306 



ZOOLOGY 



Analogies 

 and 



differences 

 between 

 human and 

 ant society 



criminal that have at their inception timidly strug- 

 gled for adoption and support, and having obtained 

 these, have grown great and insolent, only to degenerate 

 into nuisances from which the sane and productive 

 members of the community have the greatest difficulty 

 in freeing themselves." (Ants, page 503.) 



8. In spite of so many resemblances between the 

 social life of ants and mankind, we must note some 

 important differences. Ant society is conducted by 

 the female sex, if we include in this term the sterile 

 females or workers. The males are short-lived, and 

 have no part in the affairs of the nation. Ants do not 

 possess the " choice of good and evil," as do men. They 

 appear to have some power of choice, but in the main 

 they are governed by instincts, which hold them down 

 to definite lines of conduct. Thus, as "free agents," 

 it would seem that the slaves of the Polyergus might at 

 any time go off and leave their useless owners to 

 starve. This is, however, impossible ; their instincts 

 hold them more effectively than any chains. It must 

 be confessed that although man is not thus tied down 

 to the path of custom, he is very largely controlled by 

 his habits and traditions. There are numerous situa- 

 tions in human society which ought to be considered 

 intolerable and are only endured because people have 

 neither the initiative nor the imagination to break 

 away from them. 



Ants also differ greatly from civilized man in that 

 they have no idea of progress. The wonderfully pre- 

 served insect fauna of amber, perhaps a couple of 

 million years old, includes thousands of ants. These 

 show that there has been little or no progress in ant 

 life and organization since that remote time. It must 

 be remembered, however, that of the total period during 



