Animal Intelligence Part 4

_Powers of Communication._

Huber, Kirby and Spence, Dugardin, Burmeister, Franklin, and other observers have all expressed themselves as more or less strongly of the opinion that members of the same community of ants, and other social Hymenoptera, are able to communicate information to one another by some system of language or signs. The facts, however, on which their opinion rests have not been stated with that degree of caution and detail which the acceptance of the conclusion requires. Thus, Kirby and Spence give only one instance of supposed communication between ants,[23] and even this one is inconclusive, as the facts described admit of being explained by supposing that the ants simply tracked one another by scent; while Huber merely deals in general statements as to 'contact of antennae,' without narrating any particulars of his observations.

Therefore, until within the last few years there was really no sufficient evidence to sustain the general opinion that ants are able to communicate with one another; but the observations which I shall now detail must be regarded as fully substantiating that general opinion by facts as abundant and conclusive as the most critical among us can desire. I shall first narrate in his own words the more important of Sir John Lubbock's experiments in this connection:--

I took three tapes, each about 2 feet 6 inches long, and arranged them parallel to one another and about 6 inches apart. An end of each I attached to one of the nests (_F. niger_), and at the other end I placed a gla.s.s. In the gla.s.s at the end of one tape I placed a considerable number (300 to 600) of larvae. In the second I put two or three larvae only, in the third none at all. The object of the last was to see whether many ants would come to the gla.s.ses under such circ.u.mstances by mere accident, and I may at once say that scarcely any did so. I then took two ants, and placed one of them to the gla.s.s with many larvae, the other to that with two or three. Each of them took a larva and carried it to the nest, returning for another, and so on. After each journey I put another larva in the gla.s.s with only two or three larvae, to replace that which had been removed. Now, if several ants came under the above circ.u.mstances as a mere matter of accident, or accompanying one another by chance, or if they simply saw the larvae which were being brought, and consequently concluded that they might themselves find a larva in the same place, then the numbers going to the two gla.s.ses ought to be approximately equal. In each case the number of journeys made by the ants would be nearly the same; consequently, if it was a matter of scent, the two gla.s.ses would be in the same position. It would be impossible for an ant, seeing another in the act of bringing a larva, to judge for itself whether there were few or many left behind. On the other hand, if the strangers were brought, then it would be curious to see whether more were brought to the gla.s.s with many larvae than to that which only contained two or three. I should also mention that every stranger was imprisoned until the end of the experiment.

The results of these experiments were that during 47-1/2 hours the ants which had access to a gla.s.s containing numerous larvae brought 257 friends to their a.s.sistance; while during an interval 5-1/2 hours longer those which visited the gla.s.s with only two or three larvae brought only 82 friends; and, as already mentioned, no single ant came to the gla.s.s which contained no larvae. Now, as all the gla.s.ses were exposed to similar conditions, and as the roads to the first two must, in the first instance at all events, have been equally scented by the pa.s.sage of ants over them, these results look very conclusive as proving some power of definite communication, not only that larvae are to be found, but even where the largest store is to be met with.

To this interesting account Sir John Lubbock adds,--

One case of apparent communication struck me very much. I had had an ant (_F. niger_) under observation one day, during which she was occupied in carrying off larvae to her nest. At night I imprisoned her in a small bottle; in the morning I let her out at 6.15, when she immediately resumed her occupation. Having to go to London, I imprisoned her again at 9 o'clock.

When I returned at 4.40 I put her again to the larvae.

