imily 



m im 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



246 



find a simpler instance of the growing j 

 eierntv of mind over the powers of N* 



sover- 

 eignty of mind over the powers of Nature. 

 So remote a cause as the inclination of the 

 earth's axis, and the consequent changes of 

 the seasons, determines the time of marriage 

 for almost the whole animal creation, while 

 man, and a few other forms of life whose 

 environment is exceptional, are able to re- 

 fuse all such dictations. It was when man's 

 mind became capable of making its own 

 provisions against the weather and the 

 crops that the possibilities of fatherhood, 

 motherhood, and the family were realized. 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 9, p. 298. 

 (J. P., 1900.) 



1203. FAMILY THE UNIT OF SOCIETY 



Lengthened Infancy the Bond of Home 

 Life. The primordial unit of human society 

 is the family, and it was by the establish- 

 ment of definite and permanent family re- 

 lationships that the step was taken which 

 raised man socially above the level of gre- 

 garious apehood. This great point was at- 

 tained through that lengthening of the 

 period of helpless childhood which accom- 

 panied the gradually increasing intelligence 

 of our half-human ancestors. When child- 

 hood had come to extend over a period of 

 ten or a dozen years a period which would 

 be doubled, or more than doubled, where 

 several children were born in succession to 

 the same parents the relationships between 

 father and mother, brethren and sisters, 

 must have become firmly knit ; and thus the 

 family, the unit of human society, gradually 

 came into existence. FISKE Destiny of Man, 

 ch. 9, p. 67. (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



1204. FAMINE, RESOURCE AGAINST 



Aphid-life Concurrent with Ant-life in 

 Winter. [Ants] are benumbed in the great 

 cold, but when the season is not too rigorous 

 the depth of their nest places them out of 

 reach of the frost. I have seen them pacing 

 about on the snow and pursuing their habits 

 at this temperature. They would be exposed 

 to the horrors of famine if they did not have 

 resources against such a contingency when- 

 ever they are not benumbed, and these re- 

 sources are no other than the plant-lice, 

 which, by an admirable concurrence of cir- 

 cumstances that we cannot attribute to 

 chance, fall into lethargy at the same degree 

 of cold as the ants and are revived at the 

 same time as they; this the ants always 

 recognize whenever they have need of food. 

 HUBER Recherches sur les Mceurs des 

 Fourmis indigenes, p. 202. (Translated for 

 Scientific Side-Lights.) 



12O5. Hunting of Aphids 



When These Are Not Domesticated. Those 

 ants that do not know how to collect these 

 useful insects into their own habitations, at 

 least know their retreats, following them to 

 the foot of trees, or upon the roots of shrubs 

 formerly frequented at the first, then dart- 

 ing along the hedges, following the path 

 that will conduct them to their supplies, and 

 carrying back to the republic a little of the 



honey-colored food, for in winter it requires 

 very little to maintain them. HUBER Re- 

 cherches sur les Mceurs des Fourmis indi- 

 genes, p. 202. (Translated for Scientific 

 Side-Lights.) 



1206. FARMING OF INSECTS The 



Harvesting-ants Their Providence and In- 

 dustry. A Texan ant, Pogonomymex bar- 

 batus, is a harvesting species, storing up 

 especially the grains of Aristida oligantha, 

 the so-called " ant-rice," and of a grass, 

 Buchloe dactyloides. These ants clear disks, 

 ten or twelve feet in diameter, round the 

 entrance to their nest, a work of no small 

 labor in the rich soil and under the hot sun 

 of Texas. I say " clear disks," but some, 

 tho not all, of these disks are occupied, espe- 

 cially round the edge, by a growth of ant- 

 rice. These ants were first noticed by Mr. 

 Buckley [Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 

 1860], and their habits were some time 

 afterwards described in more detail by Dr. 

 Lincecum [Linnean Journal, 1861, p. 29], 

 who maintained not only that the ground 

 was carefully cleared of all other species of 

 plants, but that this grass was intentionally 

 cultivated by the ants. Mr. McCook [" The 

 Nat. Hist, of the Agricultural Ants of 

 Texas," p. 38], by whom this subject has 

 been recently studied, fully confirms Dr. 

 Lincecum that the disks are kept carefully 

 clean, that the ant-rice alone is permitted to 

 grow on them, and that the produce of this 

 crop is carefully harvested; but he thinks 

 that the ant-rice sows itself, and is not 

 actually cultivated by the ants. I have my- 

 self observed in Algeria that certain species 

 of plants are allowed by the ants to grow 

 on their nests. AVEBURY Ants, Bees, and 

 Wasps, ch. 3, p. 61. (A., 1900.) 



1207. FASCINATION OF FLAME In- 

 fant and Insect Alike Attracted Experience 

 Has Taught Man Caution. A brilliant 

 flame is the first object to fix the gaze of 

 the young infant; and in manhood we still 

 continue to feel a strange fascination under 

 the influence of the same phenomenon. Even 

 phosphorescence, unaccompanied as it is by 

 flame, has an irresistible charm for us; 

 while the vivid combustion of inflammable 

 matter embodies a power and impetuosity 

 which rivet the attention of the most stolid 

 observer. We smile at the stupidity of the 

 moth that singes its wings in the candle- 

 flame; but there is within us a similar 

 mysterious impulse that would impel us into 

 the burning mass but for the consciousness 

 of resulting injury, derived solely, as meta- 

 physicians tell us, from knowledge gained 

 by experience. LOWE Nature-Studies, p. 1. 

 (Hum., 1888.) 



12O8. 



Lighthouse a Bea- 



con of Death Birds of Passage Allured to 

 Destruction. The keeper of the lighthouse 

 at Atlantic City describes the migratory 

 birds as following the New Jersey coast all 

 the way up and down in their flights. At 



