abdomen is ash-coloured and slightly bronzed; the feet of a blood-red.
These ants are larger than the Legionaries, whom they resemble only in
manners. In the general form of the body they have a greater similarity
to Fallow Ants, than to those of any other species.
If I attribute the discovery of the Amazons entirely to chance, I owe
the knowledge I have acquired of the manners and customs of the species
now under consideration to observation alone.
In examining, one day, the interior of their nest, with the view
of observing its arrangement, I noticed Ash-coloured mingled with
the Sanguine Ants; they were, however, much less numerous than in
Legionary ant-hills. The same intimacy appeared to exist between them
and the Sanguine Ants, as between the auxiliaries and Amazons in mixed
colonies. There is no difficulty in verifying this remark, since these
ant-hills are more common than those of the Legionaries; they are also
more within view, the Sanguine Ants coming to the surface of their
nest more frequently than the mason ants of any other species. These
habitations are, for the most part, situated near hedges which have a
southern aspect. The earth of which they are composed, is mixed up with
fragments of leaves, stalks of plants, moss, and little stones, which
form a species of mortar difficult to break. This composition of the
ant-hill, and its varied form, would have soon convinced me it was not
the sole work of the Ash-coloured or Negro Ants, even had I not seen
the Sanguine Ants, like them, occupied in going out during the rain,
and profiting by it, in giving greater extent and elevation to their
abode.
The Sanguine then take a share in the labours of the Negro Ant; they go
out also, at times, in search of _pucerons_, but this duty principally
devolves upon the auxiliaries; and upon them also the office rests, on
their leaving the ant-hill in the morning, of re-opening the several
doors that lead to it; for in this species, particular care is taken
to close every evening, all the avenues, by blocking them up with
whatever materials they find proper for the purpose.
One of the ordinary occupations of the Sanguine Ants, is the going in
chase of certain little ants, which constitute their food. They never
go out alone; they assemble in little troops, lie in ambuscade near
the ant-hill, wait until some unwary inhabitant quits it, and then
dart forth and secure their prey. The insects they meet on their road
experience a similar fate, whenever they fall in their power.
In the Sanguine, as in other mixed ant-hills, we find neither males nor
females belonging to the auxiliaries. The females of the Sanguine tribe
are conspicuous for their varied colour; they have the head and thorax
of a brilliant red, inclining to scarlet; the abdomen brown, the feet
of a dark red. The males are black, with the exception of their feet,
which are yellow; they closely resemble the males of the Ash-coloured
Ants, but have a larger body; they leave their habitation at the same
time as the females, accompanied, like those of the Legionary Ants,
by a double _cortége_. There are so many points in which these ants
agree, that I was led to suspect they procure the Negro Ants, much in
the same way as the Legionaries. I watched their movements from day to
day, and was, at length, a witness to several of their expeditions,
which differ, in many respects, from those described in the preceding
chapter. The following will convey a just idea of their tactics.
On the 15th July, at ten in the morning, a small division of the
Sanguine Ants was dispatched from the garrison, and arrived in quick
march, near a nest of Negro Ants, situated twenty paces distant, around
which they took their station. The inhabitants, on perceiving these
strangers, rushed forth in a body to attack them, and led back several
prisoners. The Sanguine Ants made no further advance; they appeared to
be waiting for some reinforcement. From time to time, little companies
of these insects came from the garrison to strengthen the brigade.
They now advanced a little nearer, and seemed more willing to run the
risk of a general engagement; but in proportion as they approached the
Negro dwelling, the more solicitous did they seem to dispatch couriers
to the garrison, who arriving in great haste produced considerable
alarm, when another division was immediately appointed to join the
army. The Sanguine Ants, although thus reinforced, evinced little or no
eagerness for combat, and only alarmed the Ash-coloured Ants by their
presence. The latter took up a position in front of their nest of about
two feet square, where nearly their whole force was assembled to await
the enemy.
