Show iJ p G t. t o M. M I I j IB f r ilD r Y j T TI I 1 I 1 tl 1 B 1 f j y neA Ab out A n Gi I lm w wv 4 l Carpenter Carp ants resting r after ater How T v These hes ow tt t. t t j 1 Y finishing a building job jobs i and upside down as is their custom Intelligent Insects In In- r sects Give my Gay Wedding edding Parties Hold II old 1 1 i Town T own Meetings Organize Armies and f Do Other Very V erg h f Human Things T in ina inh inha ina Sc a Way That Amazes J S. A greatly enlarged photograph of a queen ant who occupies in the ant world a post post- position r t Science IK I I I. I tion ton much like that of the queen bee in the bee world and in many cases seems to toI I exercise even greater power newer over the other members of the j saw v. v HEN a n young ants ant's fancy turns WHEN W to thoughts of love it is no light turning for love lore and marriage in the ant world is an affair which everyone takes very seriously especially the eligible bachelors and the marriage marriage- marriageable able maidens A fellow couldn't have bave his own little romance even if he wanted to because all the young oung bloods in the place get sentimental at once and dont don't care whom they wed nor how many brides they take The swains and the maidens collect in inan inan inan an excited mob and all their neighbors knock off work to wish the young folks a happy honeymoon by patting them with their feelers and feeding them the sweetest and richest food that the community com corn community has to offer The pre-nuptial pre party part is a wild cele cele- bration Excitement runs high and the to brides-to-be and the to bridegrooms-to-be push toward the city gate anxious to be But in away awa on their honeymoons some strange way wa the exact time for forthe forthe forthe the wedding trip has been set and able- able bodied citizens hold the eager individuals individuals who would begin their married life ahead of schedule At last the big moment arrives The gate is left unguarded un and through it pours the procession which rises from the ground and is soon a swirling sW black blackcloud blackcloud blackcloud cloud high above the city Here in the heavens the ceremony goes on And what an orgy of mating it is I The ant as has already been said takes marriage very seriously He knows what hat would happen in if there should be a shortage of youngsters to grow V up and take over their duties in such a busy and highly organized com com- community community so he takes to wife the maid nearest him in the living cloud of honey- honey This done he takes another and another and another Ant ladies never ne-er heard of monogamy and the males on the wedding tour are entirely a to an man for himself policy It would seem that such sucha suc suca a ceremony as this would soon develop into a free-for-all free fight in which the strongest would win the fairest and the losers retire from the field with damp damp- dampened dampened dampened ened desires and broken heads It is true of course that the strong strong- strongest est and flying fastest-flying males have some some- something something something thing of an advantage over their weaker fellows but there is no mauling and mangling no battles royal Marriage for forthe forthe forthe the good of the community is the busi busi- business business business ness at hand and love seems to permeate the wildly churning cloud of honeymoon honeymoon- ers The rapidly changing couples are very very- ver tender and affectionate They cuddle and embrace and kiss each other much after the manner of human lovers This is the usual wedding celebration in but there are ore species of ants that do the thing differently Among the Blood Red Ants for example the males of the community take flight one day before the females and do their marrying marring with the ladies of some other colony The next day the females mate with the males of some stranger colony In this way the ants avoid the ills that would follow a program of inbreeding The Wood Ants and the Brazilian Leaf Cutter Cutters do not take to the air when they feel the urge to mate but confine their making love to their nests The Horse Ants make the wedding flight but do not travel in swarms They fly singly l in their love quests These interesting and surprising facts about the love life of the ants and many other curious doings of the most intelligent creatures in the insect world have recently been made known by Dr Dr Hans Heinz Ewers the eminent German r f p JI I Ter j iW l g J q fv 0 w z v c p c 11 t r l. l y 1 A v i r z t 1 r JY r S F i c Vl b If Jf g t 1 t tf i tl EJ A I 4 iJ k- k X A r. r S J R K t. t 1 I lf l R 1 v. v f. f 1 r A I i ji i M pt 4 t iJ i Ant taking a drink from the hair ducts duets of of the he lt one 11 1 i aa s r I bootlegging h beetles that keep beep the a ant t world wo ld supplied l g with a liquor that stems seems to be mildly intoxicating 1 r i P 1 tom W r scientist in a book which he W. W t a s r. r calls The Ant People The wedding Z flight over the ants return home homed and to work The young queens go into seclusion and prepare for the coming of the new generation R they the will soon fl F ry bring