Animal Intelligence Part 6

Battles, however, are not confined to species of ants having warlike and slave-making habits. The agricultural ants likewise at times wage fierce wars with one another. The importance of seeds to these ants, and the consequent value which they set upon them, induce the animals, when supplies are scarce, to plunder each other's nests. Thus Moggridge says,--

By far the most savage and prolonged contests which I have witnessed were those in which the combatants belong to two different colonies of the same species... . The most singular contests are those which are waged for seeds by _A. barbara_, when one colony plunders the stores of an adjacent nest belonging to the same species, the weaker nest making prolonged though, for the most part, inefficient attempts to recover their property.

In the case of the other species of ant which I have watched fighting, the strife would last but a short time--a few hours or a day--but _A. barbara_ will carry on the battle day after day and week after week.

I was able to devote a good deal of time to watching the progress of a predatory war of this kind, waged by one nest of _barbara_ against another, and which lasted for forty-six days, from January 18 to March 4!

I cannot of course declare positively that no cessation of hostilities may have taken place during the time, but I can affirm that whenever I visited the spot--and I did so on twelve days, or as nearly as possible twice a week--the scene was one of war and spoliation such as that which I shall now describe.

An active train of ants, nearly resembling an ordinary harvesting train, led from the entrance of one nest to that of another lower down the slope, and fifteen feet distant; but on closer examination it appeared that though the great ma.s.s of seed-bearers were travelling towards the upper nest, some few were going in the opposite direction and making for the lower. Besides this, at intervals, combats might be seen taking place, one ant seizing the free end of a seed carried by another, and endeavouring to wrench it away, and then frequently, as neither would let go, the stronger ant would drag seed and opponent towards its nest. At times other ants would interfere and seize one of the combatants and endeavour to drag it away, this often resulting in terrible mutilations, and especially in the loss of the abdomen, which would be torn off while the jaws of the victim retained their indomitable bull-dog grip upon the seed. Then the victor might be seen dragging away his prize, while its adversary, though now little more than a head and legs, offered a vigorous though of course ineffectual resistance. I frequently observed that the ants during these conflicts would endeavour to seize one another's antennae, and that if this were effected, the ant thus a.s.saulted would instantly release his hold, whether of seed or adversary, and appear utterly discomfited. No doubt the antennae are their most sensitive parts, and injuries inflicted on these organs cause the greatest pain.

It was not until I had watched this scene for some days that I apprehended its true meaning, and discovered that the ants of the upper nest were robbing the granaries of the lower, while the latter tried to recover the stolen seeds both by fighting for them and by stealing seeds in their turn from the nest of their oppressors. The thieves, however, were evidently the stronger, and streams of ants laden with seeds arrived safely at the upper nest, while close observation showed that very few seeds were successfully carried on the reverse journey into the lower and plundered nest.

Thus when I fixed my attention on one of these robbed ants surrept.i.tiously making its exit with the seed from the thieves' nest, and having overcome the opposition and dangers met with on its way, reaching, after a journey which took six minutes to accomplish, the entrance to its own home, I saw that it was violently deprived of its burden by a guard of ants stationed there apparently for the purpose, one of whom instantly started off and carried the seed all the way back again to the upper nest.

This I saw repeated several times.

After March 4 I never saw any acts of hostility between these nests, though the robbed nest was not abandoned. In another case of the same kind, however, where the struggle lasted thirty-one days, the robbed nest was at length completely abandoned, and on opening it I found all the granaries empty with one single exception, and this one was pierced by the matted roots of gra.s.ses and other plants, and must therefore have been long neglected by the ants.

Strangely enough, not one of the seeds in this deserted granary showed traces of germination.

No doubt some very pressing need is the cause of these systematic raids in search of acc.u.mulations of seeds, and there can be little doubt that the requirements of distinct colonies of ants of the same species are often different even at the same season and date. Thus these warring colonies of ants were active on many days when the majority of the nests were completely closed; and I have even seen these robbers staggering along, enfeebled by the cold, and in wind and rain, when all other ants were safe below ground.