Frequent skirmishes take place all around the camp, the besieged always
attacking the besiegers. The Negro Ants, judging from their number,
announce a vigorous resistance; but distrusting their own strength,
they look to the safety of the little ones confided to their care, and
in this respect show us one of the most singular traits of prudence
of which the history of insects can furnish an example. Even long
before success is in any way dubious, they bring the pupæ from the
subterranean chambers, and heap them up on the side of their nest,
opposed to that where the Sanguine army is stationed, in order to carry
them off with the greater readiness should the fate of arms be against
them. Their young females escape on the same side. The danger becomes
more imminent; the Sanguine Ants, sufficiently reinforced, throw
themselves in the midst of the Negroes, attack them on all points,
and arrive to the very gates of their city. The latter, after a brisk
resistance, renounce its defence, seize upon the pupæ deposited on the
outside, and convey them to a place of safety.[1] The Sanguine Ants
pursue, and endeavour to steal from them their treasure. The whole body
of Negro Ants are in flight; some few pass through the enemy’s rank,
and at the hazard of their lives, enter once more their habitation,
and expeditiously carry off the larvæ, that would otherwise remain
devoted to pillage. The Sanguine Ants descend into the interior, take
possession of the avenues, and appear to establish themselves in the
devastated city. Little bands of troops continually pour in from the
garrison, and begin taking away the remainder of the larvæ and pupæ,
establishing an uninterrupted chain from one ant-hill to the other:
thus the day passes and night comes on, before they have transported
all their booty. A considerable number of Sanguine Ants still remain
in the Negro residence, and on the following morning, at break of day,
recommence the transfer of the rest of its contents. When they have
taken away all the pupæ and larvæ, they then carry each other to the
garrison, a few only remaining behind.
[1] Is it not surprising that the Ash-coloured, when attacked by
the Sanguine Ant, should follow a different line of conduct to what
they pursue, when they have any engagement with the Legionaries. The
impetuosity of the latter allows them no time for defence. The tactics
of those besieging being different, those of the besieged will always
be so. But can we form any idea how Nature has taught them to take
precautions proportionate to the danger?--A.
But I perceive some ants moving in a different direction; their number
increases; a new resolution has doubtless been taken by these truly
warlike insects; a considerable recruiting takes place on the compound
ant-hill, in favour of the pillaged city: and in this they at length
establish their residence. Every thing is transported thither with the
greatest promptitude; pupæ and larvæ, males and females, auxiliaries
and Amazons; indeed, every thing the garrison contains, is removed to
the habitation acquired by conquest; and the Sanguine Ants renounce for
ever their natal abode. They establish themselves on the spot, and in
place of the Negro Ants, and from thence undertake new incursions.
I was a witness to several such scenes, but shall content myself with
describing one only. I established a Sanguine compound ant-hill in a
glazed apparatus, such as that described in the preceding chapter. This
I one day placed at a little distance from a Negro dwelling, which
soon became the object of a regular siege. After the Sanguine Ants had
driven away its inhabitants, and conveyed to their glazed habitation or
_ruche_, a part of the pupæ, they came to a sudden decision of changing
their domicile, and in a few hours removed the whole of its contents,
and established themselves with their auxiliaries in the enemy’s
habitation. They do not, however, change their abode on each invasion
of a Negro ant-hill; but it is of rare occurrence if they quit not in
the course of the year the one they occupy.
One of the principal features of the wars levied upon Ash-coloured
Ants, seems to consist in exciting fear; and so effectual does this
prove, that the Negro Ants on no occasion return to their besieged
capital, even when the oppressors have retired to their own garrison;
they, perhaps, well know they could never remain long in safety, and
would be continually liable to the attacks of their unwelcome visitors.
