I knew of an ant’s nest that had been set on a post in water. It was kept clean by the ants. They soon learned to drop all refuse over into the water. That is as the sailor does, when he tidies his ship.
Ants bury their dead. When an ant dies, some of the other ants pick up the body to carry it off and bury it. They do not like to put dead bodies near their hill. The ants will carry the dead ones round and round, till they find a good place for them.
A lady who spent much time in the study of ants said that the slave-owning ants do not bury the slaves with the masters. They put the dead slaves in one place and the owners in another.
Ants will now and then change their home. They leave an old hill and make a new one. When they do this, if some of the ants do not seem ready to leave the old hill, the others drag them off by force.
Most ants have very good eyes, and can see above ground and under ground. But there is one kind of ant that is blind.
Ants can bite with their sharp jaws. They also have a sting. They seldom use it if they are let alone. Some ants have quite a sharp sting. The sting is on the hind part of the ant’s body. Their sting is made in three parts. There is the sack for poison, the needle which gives the prick, and the case to keep the needle or prickle in. This needle, of a light color, is like a little thorn.
The ant seizes with its jaws the part which it wishes to sting. Then it lifts its body up on the hind legs, and swings its sting part under, so that it can drive the sting into the place held by the jaws. The sting does not do much harm to people, but will no doubt kill ants and other insects.
Ants make also a kind of juice called “ant acid.” They can throw this about when the hill is disturbed. This acid must be pretty strong. It will make a dog sneeze and rub his nose. The ant uses it to keep dogs, mice, beetles, and such things, away from the ant-hill.
I have told you that some ants harm trees and plants by gnawing or cutting them. It is only fair now to tell you that ants help plants to grow. As they creep into flowers for honey, they carry about from flower to flower the dust or pollen which makes new seeds grow. This dust sticks to the ant’s body, and what is taken from one flower is carried to another. Bees also carry pollen.
Thus, you see that the ants help the flowers, which in their turn give food to the ants. But, of course, the ants do not know what they are doing for the flowers.[10] Nor do the bees know that they help the flowers. The bees and ants do not know that pollen sticks to them, to be carried about.