She examined them carefully, and went home without taking one. At this time no other ants were out of the nest. In less than a minute she came out again with eight friends, and the little heap made straight for the heap of larvae. When they had gone two-thirds of the way I again imprisoned the marked ant; the others hesitated a few minutes, and then with curious quickness returned home. At 5.15 I put her again to the larvae. She again went home _without a larva_, but after only a few seconds' stay in the nest, came out with no less than thirteen friends. They all went towards the larvae, but when they had got about two-thirds of the way, although the marked ant had on the previous day pa.s.sed over the ground about 150 times, and though she had just gone straight from the larvae to the nest, she seemed to have forgotten her way, and considered; and after she had wandered about for half an hour, I put her to the larvae. Now, in this case, the twenty-one ants must have been brought out by my marked one, for they came exactly with her, and there were no other ants out. Moreover, it would seem that they must have been told, because (which is very curious in itself) she did not in either case bring a larva, and consequently it cannot have been the mere sight of a larva which had induced them to follow her.

Further experiments proved, as we might have expected, that although an ant is able to communicate to her friends in the nest that she has found treasure somewhere outside, she is not able to describe to them its precise locality. Thus, having exposed larvae and placed an ant upon them as before, Sir John watched every time she came out of the nest with friends to a.s.sist her, but instead of allowing her to pilot the way, he took her up and carried her to the larvae, allowing her to return with a larva upon her own feet. Under these circ.u.mstances the friends, although evidently coming out with the intention of finding some treasure, were never able to find it; but wandered about in various directions for a while, and then returned to the nest. Thus, during two hours she brought out in her successive journeys altogether no less than 120 ants, of which number only 5 in their unguided wanderings happened to find the sought-for treasure. This result seems to prove, as we might have expected, that the communication is of the nature of some sign amounting to no more than a 'follow me.' Other experiments confirmed this result, and also brought out the fact that 'some species act much more in a.s.sociation than others--_Formica fusca_, for instance, much less than _Lasius niger_.' Thus Sir John Lubbock placed some honey before a marked specimen of the former species; but although she visited and revisited the honey during an entire day, she brought out no friends to share it; and although in her journeys to and from the nest she happened to pa.s.s and repa.s.s many other individuals, they took no notice of each other.

The obvious objection to these experiments, that an ant observing a friend bringing home food or a pupa might infer, without being told, that by accompanying the friend on the return journey she 'might partic.i.p.ate in the good things,' has been partly met by the fact already stated, viz., that there is so very marked a difference in the result if, on experimenting on two ants, one had access to a large treasure and the other only to a small one. But to put this matter beyond question, Sir John Lubbock tried the experiment of pinning down a dead fly, so that the ant which found it was unable, with all her tugging, to move it towards the nest. At length she went back to the nest for a.s.sistance, and returned accompanied by seven friends. So great was her excitement, however, that she outran these friends, 'who seemed to have come out reluctantly, as if they had been asleep, and were only half awake;' and they failed to find the fly, slowly meandering about for twenty minutes.

After again tugging for a time at the fly, the first ant returned a second time to the nest for a.s.sistance, and in less than a minute came out with eight friends. They were even less energetic than the first party, and having lost sight of their guide in the same manner as happened before, they all returned to the nest. Meanwhile several of the first party, which had all the while been meandering about, found the fly, and proceeded to dismember it, carrying the trophy to the nest, and calling out more friends in the ordinary way. This experiment was repeated several times and on different species, always with the same result. Now, as Sir John remarks, 'the two cases (_i.e._ those in which the ant brought out friends to her a.s.sistance even when she had no booty to show) surely indicate a distinct power of communication... . It is impossible to doubt that the friends were brought out by the first ant; and as she returned empty-handed to the nest, the others cannot have been induced to follow her by merely observing her proceedings. I conclude, therefore, that they possess the power of requesting their friends to come and help them.'

In order to ascertain whether the signs which communicating ants make to one another are made by means of sound, Sir John Lubbock placed near a nest of _Lasius flavus_ six small upright pillars of wood about 1-1/2 inch high, and on one of these he put a drop of honey. 'I then put three ants to the honey, and when each had sufficiently fed, I imprisoned her, and put another; thus always keeping three ants at the honey, but not allowing them to go home. If, then, they could summon their friends by sound, there ought soon to be many ants at the honey.' The result showed that the ants were not able thus to call to one another from a distance.