This new species of Amazon, almost invariably follows the same route;
hence, it happens, that on the least signal, they know what direction
they are to take. They sometimes go a hundred and fifty paces distance,
in search of a Negro habitation, and their attacks are always made
by small divisions; which, as before stated, succeed and assist each
other by means of couriers, evidently sent off for that purpose to the
garrison.
The invasions of the Sanguine Ants, although so destructive to the
peace of their enemies, are yet, happily, less frequent than those of
the Legionaries. They pillage only five or six ant-hills in the course
of a summer; and the time appropriated to this object, is much more
limited; for they must, in the period of one month, bring in all the
pupæ they may want. The Sanguine Ants, endowed with a considerable
share of activity, are content with a much less number of slaves or
domestics than the Rufescent Ants. The pupæ, purloined by the Sanguine
Ants, are developed some time in August: and at that period we find
in their nest a greater number of auxiliaries. The Sanguine Ants
could scarcely do without them; occupied continually in the chase,
and now and then called upon to go forth in an entire body, to the
assistance of their compatriots, they would be obliged to leave their
little slaves at home unattended; moreover, the Negro Ants are better
qualified than they to take care of the larvæ; to them, therefore, is
entrusted this important duty.
When the Sanguine Ants change their domicile, they take especial care
to convey with them their auxiliaries; for whom, when their dwelling
is attacked by other ants, they evince the strongest affection. I
have seen the Sanguine, when besieged by the Fallow Ants, carry off,
in haste, to the subterranean apartments their auxiliaries; when
the latter, on being left, seemed to fulfil the intention of their
protectors, by closing and barricading with care all the avenues,
making use of such materials as were immediately within reach.
I shall now give an instance of their prudence and foresight, upon
which I slightly touched in the chapter on war. In case of disaster,
they always take care to provide a retreat, and whilst one party is
engaged in defending the colony, another party bear away the Negro Ants
or auxiliaries, who immediately begin constructing a new dwelling, at a
considerable distance from the scene of combat.
We have noticed, among Rufescent Ants, two species of
auxiliaries--Ash-coloured and Mining Ants. The latter are also highly
useful to the Sanguine Ants, who attack their habitations in the same
way, and much under the same circumstances as the nests inhabited by
Negro Ants. But what is highly worthy of remark is, that there should
exist ant-hills composed of three different species of ants--the
Sanguine, the Ash-coloured, and the Mining Ant. This has been fully
confirmed by my having observed an army of Sanguine Ants form into
two divisions, when the one attacked a Mining and the other a Negro
ant-hill.
I shall now bring these observations to a close by stating a fact,
which fully demonstrates the influence of habit upon the natural
disposition of ants. I placed, in a box, a few pupæ of the Sanguine
and Rufescent Ant, under the guard of some Ash-coloured labourers.
These pupæ became adult ants, and although Amazons, lived together in
great amity under the same roof, thus corroborating the facts formerly
mentioned.
The history of Amazon Ants and their auxiliaries still proves, that if
education can efface the hatred existing between different species,
and consequently enemies, it effects no change in their instinct and
character, since the Amazons and their slaves, brought up with the same
care, and under the management of the same nurses, live in the mixed
ant-hill under very different laws.
My readers are, perhaps, inclined to believe, that I have been led
aside by a love of the marvellous, and that, to give more interest to
my narrative, I have added something, by way of embellishment, to the
facts I have observed. But the more I am attracted by the wonderful
display of nature, the less am I inclined to alter it by any _mélange_
of the imagination.
I have endeavoured to cast aside every illusion, prejudice, or
ambition of saying any thing new, prepossessions in favour of cursory
observations, love of systems, &c. holding to that disposition, which I
may term neutral; ready to admit every fact of whatever nature it be,
provided it be confirmed by close observation.
If the facts adduced afford ample proof that ants are endowed with
higher faculties than we have hitherto granted them, we must attribute
it to the subject itself; hence the necessity under which I have
laboured, of employing many terms and comparisons, that, on a first
glance, appear rather bold, although founded on the close connection
between the human race and the insect living in society.
