shall relate has to do with a species of ant 

 which makes its nest of large leaves, bending them into a kind 

 of tent. A colony of these was observed fastening down the 

 edge of a particularly large and stubborn leaf. At some points 

 the edge was too far away foa? a single body to span the gap, 

 whereupon one worker seized another about the waist with its 

 jaws, this one a third, and so, by a living cable drew down the 

 leaf. Next came the duty of fastening it in place. A number 

 of workers bore pupae, which secrete a viscid fluid, in their jaws, 

 rubbing these along both the edges to be fastened together. 

 They were clamped into position by the jaws of a number of 

 workers and there held until the glue had sufficiently toughened 

 to hold them secure. 



An experimenter suspended a sugar bowl by a string from 

 the middle of a window top in a building infested with ants. 

 At first, after discovery, they travelled up and down the string 

 carrying off particles of the coveted delicacy. After a time, 

 however, a number of ants were observed at work in the sugar 

 bowl carrying the little crystals to the edge and dropping them 

 over, whereupon these were seized by their comrades below and 

 carried off. 



