1852.] 111 
The Committee on the following communication from Dr. C. M. 
Wetherill, reported in favor of publication : 
Chemical Investigation of the Mexican Honey Ant. 
By Cuarites M. Werueriut, Ph. D. 
Several of these curious insects, described in a late number of the Proceedings, 
were handed to me some time since by Dr. Leidy, with the request that I would 
make a chemical examination of them. I was fearful at the time, from the 
scarcity of material, and from the endosmosis and exosmosis that had apparently 
taken place, (as the ants had been preserved for some time in alcohol,) that I 
could not arrive at satisfactory conclusions. The difficulties were not, however, 
as great as anticipated. The following are the results of my experiments. 
The ants were filled with a varying quantity of the honey; in some the 
abdomen was distended, in others quite flaccid. The liquid also varied; 
in some being of light amber color, and in others deeper in hue. Six of, 
the average sized insects weighed 2.6533 grammes, their bodies weighed 
0.288 gr. The honey, consequently, of the six ants weighed 2.3653 grammes, 
and the average quantity of honey ina single ant 0.3942 gr. Since the average 
weivht of a single ant is 0.048, it follows that the honey which an average one of 
these ants contains is 8.2 times greater than the weight of its body. The density 
of the ants, when filled with honey, and that of their bodies, was ascertained by 
weighing in alcohol of density 0.8309, and reducing to water as unity. 
The following are the data :-— 
2.6533 grammes of the ants, with their honey, weighed in alcohol 0.93103; and 
of the bodies without the honey 0.288 weighed 0.061 in alcohol. 
From which the density-is calculated, for the ants filled with honey at 1.28, 
and for the bodies alone 1.05. 
The syrup extracted from the ant had an agreeable sweet taste, the odor very 
much resembling that of the syrup of squills. It reacted slightly acid to blue 
litmus paper. When evaporated by the heat of steam, it dried to a gummy mass, 
which did not exhibit traces of crystallization after standing for a couple of weeks. 
It was very hygroscopic, becoming quickly soft from the absorption of water 
from the atmosphere. ’ 
The sugar dried, as stated, by steam heat, dissolved without residue in. ordi- 
nary alcohol, leaving a residue in nearly absolute alcohol. This residue dis- 
solved in ordinary alcohol completely. The alcoholic solutions were all set 
aside, for several days, for crystallization, with negative results. These alco- 
holiec solutions had exactly the smell of the perfumed bay rum. I call attention 
to these peculiar odors, as perhaps capable, with additional evidence, of throwing 
some light upon the origin of the honey. 
When exposed for some time in vacuo over sulphuric acid, the syrup dries up 
to a transparent gum-like mass, but without any signs of crystallization during 
the process. 2.1065 of the syrup, after standing thus in vacuo for about two 
weeks, weighed 1.4425, equal to a per centage of 68.478, sugar in the syrup. 
When thus dried it had the rich sugar smell of candy made by heating sugar and . 
butter together. 
Some of the honey was set aside for crystallization as removed from the insect. 
After many days it was examined, but no traces of crystallization could be 
observed, either with the naked eye or with the microscope. Some of the honey 
was examined alone, under the microscope with high powers; no crystals were 
observed, but here and there fragments of organic tissue. Examined by polarized 
light, some of these stood out in bright relief against the dark ground of the field, 
and were at first mistaken for fragments of crystals, until a capillary like tube 
was observed, which resembled these fragments, and which changed its color by 
the rotation of the polarization’s plane. a 
No change could be observed after touching the drop under the microscope with 
a drop of solution or tincture of iodine. 
fl7 
