"The guard or sentry of the ant-hill will furnish us with the first
proof of their social relations. We could, without doubt, irritate
ants on the surface of the nest, without alarming those in the
interior, if they acted isolately, and had no means of communicating
their mutual impressions. Those who are occupied at the bottom of
their nest, removed from the scene of danger, ignorant of what
menaces their companions, could not arrive to their assistance;
but it appears, that they are quickly and well informed of what is
passing on the exterior. When we attack those without, the most
part engage in their defence with a considerable degree of courage;
there are always some, who immediately steal off and produce alarm
throughout their city; the news is communicated from quarter to
quarter, and the labourers come forward in a crowd, with every mark
of uneasiness and anger. What however, is highly worthy our remark
is that the ants, to whose charge the young are confided, and who
inhabit the upper stories, where the temperature is highest, warned
also of the impending danger, always governed by that extreme
solicitude for their charge, which we have so often admired, hasten
to convey them to the deepest part of their habitation, and thus
deposit them in a place of safety.
"To study in detail the manner in which this alarm spreads over the
ant-hill, we must extend our observations to the individuals of
the largest species: the Herculean Ants, who inhabit hollow trees
and who quit them only in the spring, to accompany the males and
females, have very much assisted me in this object.
"The labourers are from five to six lines in length; the winged
individuals are also proportionally large; they may be frequently
seen running about the trunk of an oak, at the entrance of their
labyrinths. When I disturbed those ants that were at the greatest
distance from their companions, by either observing them too
closely, or blowing upon them lightly, I saw them run towards the
other ants, give them gentle blows with their heads against the
corslet, communicating to them in this way, their fear or anger,
passing rapidly from one to the other in a semicircular direction,
and striking several times successively against those who did not
put themselves in instant motion. These, warned of their common
danger, set off immediately, describing in their turn different
curves, and stopping to strike with their heads all those they met
on their passage. In one moment the signal was general, all the
labourers ran over the surface of the tree with great agitation,
those within receiving notice of the danger, and probably by the
same means, came out in a crowd and joined this tumult. The same
signal which produced upon the workers this effect, caused a
different impression upon the males and females; as soon as one of
the labourers had informed them of their danger, they sought an
asylum, and re-entered precipitately the trunk of the tree;--not one
thought of quitting its temporary shelter, until a worker approached
and gave them the signal for flight. The solicitude of the labourers
in their favour, is manifested in the activity they display, in
giving them advice or intimating to them the order for their
departure; they redouble then the above signals, as if conscious of
their understanding their intent less readily than the companions
of their labours; the latter understand them, if I may use the
expression, at half a word."
"Of all the enemies of the ant, those most dreaded are the ants
themselves; the smallest not the least, since several fasten
at once upon the feet of the largest, drag them to the ground,
embarrass their movements, and thus prevent their escape. One would
be astonished at the fury of these insects in their combats; it
would be more easy to tear away their limbs and cut them to pieces,
than compel them to quit their hold. It is nothing uncommon to see
the head of an ant suspended to the legs or antennæ of some worker,
who bears about, in every place, this pledge of his victory. We
also observe, not unfrequently, the ants dragging after them the
entire body of some enemy they had killed some time before, fastened
to their feet in such a way as not to allow of their disengaging
themselves.
"Supposing the ants to be of equal size, those furnished with a
sting have an advantage over those who employ only for their defence
their venom and their teeth. The whole of those ants whose peduncles
has no scale, but one or two knots, are provided with a sting;
the Red Ants, which are said to sting more sharply than the rest,
possess both these sorts of arms. In general the ants furnished with
a sting are, in our country, some of the smallest. I know but one
species of middle size; but it is very rare and only inhabits the
Alps.
"The wars entered into by ants of different size bear no resemblance
to those in which ants engage who come to combat with an equal
force. When the large attack the small, they appear to do it by
surprise, most likely to prevent the latter from fastening upon
their legs; they seize them in the upper part of the body and
strangle them immediately between their pincers. But when the small
ants have time to guard against an attack, they intimate to their
companions the danger with which they are threatened, when the
latter arrive in crowds to their assistance. I have witnessed a
battle between the Herculean and the Sanguine Ants; the Herculean
Ants quitted the trunk of the tree in which they had established
their abode, and arrived to the very gates of the dwelling of the
Sanguine Ants; the latter, only half the size of their adversaries,
had the advantage in point of number; they however acted on the
defensive. The earth, strewed with the dead bodies of their
compatriots, bore witness they had suffered the greatest carnage;
they therefore, took the prudent part of fixing their habitation
elsewhere, and with great activity transported to a distance of
fifty feet from the spot, their companions, and the several objects
that interested them. Small detachments of the workers were posted
at little distances from the nest, apparently placed there to
cover the march of the retreats and to preserve the city itself
from any sudden attack. They struck against each other when they
met, and had always their mandibles separated in the attitude of
defiance. As soon as the Herculean Ants approached their camp,
the centinals in front assailed them with fury; they fought at
first in single combat. The Sanguine Ant threw himself upon the
Herculean Ant, fastened upon its head, turned its abdomen against
the chest of its adversary or against the lower part of its mouth,
and inundated it with venom. It sometimes quitted its antagonist
with great quickness: more frequently, however, the Herculean Ant
held between its feet its audacious enemy. The two champions then
rolled themselves in the dust and struggled violently. The advantage
was at first in favour of the largest ant; but its adversary was
soon assisted by those of its own party who collected around the
Herculean Ant and inflicted several deep wounds with their teeth.
The Herculean Ant yielded to numbers[3]; it either perished the
victim of its temerity, or was conducted a prisoner to the enemy's
camp.
[3] I retained in close captivity in the same box nearly a month,
about an equal number of Red and Yellow Ants. It would seem that a
general feeling of compassion for their unfortunate imprisonment
had given birth to a suspension of hostilities, and that rankling
animosity had been exchanged for good will and social order.
During this period I seldom witnessed any affray on the exterior
of the nest, and on breaking it up, the interior gave me no room
to suppose it had been the scene of much contention; but scarcely
were they liberated, scarcely did they feel the fresh breeze passing
over them, than their animosity rekindled, and the field of their
liberty became the theatre of sanguinary combat. For a few moments
each party seemed engaged in discovering a place of retreat, and
it was only on returning to the ruins of their original prison, to
bring off the rest of their companions, that they encountered and
waged war upon each other. What was as singular as unexpected, they
fought in pairs, in no one instance _en masse_; indeed, it only
twice happened, although the ground was strewed with combatants,
that a third came to the aid of its companion, and even then, as if
conscious of the unequal contest, one immediately retired. It was
inconceivable with what desperate fury, and with what determined
obstinacy they fastened upon each other. With their mandibles alone
they often succeeded in effecting a complete separation of the body
of their antagonist, of which the ground exhibited many proofs when
I revisited it.