The agricultural ants of Texas do not appear to be less pugnacious than their European congeners. Thus MacCook says:--

A young community has sometimes to struggle into permanent prosperity through many perils. The following example is found in the unpublished Lincec.u.m ma.n.u.scripts. One day a new ant-city was observed to be located within ten or twelve yards of a long-established nest, a distance that the doctor thought would prove too near for peaceable possession--for the agriculturals seem to pre-empt a certain range of territory around their formicary as their own, within which no intrusion is allowed. He therefore concluded to keep these nests under close observation, and visited them frequently. Only a day or two had elapsed before he found that the inhabitants of the old city had made war upon the new.

They had surrounded it in great numbers, and were entering, dragging out and killing the citizens. The young colonists, who seemed to be of less size than their adversaries, fought bravely, and, notwithstanding they were overwhelmed by superior numbers, killed and maimed many of their a.s.sailants.

The parties were scattered in struggling pairs over a s.p.a.ce ten or fifteen feet around the city gate, and the ground was strewed with many dead bodies. The new colonists aimed altogether at cutting off the legs of their larger foes, which they accomplished with much success. The old-city warriors, on the contrary, gnawed and clipped off the heads and abdomens of their enemies. Two days afterward the battlefield was revisited, and many ants were found lying dead tightly locked together by legs and mandibles, while hundreds of decapitated bodies and severed heads were strewed over the ground.

Another example, which is given in the published paper, is quite similar, and had like result. In forty-eight hours the old settlers had exterminated the new. The distance between the nests was about 20 feet. While the young colonists remained in concealment they were not disturbed, but as soon as they began to clear away their open disk war was declared.

MacCook, however, says that 'these ants are not always so jealous of territorial encroachment, or at least must have different standards of rights.' For he observed many cases of nests situated within twenty, and even ten feet of one another, without a battle ever occurring between members of the two communities. Therefore, without questioning the accuracy of Lincec.u.m's observations--which, indeed, present no scope for inaccuracy--he adds, 'That neighbouring ants, like neighbouring nations of civilised men, will fall out and wage war Lincec.u.m's examples show.

Perhaps we should be quite as unsuccessful in case of these ants as of our human congeners, should we seek a sufficient reason for these wars, or satisfactory cause for these differences in dealing with neighbours which appear from the comparison of Lincec.u.m's observations with mine.'

In connection with the wars of these ants, the following quotations may also be made from the same author:--

The erratic ants do not appear to be held as common enemies by the agriculturals, and they are even permitted to establish their formicaries within the limits of the open disk. Sometimes, however, the diminutive hillocks which mark the entrance to an erratic ant-nest multiply beyond the limit of the agriculturals' forbearance. But they do not declare war, nor resort to any personal violence.

Nevertheless, they get rid of them, oddly enough, by a regular system of vexatious obstructions. They suddenly conclude that there is urgent demand for improving their public domain. Forthwith they sally forth in large numbers, fall eagerly to work gathering the little black b.a.l.l.s which are thrown up by the earth-worms in great quant.i.ties everywhere in the prairie soil, which they bring and heap upon the paved disk until all the erratic ant-nests are covered! The entire pavement is thus raised an inch or so, and pains are taken to deposit more b.a.l.l.s upon and around the domiciles of their tiny neighbours than elsewhere.

The erratics struggle vigorously against this Pompeian treatment; they bore through the avalanche of b.a.l.l.s, only to find barriers laid in their way. The obstructions at length become so serious that it is impossible to keep the galleries open. The dwarfs cease to contend against destiny, and, gathering together their household stores, quietly evacuate the premises of the inhospitable giants. It is the triumph of the policy of obstruction, a bloodless but effectual opposition.

Lastly, MacCook records the history of an interesting engagement which he witnessed between two nests of _Tetramorium caespitum_. It took place between Broad Street and Penn Square in Philadelphia, and lasted for nearly three weeks. Although all the combatants belonged to the same species, however great the confusion of the fight, friends were always distinguished from foes--apparently by contact of antennae.

