46 BRITISH ANTS. 



Some writers considered ants to be reasonable, intelligent beings, 

 which possess virtues and morals little behind those of mankind ; 

 thus erring as far on the one side as Bethe on the other, who tried 

 to prove that they were purely automatic machines, only performing 

 reflex actions in response to certain stimuli. If the brain of an ant 

 be pierced it remains standing almost as if nailed to the spot ; 

 occasionally a quiver runs through the body, and one of the legs 

 is raised in the air from time to time. If irritated, it endeavours 

 to resist, but as soon as it is left alone, it again falls into its former 

 stupor. It does not try to escape, to return to its nest, or to join 

 its companions. It has lost the instincts of fear and self-preserva- 

 tion and has become simply a reflex machine. This alone will 

 prove the falsity of Bethe 's theory. 



Forel, Wasmann and Wheeler express views intermediate between 

 these two extremes. I agree with Wheeler that ants possess both 

 feelings and impulses, as they undoubtedly experience pleasure and 

 pain, fear and anger, affection and aversion, etc. 



That certain of their actions are only reflex ones, just as with 

 ourselves ( Wheeler illustrates this very neatly, he says : " Whether 

 a stinging ant or hornet merely exhibits a pure reflex or has a 

 feeling of anger besides, is a nice problem. I have unintentionally 

 sat on nests of Vespa germanica, and Pogonomyrmex barbatus, and 

 while I have no doubt that I myself acted reflexly under the circum- 

 stances, it will take quite an army of physiologists to convince me 

 that these creatures were acting as nothing but reflex machines." ) 

 while others arise from what is called instinct, is evident ; but 

 personally from observations on ants both in nature and captivity, 

 I am prepared to grant to them something approaching reasoning 

 power. The following facts appear to support this view : many 

 ants live, comparatively speaking, a very long life, during which 

 time they must learn by experience ; they undoubtedly possess 

 memory ; under certain circumstances, especially in observation- 

 nests, they will break away from their ordinary behaviour, and 

 adapt themselves to new conditions this plasticity is what Hob- 

 house defines as " the power of an organism to adapt action to 

 requirement without the guidance of a hereditary method of 

 adjustment," and Wheeler as " action on the basis of individual, 

 i.e. ontogenetic experience, and as such is commonly designated 

 as ' intelligence ' " they become far less wild in captivity, for 

 example they soon realize that they are going to be fed when a 

 nest is uncovered, and do not endeavour to escape at once ; such 

 species as Myrmecina graminicola which when touched usually 

 roll up and feign death, are with difficulty induced to do so after 

 having been kept for some time, etc. ; ants play together, run 

 after each other, pretend to fight, and perform exercises ; they 

 have also been noted to assist wounded companions. 



Darwin, Belt, Romanes and many other authors have related 