forth They z t are arc good mothers tr f g s f fand these queens and r wi they the think a 11 great deal of their the r youngsters In Inmany Inmany many ways they are arc the equal of human mothers Not only do they see to it that their babies have just the right rF Y I amount of or the u ti w Ft r right rig food but a athey they keep them s r scrupulously clean and carry them s' s r k r x ih around if mois moil moisture moisture ture or warmth a ys e t- t seems necessary s f 4 to the youngsters youngsters' well Some of the ants even een take t ke their young v w wt out of the nest on ti 1 V nights and carry them for an airing just as doting human T parents take their f children for a aride aride aride ride in the park Sectional view of the interior of an ant nest showing Ant nursemaids the eggs larvae and pupae piled up in the different help the mothers chambers and patiently carry their charges around bringing them nearer to the surface during the warmer hours of the day and taking them deeper into the nest during durin the cold hours of the night Even more amazing is the fact that the ants keep wet nurses for their children children unmarried ried riel maiden ants who have a sort of breast from which the ant ont babies s suck milk as sweet as honey Sanitation is a fine art among Imong the ants and more than one observant scientist scientist scientist has said that these little insects are Ire Irethe the cleanest creatures creatures on earth not ex ex- excluding excluding excluding civilized ma On the front legs of the ant there are arc what serves for a acomb comb and brush with which the insect cleans its feelers The comb and brush baush are after being used cleared of all dirt by passing pa sing them through the mandibles of the upper jaw No self respecting ant considers itself slicked up until every speck of dirt is removed from its body If a soiled spot cannot be reached by the brush the in- in sect se t scrapes off the dirt by rubbing back backor or belly bell against some hard surface just justas j st stas as a pig scratches itself against the board boards of its it's pen Once an ant has its body free fre from dirt it proceeds to give itself a a. a bath in inexactly inexactly exactly exa the t saW sane e way that a cat does Its spittle is is' is oily ily and when an ant has put on the finishing touches of its toilet r shines like a bottle Often 0 ants ants' help l one one another get clean and they seem to take a special delight in polish polish- polishing ing the queens and their families of youngsters Ants keep their houses as clean as their bodies and any any debris that gets geta through the thedoor door is u taken out at once They The have dumps sometimes sometimes in ina a special special special cial place inside the nest but more often outside of f it Jot Nota ot stick s 's ick or r a pebble or ora ora r ra a leaf that ca cannot ot be used is allowed ed to remain in the rooms or corridors of an anant anant anan ant an dwelling But B t more remarkable than their per personal per per- personal personal cleanlinesS cleanlinesS' and t d th their ir housekeeping Many times enlarged enlarge d view vie w of the head of a amale a male ant The males ma I es are all a 11 drones and it itis is tho the females fema I es of f the he species pede who do d 0 the th e f r 7 work and an do rule ru Ie the community habits is the way that the ant people dis- dis dispose dis dispose pose of the remains of their dear de de- de- de parted They seem seera to know that such ch things are both a menace to health and an offense to the eye so they very promptly bury such of their fellows as die a natural death or are arc killed by accident This burial of the dead by the ants is isa isa isa a mystery to the scientists who know that thai ants devour other insects and even the members of enemy nests nests- Why do donot donot donot not ants eat their dead as so many species species species cies of animals do Dr Ewers thinks that the only explanation is that the ants actually feel badly when members of their colony colon die and that own they per per- perform perform perform form the last sad rites as they do so many other things in an amazingly human way The ant world in the light of new dis dis- discoveries discoveries discoveries is even more wonderful than probing scientists of oC the past past- have pic pic- pictured pictured pictured it It has dwellings storehouses stor houses skyscrapers and well kept well kept roads The work of this insect civilization is carried on onby onby onby by many classes of skilled workers workers car car carpenters penters spinners roofers plasterers farmers who keep insect cows and plant and harvest grain tapes tapes- tapestry tapestry tapestry try weavers governesses and nurses nurses There are soldiers and bakers and min min- miners miners ers ers as well as common laborers and slaves kept by masters Life LiCe in An dom is very complicated and surprisingly efficient and most of the time everybody works hard at his particular job Some ants however how ver are just plain lazy and never turn their man man- mandibles mandibles to work Others steal for a living