_Habit of keeping Domestic Pets._--Many species of ants display the curious habit of keeping in their nests sundry kinds of other insects, which, so far as observation extends, are of no benefit to the ants, and which therefore have been regarded by observers as mere domestic pets.

These 'pets' are for the most part species which occur nowhere else except in ants' nests, and each species of 'pet' is peculiar to certain species of ants. Thus Moggridge found 'a large number of a minute s.h.i.+ning brown beetle moving about among the seeds' in the nests of the harvesting ant of the south of Europe, 'belonging to the scarce and very restricted genus _Colnocera_, called by Kraatz _C. attae_, on account of its inhabiting the nests of ants belonging to the genus _Atta_.' He also observed inhabiting the same nests a minute cricket 'scarcely larger than a grain of wheat' (_Gryllus myrmecophilus_), which had been previously observed by Paolo Savi in the nests of several species of ants in Tuscany, where it lived on the best terms with its hosts, playing round the nests in warm weather, and retiring into them in stormy weather, while allowing the ants to carry it from place to place during migrations. Again, Mr. Bates observes that 'some of the most anomalous forms of coleopterous insects are those which live solely in the nests of ants.' Sir John Lubbock also, and other observers whom we need not wait to cite, mention similar facts. The Rev. Mr. White says that altogether 40 distinct species of Coleoptera, most of which he has in his own collection, are known to inhabit the nests of various species of ants, and to occur nowhere else.

As in all these cases the ants live on amicable terms with their guests, and in some cases even bestow labour upon them (as in carrying them from one nest to another during migration), it is evident that these insects are not only tolerated, but fostered by the ants. Moreover, as it seems absurd to credit ants with any mere fancy or caprice such as that of keeping pets, we can only conclude that these insects, like the aphides, are of some use to their hosts, although we are not yet in a position to surmise what this use can be.

_Habits of Sleep and Cleanliness._--It is probable that all species of ants enjoy periods of true sleep alternating with those of activity; but actual observations on this subject have only been made on two or three species. The following is MacCook's account of these habits in the harvesting ant of Texas:--

The observation upon the ants now before me began at 8 o'clock; at 11 P.M. the cl.u.s.ter had nearly dissolved, only a few being asleep. To ill.u.s.trate the soundness of this sleep I take the quill pen with which I write, and apply the feather end of it to an ant who is sleeping upon the soil. She has chosen a little oval depression in the surface, and lies with abdomen upon the raised edge, and face toward the lamp. Her legs are drawn up close to the body. She is perfectly still. I gently draw the feather tip along the body, stroking 'with the fur,' if I may so say. There is no motion. Again and again this action is repeated, the stroke gradually being made heavier, although always quite gentle. Still there is no change. The strokes are now directed upon the head, with the same result.

Now the tip is applied to the neck, the point at which the head is united to the pro-thorax, with a waving motion intended to produce a sensation of tickling.

The ant remains motionless. After continuing these experiments for several minutes, I arouse the sleeper by a sharp touch of the quill. She stretches out her head, then her legs, which she also shakes, steps nearer to the light, and begins to cleanse herself in the manner already described. This act invariably follows the waking of ants from sleep. The above description applies to the general habit of somnolence as observed upon the two named species of harvesting ants for nearly four months. I have often applied the quill, and even the point of a lead pencil, to the sleeping Floridians without breaking their slumber.

There are some other details which have not appeared in the behaviour of the individual just put under observation.

Thus, I have several times seen the ants (_Crudelis_) _yawning_ after awaking. I use this word for lack of one which more accurately expresses the behaviour. The action is very like that of the human animal; the mandibles are thrown open with the peculiar muscular strain which is familiar to all readers; the tongue also is sometimes thrust out, and the limbs stretched with the appearance, at least, of that tension which accompanies the yawn in the genus _h.o.m.o_. During sleep the antennae have a gentle, quivering, apparently involuntary motion, which seemed to me, at times, to have the regularity of breathing. I also often noted an occasional regular lifting up and setting down of the fore-feet, one leg after another, with almost a rhythmic motion.