Among those I have taken to witness the discovery of mixed or compound
ant-hills, I may mention the learned professor Jurine.[2] This
gentleman had the kindness to identify their existence, by examining,
separately their contents.
[2] This celebrated naturalist, who resided at Geneva, has within these
few weeks breathed his last. His writings, together with his splendid
cabinet of insects, furnish ample proof of his talents and industry.--T.
To this honourable testimony I shall add but one more--Nature herself!
who is ready to answer every doubt, every objection; it is easy to
interrogate her: I have put my reader in the way, by describing my
means of observation, and I dare assure naturalists, who will deliver
themselves over to this study, they will meet a full recompense for the
trouble and time they devote to it by the inexhaustible pleasure of
discovering new truths.
CHAP. XII.
OBSERVATIONS ON THOSE INSECTS THAT LIVE IN REPUBLICS.
Although we have yet much to learn respecting the manners and habits
of insects; we may still, I think, from the observations which have
been brought together, attempt their distribution according to the
developement of their instinct, so as to be enabled to rectify
mistakes, when subsequent discoveries shall have adduced fresh
information.
This classification does not exactly answer to the chain in which
Bonnet has ranged all living beings, by tracing resemblances between
their organization: still less does it correspond with those
systematic divisions, established by distinguished naturalists; it,
however, serves to show us the true plan of nature, in proving, that
she is not always subject to that material order which strikes our
senses; that she has varied _ad infinitum_ her combinations; and that
there are general rules founded upon moral characters, divisions and
subdivisions in the intellectual, as well as in the physical part of
creation, which, I hope, one day, fully to demonstrate. I shall detach
from this plan only a few opinions, having reference to those insects
which live in society; they form a separate class, of which we have not
yet well ascertained the nature and the relation. Pre-eminence, if such
exists between these republics, cannot be determined, until we have
compared with much care and attention, the spirit, labours, character,
and laws of each.
To assign as nearly as possible, the place they occupy in the class
of insects, let us set aside those animals, whose size, strength,
usefulness, and even ferocity, impose upon our judgment; let us suppose
for a moment, that man himself did not exist, and let us see what
part these different colonies would then act upon this globe, (whose
members are associated for one common interest,) in the midst of that
crowd of isolated beings, which display only a limited instinct, having
habitudes rather than manners, subjected to rules rather than laws, and
unconscious of either country or family.
In the first rank would appear those societies of industrious flies,
which are established in hollow trees, and in the crevices of our
rocks: they feed upon the nectar of flowers, and secrete honey and wax;
they never employ their arms but to defend their country, the treasures
they have accumulated, and the young they are rearing; the outside of
their habitation presents nothing grand or imposing, but the interior
is formed upon a regular plan, uniting elegant proportions with the
most rigid œconomy.
That family whose colouring is more brilliant, lives by carnage and
rapine: its empire extends over every insect it can pierce with its
sting, and every kind of fruit that its teeth enable it to penetrate;
its dwelling, like to a balloon, is sometimes suspended in the air,
from the branches of a tree; at another time, resembles a fortress, of
which nothing indicates the existence without, hidden in the earth, and
tenanted by a highly dreaded race.
At length come those colonies which cover the surface of the earth,
and whose republics are so numerous, that the globe would not suffice
them, had not Nature set just limits to their production. A multitude
of insects become their prey. The small size of the individuals is
compensated by their number; but force is not their principal reliance.
Neither the flowers nor fruits furnish them with their ordinary food;
this is the object of a taste more refined. The colonies of which we
are now speaking, go and collect it from certain pacific beings, which
live in societies, and bestow upon them, unconstrained, the juices
they extract from plants. These colonies possess the art of making
themselves understood, of assembling these insects in their habitation,
and of defending them against the attacks of their enemies.
