206 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, 1909 
Ants and Bees as Pets 
By Percy Collins 
N RECENT years many persons have been 
hard at work with the object of making 
nature study simple and easy. They have 
foreseen that if it were possible to devote 
a few odd minutes at any time of the day 
to observing plant or animal life, and this 
without passing the door of one’s study oi 
sitting-room, thousands of individuals would gladly avail 
themselves of such a chance. In a word, the aim of these 
workers has been to bring nature, as far as may be, into the 
lives of those whose daily duties will not allow them to go to 
her. Of the wonderful success which has attended these 
efforts space will not permit me to write in detail. Suffice 
it to say that there are all manner of contrivances by means of 
which plants and animals of many kinds may be grown and 
reared in captivity, and this without any serious loss of time 
on the part of their owner. But perhaps the most wonderful 
inventions of this kind are devices for keeping ants and bees 
as pets. Thanks to the experiments of Avebury, Fields and 
others, it is now a simple matter for anybody who may be so 
disposed, to observe the ways of these insects. 
Let us suppose that the reader wishes to keep under ob- 
servation a colony of any small species of ground ant—say 
the little yellow field ant. A snug home may be contrived 
for the insects out of an ordinary photographic printing 
frame. ‘The first thing to do is to weaken the spring clips 
somewhat, by bending, in order to ease the pressure when 
the frame is closed. The reason for this precaution will be 
apparent shortly. Now get two clear sheets of glass, half- 
plate size, and three narrow strips that will fit together be- 
tween the big sheets as shown in the diagram. ‘The thick- 
ness of these narrow slips is an important consideration. 
They must be just thick enough to allow an ant to crawl 
about between the two big sheets of glass. If they are 
thicker than this the ants are liable to pile up grains of earth, 
and thus obscure the view of their doings. 
Now cut a notch in the side of your printing frame right 
down to the flange upon which the glass rests. “Chen put 
in the lower sheet of glass, arrange the three narrow strips 
upon it, and you will be ready to capture your ants, and 
transfer them to their new homes. ‘This is more easy to 
q 
Giving the ants their fortnightly supply of honey 
talk about than to accomplish, and the reader will probably 
make one or two abortive attempts before he succeeds. 
Rapidity is the great thing. 
Lake your ‘‘cage’’ into the open, then stir up the ants’ 
nest, and quickly transfer to the sheet of glass as many ants, 
larve, pupa, etc., as you judge will be accommodated when 
the second sheet of glass is put into place and pressed down. 
This is most easily managed with a small spoon, and one 
must not forget to put in a certain amount of fine earth for 
the ants to build with. 
As soon as these operations have been effected, the top 
sheet of glass must be put into place, covered by the back of 
the printing frame, and all clamped down. ‘The formi- 
carium (as the ants’ cage is termed) is now to be supported 
in a shallow pan of water, so that when the ants come abroad 
they may be kept within bounds. No ant will willingly enter 
water, but they will pass down the little pathway, which 
should be provided for their use, drink, and carry moisture 
back to the nest for the use of the larve. 
Between your sheets of glass you now have a mass of soil 
and ants apparently in hopeless confusion. But leave the 
formicarium alone for a few hours, and then take a peep at 
it. You then see that the confusion, though very marked 
at first, is really anything but hopeless. The ants gradually 
settle down to the new conditions of life in which they find 
themselves. They excavate chambers and passages in the 
soil—a vast chamber for the queen, if you have been lucky 
enough to entrap her majesty, and many smaller ones for 
nurseries. ‘They collect together all the scattered grubs and 
pupe they can find, sort them according to age, and begin 
at once to groom and caress them. ‘They even contrive a 
special spot to be used exclusively as a cemetery, whither they 
convey the dead and hopelessly injured members of their 
colony. 
In a very short space of time, in fact, confusion has given 
place to well ordered activity, and the ants go about their 
daily toil as though nothing out of the common had happened 
to them. And now the pleasure of your formicarium is 
manifest. ‘The space between the upper and the lower glass 
is only just sufficient for an ant to walk about in comfort; 
so that in forming the galleries and chambers the ants are 
Administering moisture to the ants 