The length of time during which sleep is prolonged appears to vary according to circ.u.mstances and, perhaps, organism. The large head-soldiers of the Floridian harvesters appear to have a more sluggish nature than the smaller workers. Their sleep is longer and heavier. The former fact the watch readily determined. The latter appeared from the greater stolidity of the creatures under disturbance. While the ants of one group are taking sleep others may be busy at work, and these stalk among and over the sleepers, jostling them quite vigorously at times.

Again, new members occasionally join the group, and, in their desire to get close up to the heat and light, crowd their drowsy comrades aside. I have seen ants who had been at work in the galleries drop their pellets, push thus into the cl.u.s.ter, and presently be apparently sound asleep. This rough treatment is invariably received with perfect good humour, as are like jostlings when the ants are awake. I have never seen the slightest display of anger or attempt to resent disturbance even under these circ.u.mstances, so peculiarly calculated to excite the utmost irritation in men. But of course some of the sleepers are aroused. They change position a little, or give themselves a brief combing, and then resume their nap, unless, indeed, they are satisfied. In watching these movements it was quite evident that the Florida soldiers were far less easily disturbed than their smaller fellows. They slept on stolidly while all the others were in agitation around them. Moreover, their very appearance, particularly when awaking out of sleep, indicated the greater sluggishness of their temperament in this respect.

The ordinary duration of sleep MacCook takes to be about three hours.

Ants, like many other insects, are in the habit of cleaning themselves, being, like them, provided by nature with combs and brushes, &c., for the purpose. But, unlike other insects, several species of ants are also in the habit of a.s.sisting each other in the performance of their toilet.

The author last quoted gives the following account of this process in the genus _Atta_:--

We take a couple; the cleanser has begun at the face, which is licked thoroughly, even the mandibles being cared for, they being held apart for convenient manipulation. From the face the cleanser pa.s.ses to the thorax, thence to the haunch, and so along the first leg, along the second and third in the same manner, around to the abdomen, and thence up the other side of the ant to the head. A third ant approaches and joins in the friendly task, but soon abandons the field to the original cleanser. The att.i.tude of the cleansed all this while is one of intense satisfaction, quite resembling that of a family dog when one is scratching the back of his neck. The insect stretches out her limbs, and, as her friend takes them successively into hand, yields them limp and supple to her manipulation; she rolls gently over upon her side, even quite over upon her back, and with all her limbs relaxed presents a perfect picture of muscular surrender and ease. The pleasure which the creatures take in being thus 'combed' and 'sponged' is really enjoyable to the observer. I have seen an ant kneel down before another and thrust forward the head, drooping, quite under the face, and lie there motionless, thus expressing, as plainly as sign-language could, her desire to be cleansed. I at once understood the gesture, and so did the supplicated ant, for she at once went to work. If a.n.a.logies in nature-studies were not so apt to be misleading, one might venture to suggest that our insect friends are thus in possession of a modified sort of Emmetonian Turkish bath.

The acrobatic skill of these ants, which has often furnished me amus.e.m.e.nt, and which I shall yet further ill.u.s.trate, was fully shown one morning in these offices of ablution. The formicary was taken from the study, where the air had become chilled, and placed in an adjoining chamber upon the hearth, before an open-grate fire. The genial warmth was soon diffused throughout the nest, and aroused its occupants to unusual activity. A tuft of gra.s.s in the centre of the box was presently covered with them. They climbed to the very top of the spires, turned round and round, hanging by their paws, not unlike gymnasts performing upon a turning-bar. They hung or clung in various positions, grasping the gra.s.s blade with the third and fourth pairs of legs, which were spread out at length, cleansing their heads with the fore-legs or bending underneath to comb and lick the abdomen. Among these ants were several pairs, in one case a triplet, engaged in the cleansing operation just described. The cleanser clung to the gra.s.s, having a fore-leg on one side and a hind leg on the other side of the stem, stretched out at full length, while the cleansed hung in a like position below, and reached over and up, submitting herself to the pleasant process. As the progress of the act required a change of posture on the part of both insects, it was made with the utmost agility.