The discovery of such classes of oC ants upsets the old age-old belief that the ant is the model of industry and the hardest working creature on earth Sometimes war breaks out in and these arc are often oCten bloody affairs that last for months Ants go to war for or the e same reasons that men do to do-to to defend their land against enemies seeking new worlds to conquer or to acquire new ter ter- territory territory territory so that they the can enjoy the feeding grounds and the enviable homes of pros pros- prosperous prosperous neighbors The ants play the grim game of war as systematically and as efficiently as they do everything else They go into action in battalions and regiments Sometimes hundreds of thousands of the insects advance on flung afar front and andone andone andone one scientist has written of an nn almost unbelievable front line 1400 feet from flank to flank Some species march in columns as wide as as thirteen f fot f-at t and the soldiers of c lir 17 57 Ina IDe Remark Remark- Remarkable Remarkable I Q able x photo photo- photograph photograph hoto- hoto yF v c Yak M graph show show- showing showing ing ants in the act of 14 rr t y milk milk- milking milking milking ing some of the plant lice which them serve as cows on their dairy farms these insect hosts are so close together that a grain of dust could not fall be be- between between between tween them They camouflage cam their movements in order to surprise the enemy enemy by marching through covered ways Vas and if they the find such ways lacking they build them as they go Officers march at either side of the ad ad- advancing advancing column bigger heads and more powerful mandibles than the ants in the ranks and seem to be di directing di- di directing directing affairs in in the particular parts of the force beside which Y ich they march When the army comes to grips with the th enemy they are ar in the forefront of ot action Individual ants in action have hape been seen to behave in the same variety of ways that human beings do in the face of to hand-to-hand combat Some are very brave bra and rush to the attack others are paralyzed with fear and bolt for forthe forthe forthe the rear or play dead still others do dothe dothe dothe the wild man act hoping to strike fear into the enemy by pretending to torun torun torun run amuck The ants ant's weapons are arc the mandibles of the upper jaw and the poisonous stinger l Some of the insects have no stinger and Nature has equipped these fellows with a poison gland the deadly contents of which they they rub op ants they have wounded with their mandibles Tha soldiers in a winning army mop mop up the enemy very thoroughly they tear the enemy soldiers s limb from limb li b band and frequently eat them But if neither side has been decisively victorious the armies withdraw to their own territories t and an armistice goes into effect A strip of land between the homes of the foes is declared d neutral territory and indi indi- individuals individuals of both factions are careful not notto notto notto to venture within the area Sometimes a treaty of operation co is agreed upon and in rare instances the former enemies becomes friends and share the same territory terr tory j Perhaps the ablest fighters in all Ant- Ant AntI I f S Jl F dom are the Amazons Amazons lady lady ants who spend much of their time beautifying themselves When they attack an enemy they grab their victims and bore them through with the wicked sickles with which they the are equipped The ant knows how hoy to t play playas as aswell well as asto asto asto to fight The insects play ball with grains of wheat or seeds and get a big kick out of wrestling and boxing matches which are attended by crowds of spectators In these contests the con con- contestants contestants never hurt one another for death grips with the mandibles are barred and the poisonous stinger is kept carefully out of Q the action The T e interested onlookers gather close about the athletes Egg them on to a knockout or a flying fall and frequently break out in a l trilling sound which science has interpreted as the he cheering and booing of the ant devotees of the manly art of self Many students of the ant have ob observed ob- ob observed served that the insects frequently hold great mass meetings but the purpose of these has yet to be discovered Affairs in will be going along as usual when as though the time had been set the ants begin to congregate cong gate For many hours they remain in session so to speak waving their feelers about very slowly What are they doing in these general general assemblies Are they arguing important matters of state Are they holding a sort of Jf religious services thanking services thanking their Creator for making them the most in in- intelligent intelligent beings in the insect world Can they perhaps be celebrating a military victory over an enemy people ople or dis dis- dis- dis the highly organized economic of their city I Dr Ewers thinks that science may be to discover the reason for these gs some day and that they will found to have a very much more Intellectual purpose than all aU assemblies of men |