Those insects which live in republics, yield doubtless to many others
in size, strength, and swiftness. Nature, in a lower degree, produces
its monsters: the spider, dung-chafer, rove-beetle, scorpion, like
so many ferocious beasts, retired to their covert, await the passage
of flies, worms, butterflies, caterpillars, which they attack and
destroy, experiencing no kind of resistance. Our astonishment is again
excited at the gigantic proportions of those dung and stag-beetles,
whose peaceable dispositions strongly contrast with the arms with
which they are provided. Here the diversity of the production arrests
our attention; this insect lives in corrupted matter, that insect
dwells on the body of another animal; these have but an ephemeral
existence, those pass their life in idleness, flitting by thousands
from flower to flower, without being conscious either of an habitation
or a single relation. Shall we compare to insects, organised in a
republic, those processionary caterpillars, whose sole talent consists
in their knowing how to spin, in common, a web, in which they undergo
their transformation, and in their leaving behind them in their march,
threads which serve to guide their companions, or those swarms of
crane-flies, collected in the air, by the sole attraction of the sexes,
or those myriads of ephemeræ, which have but one day, one hour, to quit
the waters, congregate, and die? Or shall we place in the same rank
those clouds of locusts, without laws, without police, whose assembling
appears to have no other object than the devastation of the countries
they traverse, and those regular societies that know how to establish
a common abode, adapted to the rearing of their young, and their own
safety? If these wandering insects inspire us with any interest, it
cannot be by placing at their side objects, whose comparison would be
disadvantageous to them; let us, therefore, return to the parallel
of those, whose manners and habits announce a certain degree of
civilization.
Can we sufficiently admire the skill the bee displays in the
distribution of that ductile substance, with which it constructs its
combs, in forming that double rank of hexagonal cells with pyramidal
bottoms, (the base of which serves as a partition for three other
cells,) those parallel streets, and those magazines, which it fills
with provision for the winter, &c.? This is the insect which amasses
real provision, inclosing it and guarding it with care.[1]
[1] We have, at all times, admired the structure of the combs of bees:
the angles of the cells have been measured by skilful geometricians;
but we are yet ignorant of the manner in which these industrious
insects construct them. My father, after assiduous researches, has at
length discovered the secret of their architecture, and will, ere long,
present to the public a very extensive memoir upon this subject.--A.
I need scarcely add, that this memoir has been since published,
and contains much interesting information on the subject; indeed,
it is very generally known in this country, and merits the highest
commendation.--T.
The wasp, by a particular art, is enabled to avail itself of the oldest
and driest wood, in the formation of a substance similar to the finest
pasteboard, with which it fabricates its nest: the cells which it
constructs, are placed horizontally, suspended from each other: less
skilful than the bee in measuring the angles of these cells, it does
not form them in double rank, although the substance it employs is of
much less value. It envelopes these cells in a common covering, which
it can enlarge commensurate with its wants. By means of a juice or
liquid, that proceeds from its mouth, it is enabled to unite and glue
together the several particles of which its habitation is composed.
The nests of humble-bees present different appearances: here, we find
these insects dwelling under a roof of moss; there, under a vault of
wax. Their provisions are not collected to any extent, and are so
exposed, that any may go and obtain refreshment when they like; but
what is singular, the cells which contain their honey, have not been
fabricated expressly for this purpose; the webs which they spin, in the
first state of their existence, serves for this new use, and the coarse
wax they elaborate, is employed in narrowing or lengthening these
reservoirs, in constructing new cells for their young, and in forming
an envelope which preserves the nest from humidity.
Let us now approach that hillock of straw, which we observe in the
midst of the forest; under that inclined roof, a numerous republic
finds an asylum against the injuries of the air. By a well-regulated
police, the gates are closed during the night, and guarded through the
day; several avenues lead to the bottom of this subterraneous city; it
is found to contain numerous stories, both above and underneath the
surface of the ground, and is so constructed that the water can never
gain admittance.