Similarly, Bates thus describes the cleansing process in another genus of ants (_Ecitons_):--

Here and there an ant was seen stretching forth first one leg and then another, to be brushed and washed by one or more of its comrades, who performed the task by pa.s.sing the limb between the jaws and tongue, finis.h.i.+ng by giving the antennae a friendly wipe.

_Habits of Play and Leisure._--The life of ants is not all work, or, at least, is not so in all species; for in some species, at any rate, periods of recreation are habitually indulged in.

Buchner('Geistesleben der Thiere,' p. 163) gives the following abstract of Huber's celebrated observations in this connection:--

It was of the _pratensis_ that Huber wrote the observations touching its gymnastic sports which became so famous. He saw these ants on a fine day a.s.sembled on the surface of their nest, and behaving in a way that he could only explain as simulating festival sports or other games. They raised themselves on their hind legs, embraced each other with their fore-legs, seized each other by the antennae, feet, or mandibles, and wrestled--but all in friendliest fas.h.i.+on. They then let go, ran after each other, and played hide-and-seek. When one was victorious, it seized all the others in the ring, and tumbled them over like ninepins.

This account of Huber's found its way into many popular books, but in spite of its clearness won little credence from the reading public. 'I found it hard to believe Huber's observation,' writes Forel, 'in spite of its exactness, until I myself had seen the same.' A colony of the _pratensis_ several times gave him the opportunity when he approached it carefully. The players caught each other by the feet or jaws, rolled over each other on the ground like boys playing, pulled each other inside the entrances of their nest, only to come out again, and so on. All this was done without bad temper, or any spurting of poison, and it was clear that all the rivalry was friendly. The least breath from the side of the observer was enough to put an end to the games. 'I understand,' continues Forel, 'that the affair must seem marvellous to those who have not seen it, especially when we remember that s.e.xual attraction can here play no part.'

MacCook also gives an account of habits of play as indulged in among ants of the other Hemisphere:--

At one formicary half a dozen or more young queens were out at the same time. They would climb up a large pebble near the gate, face the wind, and a.s.sume a rampant posture. Several having ascended the stone at one time, there ensued a little playful pa.s.sage-at-arms as to position. They nipped each other gently with the mandibles, and chased one another from favourite spots. They, however, never nipped the workers. These latter evidently kept a watch upon the sportive princesses, occasionally saluted them with their antennae in the usual way, or touched them at the abdomen, but apparently allowed them full liberty of action.

As to leisure, Bates writes:--

The life of these Ecitons is not all work, for I frequently saw them very leisurely employed in a way that looked like recreation. When this happened the place was always a sunny nook in the forest. The main column of the army and the branch columns, at these times, were in their ordinary relative positions; but instead of pressing forward eagerly and plundering right and left, they seemed to have been all smitten with a sudden fit of laziness. Some were walking sternly about, others were brus.h.i.+ng their antennae with their fore-feet; but the drollest sight was their cleaning each other. [Here follows the above-quoted pa.s.sage.] The actions of these ants looked like simple indulgence in idle amus.e.m.e.nt... . It is probable that these hours of relaxation and cleaning may be indispensable to the effective performance of their harder burdens; but whilst looking at them, the conclusion that the ants were engaged merely in play was irresistible.[31]

_Funereal Habits._--In another connection it has already been stated that Sir John Lubbock found his ants to be very careful in disposing of the dead bodies of their comrades. This habit seems to be pretty general among many species of ants, and is no doubt due to sanitary requirements, thus becoming developed as a beneficial instinct by natural selection. The funereal habits of the agricultural ant are thus related by MacCook:[32]--

There is nothing which is apt to awaken deeper interest in the life-history of ants than what may properly be called their funereal habits. All species whose manners I have closely observed are quite alike in their mode of caring for their own dead, and for the dry carca.s.ses of aliens. The former they appear to treat with some degree of reverence, at least to the extent of giving them a sort of sepulture without feeding upon them. The latter, after having exhausted the juices of the body, they usually deposit together in some spot removed from the nest. I did not see any of the 'cemeteries' of the agricultural ant upon the field, nor, indeed, observe any of their behaviour towards the dead, but my artificial nests gave me some insight of this. In the first colony had been placed eight agriculturals of another nest, which were literally cut to pieces. Very soon after the ants were comfortably established in their new home, a number of them laid hold upon these _disjecta membra_, and began carrying them back and forth around the formicarium.

