The Ants 



insects. A number of years ago some Liberian coffee-trees were 

 started in the greenhouse. On the under side of the leaves of these 

 coffee-trees, there exist at the bases of certain of the leaf ribs some 

 very minute, nectar-secreting glands. The ants soon found this 

 out and sipped the nectar. Then the idea occurred to some clever 

 ant that these nectar glands would be the best places in the world 

 for mealy bugs to live and grow fat and they would in conse- 

 quence secrete a great deal more nectar then they would if they 

 lived on other parts of the leaf. But the nectar glands were too 

 small to accommodate even one good-sized mealy bug. So, the 

 word was passed around and the ants gnawed the edges of the 

 gland and enlarged it so that it would accommodate a good-sized 

 mealy bug, which was carried to it. Doubtless to the delight of 



the ants, the result was as we 

 may imagine it to have been an- 

 ticipated. The mealy bug thrived 

 exceedingly. The gland was 

 enlarged still further and a whole 

 family of mealy bugs was raised 

 in the same hole. Thus a cus- 

 tom grew up and many such 

 greatly enlarged glands were 

 found after a few months. Here 

 was an ant, then, apparently tak- 

 ing advantage of an opportunity 

 which was new not only to the 

 experience of the individual, but 

 new to the experience of the race, 

 and if we adopt the most reason- 

 able of the definitions of instinct here seems to have been dis- 

 played positive intelligence of a high order. 



In all of these stories of the seeming intelligence of ants and 

 of bees, and of other insects as well, it must be remembered that 

 we are running a great risk in our interpretations for the reason 

 that we make them from a human standpoint, that is to say, that 

 we consider these insects as though they had human person- 

 alities. The observer and the narrator inject their own personal- 

 ities into the subjects investigated and in fact they use words 

 which carry with them meanings which may not be warranted 

 by the facts. This fact is brought out strongly by the German 



40 



Fig. 23. Tetramorium caespitum. 

 (After Marlatt.) 