As additional proof of the general fact that at all events some ants have the power of communicating information to one another, it will be enough here to quote an exceedingly interesting observation of the distinguished geologist Hague. The quotations are taken from his letters written to Mr. Darwin, and published in _Nature_:[24]--

On the mantelshelf of our sitting-room my wife has the habit of keeping fresh flowers. A vase stands at each end, and near the middle a small tumbler, usually filled with violets. Some time ago I noticed a pile of very small red ants on the wall above the left-hand vase, pa.s.sing upward and downward between the mantelshelf and a small hole near the ceiling, at a point where a picture nail had been driven. The ants, when first observed, were not very numerous, but gradually increased in number, until on some days the little creatures formed an almost unbroken procession, issuing from the hole at the nail, descending the wall, climbing the vase directly below the nail, satisfying their desire for water or perfume, and then returning. The other vase and tumbler were not visited at that time.

As I was just then recovering from a long illness it happened that I was confined to the house, and spent my days in the room where the operations of these insects attracted my attention. Their presence caused me some annoyance, but I knew of no effective means of getting rid of them. For several days in succession I frequently brushed the ants in great numbers from the wall down to the floor; but as they were not killed the result was that they soon formed a colony in the wall at the base of the mantel, ascending thence to the shelf, so that before long the vase was attacked from above and below.

One day I observed a number of ants, perhaps thirty or forty, on the shelf at the foot of the vase. Thinking to kill them, I struck them lightly with the end of my finger, killing some and disabling the rest. The effect of this was immediate and unexpected. As soon as those ants which were approaching arrived near to where their fellows lay dead and suffering, they turned and fled with all possible haste. In half an hour the wall above the mantelshelf was cleared of ants.

During the s.p.a.ce of an hour or two the colony from below continued to ascend until reaching the lower bevelled edge of the shelf, at which point the more timid individuals, although unable to see the vase, somehow became aware of trouble, and turned about without further investigation, while the more daring advanced hesitatingly just to the upper edge of the shelf, when, extending their antennae and stretching their necks, they seemed to peep cautiously over the edge until beholding their suffering companions, when they too turned and followed the others, expressing by their behaviour great excitement and terror. An hour or two later, the path or trail leading from the lower colony to the vase was almost entirely free from ants.

I killed one or two ants on their path, striking them with my finger, but leaving no visible trace. The effect of this was that as soon as an ant ascending towards the shelf reached the spot where one had been killed, it gave signs immediately of great disturbance, and returned directly at the highest possible speed.

A curious and invariable feature of their behaviour was that when such an ant, returning in fright, met another approaching, the two would always communicate, but each would pursue its own way, the second ant continuing its journey to the spot where the first had turned about, and then following that example.

For some days after this there were no ants visible on the wall, either above or below the shelf.

Then a few ants from the lower colony began to reappear, but instead of visiting the vase which had been the scene of the disaster, they avoided it altogether, and following the lower front edge of the shelf to the tumbler standing near the middle, made their attack upon that. I repeated the same experiment here with precisely the same result. Killing or maiming a few of the ants and leaving their bodies about the base of the tumbler, the others on approaching, and even before arriving at the upper surface of the shelf where their mutilated companions were visible, gave signs of intense emotion, some running away immediately, and others advancing to where they could survey the field and then hastening away precipitately.

Occasionally an ant would advance towards the tumbler until it found itself among the dead and dying; then it seemed to lose all self-possession, running hither and thither, making wide circuits about the scene of the trouble, stopping at times and elevating the antennae with a movement suggestive of wringing them in despair, and finally taking flight. After this another interval of several days pa.s.sed, during which no ants appeared. Now, three months later, the lower colony has been entirely abandoned. Occasionally, however, especially when fresh and fragrant violets have been placed on the shelf, a few 'prospectors' descend from the upper nail-hole, rarely, almost never, approaching the vase from which they were first driven away, but seeking to satisfy their desire at the tumbler. To turn back these stragglers and keep them out of sight for a number of days, sometimes for a fortnight, it is sufficient to kill one or two ants on the trail which they follow descending the wall. This I have recently done as high up as I can reach, three or four feet above the mantel. The moment this spot is reached, an ant turns abruptly and makes for home, and in a little while there is not an ant visible on the wall.

In a subsequent volume of 'Nature' (viii. p. 244), Mr. Darwin publishes another letter which he received from Mr. Hague upon the same subject.

It seems that Mr. Moggridge suggested to Mr. Darwin that, as he and others had observed ants to be repelled by the mere scent of a finger drawn across their path, the observation of Mr. Hague might really resolve itself into a dislike on the part of the ants to cross a line over which a finger had been drawn, and have nothing to do with intelligent terror inspired by the sight of their slaughtered companions. The following is Mr. Hague's reply to Mr. Darwin's request for further experiments to test this point:--

Acting on Mr. M----'s suggestion, I first tried making simple finger-marks on their path (the mantel is of marble), and found just the results which he describes in his note as observed by himself at Mentone, that is, no marked symptoms of fear, but a dislike to the spot, and an effort to avoid it by going around it, or by turning back and only crossing it again after an interval of time. I then killed several ants on the path, using a smooth stone or piece of ivory, instead of my finger, to crush them. In this case the ants approaching all turned back as before, and with much greater exhibition of fear than when the simple finger-mark was made. This I did repeatedly. The final result was the same as obtained last winter. They persisted in coming for a week or two, during which I continued to kill them, and then they disappeared, and we have seen none since. It would appear from this that while the taint of the hand is sufficient to turn them back, the killing of their fellows with a stone or other material produces the effect described in my first note. This was made clear to me at that time, from the behaviour of the ants the first day I killed any, for on that occasion some of them approaching the vase from below, on reaching the upper edge of the mantel, peeped over, and drew back on seeing what had happened about the vase, then turned away a little, and after a moment tried again at another and another point along the edge, with the same result in the end.

Moreover, those that found themselves among the dead and dying went from one writhing ant to another in great haste and excitement, exhibiting the signs of fright which I described.

I hardly hope that any will return again, but if they do, and give me an opportunity, I shall endeavour to act further on Mr. M----'s suggestion.

With this quotation I shall conclude the present division of the chapter; for, looking to all the other observations previously mentioned, there can be no question concerning the general fact that ants have the power of communicating with one another. And under subsequent headings abundant additional evidence on this point will be found implicated with the other facts detailed.

_Habits General in Sundry Species._

_Swarming._--The precise facts with regard to the swarming of ants are not yet certainly established. As regards some of the facts, however, there is no doubt. The winged males and females first quit the nest in enormous numbers, and choose some fine afternoon in July or August for their wedding flight. The entrances to the nest are widened by the workers and increased in number, and there is a great commotion on the surface of the nest. The swarm takes place as a thick cloud of all the male and female insects, rising together to a considerable height. The flight continues for several hours, usually circling round some tree or tower, and it is during the flight that fertilisation is effected. After it is effected, the swarm returns to the ground, when the males perish, either from falling a prey, in their shelterless condition, to birds or spiders, or, on account of not being able to feed themselves, from starvation. 'The workers, or neuter ants, of their own colony have lost all interest in them from the moment of their return, and trouble themselves no more about them, for they well know that the males have now fulfilled their vocation.' The great majority of the fertilised females share the same fate as the males. But a small proportion find concealment in holes, which they either dig for themselves, or happen to find ready made, and there found a new colony. The first thing they do is to pull off their now useless wings, by scratching and twisting them, one after the other, with the clawed ends of their feet. They then lay their eggs, and become the queens of new colonies.

Forel says that no fertilised female ever returns to her original home; but that the workers keep back a certain number of females which are fertilised before the swarming takes place; in this case the workers pull off the wings of the fertilised females. The majority of observers, however, maintain that some of the females composing the swarm return to their native home to become mothers where they had been children.

Probably both statements are correct. A writer in the 'Groniger Deekblad' for June 16, 1877, observes that, looking to the injurious effects of in-breeding, the facts as related by Forel are less probable than those related by other observers, and that, if they actually occur, the females fertilised before flight are probably kept by the ants as a sort of 'reserve corps to which the workers resort only in case of need, and if they fail to secure any returning queens.'

_Nursing._--The eggs will not develop into larvae unless nursed. The nursing is effected by licking the surface of the eggs, which under the influence of this process increase in size, or grow. In about a fortnight, during which time the workers carry the eggs from higher to lower levels of the nest, and _vice versa_, according to the circ.u.mstances of heat, moisture, &c., the larvae are hatched out, and require no less careful nursing than the eggs. The workers feed them by placing mouths together and regurgitating food stored up in the crop or proventriculus into the intestinal tract of the young. The latter show their hunger by 'stretching out their little brown heads.' Great care is also taken by the workers in cleaning the larvae, as well as in carrying them up and down the chambers of the nest for warmth or shelter.

When fully grown the larvae spin coc.o.o.ns, and are then pupae, or the 'ants' eggs' of bird-fanciers. These require no food, but still need incessant attention with reference to warmth, moisture, and cleanliness.

When the time arrives for their emergence as perfect insects, the workers a.s.sist them to get out of their larval cases by biting through the walls of the latter. It is noticeable that in doing this the workers do not keep to any exact time, but free them sometimes earlier and sometimes later, in accordance with their rate of development. 'The little animal when freed from its chrysalis is still covered with a thin skin, like a little s.h.i.+rt, which has to be pulled off. When we see how neatly and gently this is done, and how the young creature is then washed, brushed, and fed, we are involuntarily reminded of the nursing of human babies. The empty cases, or coc.o.o.ns, are carried outside the nest, and may be seen heaped together there for a long time. Some species carry them far away from the nest, or turn them into building materials for the dwelling.'[25]

_Education._--The young ant does not appear to come into the world with a full instinctive knowledge of all its duties as a member of a social community. It is led about the nest, and 'trained to a knowledge of domestic duties, especially in the case of the larvae.' Later on the young ants are taught to distinguish between friends and foes. When an ants' nest is attacked by foreign ants, the young ones never join in the fight, but confine themselves to removing the pupae; and that the knowledge of hereditary enemies is not wholly instinctive in ants is proved by the following experiment, which we owe to Forel. He put young ants belonging to three different species into a gla.s.s case with pupae of six other species--all the species being naturally hostile to one another. The young ants did not quarrel, but worked together to tend the pupae. When the latter hatched out, an artificial colony was formed of a number of naturally hostile species all living together after the manner of the 'happy families' of the showmen.

_Habit of keeping Aphides._--It is well known that various species of ants keep aphides, as men keep milch cows, to supply a nutritious secretion. Huber first observed this fact, and noticed that the ants collected the eggs of the aphides and treated them exactly as they treated their own, guarding and tending them with the utmost care. When these eggs hatch out the aphides are usually kept and fed by the ants, to whom they yield a sweet honey-like fluid, which they eject from the abdomen upon being stroked on this region by the antennae of the ants.

Mr. Darwin, who has watched the latter process, observes with regard to it,--

I removed all the ants from a group of about a dozen aphides on a dock plant, and prevented their attendance during several hours. After this interval, I felt sure that the aphides would want to excrete. I watched them for some time through a lens, but not one excreted; I then tickled them with a hair in the same manner, as well as I could, as the ants do with their antennae; but not one excreted. Afterwards I allowed an ant to visit them, and it immediately seemed, by its eager way of running about, to be well aware what a rich flock it had discovered; it then began to play with its antennae on the abdomen, first of one aphis and then of another; and each, as soon as it felt the antennae, immediately lifted up its abdomen and excreted a limpid drop of sweet juice, which was eagerly devoured by the ant. Even quite young aphides behaved in this manner, showing that the action was instinctive, and not the result of experience.

The facts also show that the yielding of the secretion to the ants is, as it were, a voluntary act on the part of the aphides, or, perhaps more correctly, that the instinct to yield it has been developed in such a relation to the requirements of the ants, that the peculiar stimulation supplied by the antennae of the latter is necessary to start the act of secretion; for in the absence of this particular stimulation the aphides will never excrete until compelled to do so by the superabundance of the acc.u.mulating secretion. The question, therefore, directly arises how, on evolutionary principles, such a cla.s.s of facts is to be met; for it is certainly difficult to understand the manner in which this instinct, so beneficial to the ants, can have arisen in the aphides, to which it does not appear, at first sight, to offer any advantages. Mr. Darwin meets the difficulty thus: 'Although there is no evidence that any animal performs an action for the exclusive good of another species, yet each tries to take advantage of the instincts of others;' and 'as the secretion is extremely viscid, it is no doubt a convenience to the aphides to have it removed; therefore probably they do not excrete solely for the good of the ants.'[26]

Some ants which keep aphides build covered ways, or tunnels, to the trees or shrubs where the aphides live. Forel saw a tunnel of this kind which was taken up a wall and down again on the other side, in order to secure a safe covered way from the nest to the aphides. Occasionally such covered ways, or tubes, are continued so as to enclose the stems of the plants on which the aphides live. The latter are thus imprisoned by the walls of the tube, which, however, expand where they take on this additional function of stabling the aphides, so that these insects are really confined in tolerably large chambers. The doors of these chambers are too small to allow the aphides to escape, while large enough for the ants to pa.s.s in and out. Forel saw such a prison or stable shaped like a coc.o.o.n, and about a centimetre long, which was hanging on the branch of a tree, and contained aphides carefully tended by the ants. Huber records similar observations.

Sir John Lubbock has made an interesting addition to our knowledge respecting this habit as practised by a certain species of ant (_Lasius flavus_), which departs in a very remarkable manner from the habit as practised by other species. He says: 'The ants took the greatest care of these eggs, carrying them off to the lower chambers with the utmost haste when the nest was disturbed.' But the most interesting of Sir John Lubbock's observations in this connection is new, and reveals an astonis.h.i.+ng amount of method shown by the ants in farming their aphides. He says:--

When my eggs hatched I naturally thought that the aphides belonged to one of the species usually found on the roots of plants in the nests of _Lasius flavus_. To my surprise, however, the young creatures made the best of their way out of the nest, and, indeed, were sometimes brought out by the ants themselves. In vain I tried them with roots of gra.s.s, &c.; they wandered uneasily about, and eventually died. Moreover, they did not in any way resemble the subterranean species. In 1878 I again attempted to rear these young aphides; but though I hatched a great many eggs, I did not succeed. This year, however, I have been more fortunate. The eggs commenced to hatch the first week in March. Near one of my nests of _Lasius flavus_, in which I had placed some of the eggs in question, was a gla.s.s containing living specimens of several species of plants commonly found on or around ants' nests. To this some of the young aphides were brought by the ants. Shortly afterwards I observed on a plant of daisy, in the axils of the leaves, some small aphides, very much resembling those from my nest, though we had not actually traced them continuously. They seemed thriving, and remained stationary on the daisy. Moreover, whether they had sprung from the black eggs or not, the ants evidently valued them, for they built up a wall of earth round and over them. So things remained throughout the summer, but on October 9 I found that the aphides had laid some eggs exactly resembling those found in the ants' nests; and on examining daisy plants from outside, I found on many of them similar aphides, and more or less of the same eggs.

I confess these observations surprised me very much.

The statements of Huber have not, indeed, attracted so much notice as many of the other interesting facts which he has recorded, because if aphides are kept by ants in their nests, it seems only natural that their eggs should also occur. The above case, however, is much more remarkable. Here are aphides, not living in the ants' nests, but outside, on the leaf-stalks of plants. The eggs are laid early in October on the food-plant of the insect. They are of no direct use to the ants, yet they are not left where they are laid, where they would be exposed to the severity of the weather and to innumerable dangers, but brought into their nests by the ants, and tended by them with the utmost care through the long winter months until the following March, when the young ones are brought out and again placed on the young shoots of the daisy.

This seems to me a most remarkable case of prudence.

Our ants may not perhaps lay up food for the winter, but they do more, for they keep during six months the eggs which will enable them to procure food during the following summer.

The following, which is taken from Buchner's 'Geistesleben der Thiere'

is perhaps a still more striking performance of the same kind as that which Sir John Lubbock observed:--

The author is debtor to Herr Nottebohm, Inspector of Buildings at Karlsruhe, who related the following on May 24, 1876, under the t.i.tle, 'Ants as Founders of Aphides' Colonies:'--'Of two equally strong young weeping ashes, which I planted in my garden at Kattowitz, in Upper Silesia, one succeeded well, and in about five or six years showed full foliage, while the other regularly every year was covered, when it began to bud, with millions of aphides, which destroyed the young leaves and sprouts, and thus completely delayed the development of the tree. As I perceived that the only reason for this was the action of the aphides, I determined to destroy them utterly.

So in the March of the following year I took the trouble to clean and wash every bough, sprig, and bud before the bursting of the latter, with the greatest care, by means of a syringe. The result was that the tree developed perfectly healthy and vigorous leaves and young shoots, and remained quite free from the aphides until the end of May or the beginning of June.

My joy was of short duration. One fine sunny morning I saw a surprising number of ants running quickly up and down the trunk of the tree; this aroused my attention, and led me to look more closely. To my great astonishment I then saw that many troops of ants were busied in carrying single aphides up the stem to the top, and that in this way many of the lower leaves had been planted with colonies of aphides. After some weeks the evil was as great as ever. The tree stood alone on the gra.s.s plot, and offered the only situation for an aphides' colony for the countless ants there present. I had destroyed this colony; but the ants replanted it by bringing new colonists from distant branches, and setting them on the young leaves.[27]

Again--

MacCook noticed, of the mound-making ants, that of the workers returning to the nest from the tree on which the milking was going on, a far smaller number had distended abdomens than among those descending the tree itself. A closer investigation showed that at the roots of the trees, at the outlets of the subterranean galleries, a number of ants were a.s.sembled, which were fed by the returning ants after the fas.h.i.+on already described in feeding the larvae, and which were distinguished by the observer as 'pensioners.' MacCook often observed the same fact later, among, with others, the already described Pennsylvanian wood-ant.

Distinguished individuals in the body-guard of the queen were fed in like fas.h.i.+on. MacCook is inclined to think that the reason of this proceeding is to be found in the 'division of labour' so general in the ant republic, and that the members of the community which are employed in building and working within the nest, leave to the others the care of providing food for themselves as well as for the younger and helpless members; they thus have a claim to receive from time to time a reciprocal toll of grat.i.tude, and take it, as is shown very clearly, in a way demanded by the welfare of the community.[28]

Aphides are not the only insects which ants employ as cows, several other insects which yield sweet secretions being similarly utilised in various parts of the world. Thus, gall insects and cocci are kept in just the same way as aphides; but MacCook observed that where aphides and cocci are kept by the same ants, they are kept in separate chambers, or stalls. The same observer saw caterpillars of the genus _Lycoena_ kept by ants for the sake of a sweet secretion which they supply.