The next day this continued, and several of their own number who had died were being treated in like manner. Back and forth, up and down, into every corner of the box the bearers wandered, the very embodiment of restlessness. For four days this conduct continued without any intermission. No sooner would a body or fragment thereof be dropped by one bearer than another would take it up and begin the restless circuit. The difficulty, I easily understood, was that there was no point to be found far enough removed from the living-rooms of the insects in which to inter these dead. Their desire to have their dead buried out of their sight was strong enough to keep them on this ceaseless round, apparently under the continuous influence of the hope that something might turn up to give them a more satisfactory burial-ground. It does not appear greatly to the credit of their wisdom that they were so long discovering that they were limited to a s.p.a.ce beyond their power to enlarge. When, however, this fact was finally recognised they gave their habit its utmost bent, and began to deposit the carca.s.ses in the extreme corner of the flat, as distant as possible from the galleries on the terrace above. Here a little hollow was made in the earth, quite up against the gla.s.s, wherein a number of bodies were laid. Portions of bodies were thrust into the c.h.i.n.ks formed in the dry sod. This flat became the permanent charnel-house of the colony, and here, in corners, crevices, and holes, for the most part out of sight, but not always so, the dead were deposited. But the living never seemed quite reconciled to their presence. Occasionally, restless resurrectionists would disentomb the dead, s.h.i.+ft them to another spot, or start them once more upon their unquiet wanderings.

Even after the establishment of this cemetery, the creatures did not seem able to lay away their newly deceased comrades--for there were occasional deaths in the formicary--without first indulging in this funereal promenade.

In the formicaries established in gla.s.s jars, both of _barbatus_ and _crudelis_, the same behaviour appeared. So great was the desire to get the dead outside the nest, that the bearers would climb up the smooth surface of the gla.s.s to the very top of the jar, laboriously carrying with them a dead ant. This was severe work, which was rarely undertaken except under the influence of this funereal enthusiasm. The jar was very smooth and quite high. Falls were frequent, but patiently the little 'undertaker' would follow the impulse of her instinct, and try and try again. Finally, as in the large box, the fact of a necessity seemed to dawn upon the ants, and a portion of the surface opposite from the entrance to the galleries, and close up against the gla.s.s, was used as burial-ground and sort of kitchen-midden, where all the refuse of the nest was deposited. Mrs. Treat has informed me that her artificial nests of _crudelis_ behaved in precisely the same way.

An interesting fact in the funereal habits of _Formica sanguinea_ was related to me by this lady. A visit was paid to a large colony of these slave-makers, which is established on the grounds adjoining her residence at Vineland, New Jersey. I noticed that a number of carca.s.ses of one of the slave species, _Formica fusca_, were deposited together quite near the gates of the nest. These were probably chiefly the dry bodies of ants brought in from recent raids. It was noticed that the dead ants were all of one species, and thereupon Mrs. Treat informed me that the red slave-makers never deposited their dead with those of their black servitors, but always laid them by themselves, not in groups, but separately, and were careful to take them a considerable distance from the nest. One can hardly resist pointing here another likeness between the customs of these social hymenopters and those of human beings, certain of whom carry their distinctions of race, condition, or religious caste, even to the gates of the cemetery in which the poor body moulders into its mother dust!

It will be observed that none of these accounts furnish evidence of ants burying their dead, as Pliny a.s.serts to have been the case with ants in the south of Europe. In the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society, however (1861), there is a very definite account of such a practice as obtaining among the ants of Sydney; and although it is from the pen of an observer not well known, the observation seems to have been one about which there could scarcely have been a mistake. The observer was Mrs. Hutton, and this is her account. Having killed a number of 'soldier ants,' and returning half an hour afterwards to the place where the dead bodies were lying, she says: