Ants.
The habits of the Ants are as remarkable as the habits of the bees. In their marvellous republics each one has his fixed duties to perform, of which he acquits himself willingly and without constraint. In consequence of their habits of foresight and frugality, ease reigns in the dwellings of these little animals, which become attached to their nest by a feeling of patriotism. Woe betide him who disturbs them in their occupations, or destroys their house! Like bees, they form a regular republic, composed—first, of males; secondly, of females; thirdly of neuters, or workers. We shall see, further on, the labours and the part played by each one of these three orders of the republic. Let us speak first of the species.
Ants are divided into a great number of species, which have been carefully described by De Geer, Latreille, and Francis Huber, the son of the celebrated blind man who wrote the history of bees. All these species have, however, some general traits in common, by which they may be easily distinguished from all other insects. Ants have a slim body on long legs. The workers are stouter and smaller than the males; and these last are smaller than the females. The males have large and prominent eyes, whilst the eyes of the workers and females are small.
| Fig. 359.—Red Ant. Male magnified. (Myrmica rubra.) | Fig. 360.—Brazilian Umbrella Ant. (Atla cephalotes.) |
Ants are provided with antennæ, bent in the form of an elbow, with which they examine everything they meet, and which seem to assist them in the communication of their ideas. Two horny, very strong mandibles serve them at the same time as pincers, tweezers, scissors, pick-axe, fork, and sword. A thin short neck joins the head to the thorax, to which, in the case of the males and females, are attached four large veiny wings. The workers only have no wings. Of the three pairs of legs, the hind ones are the longest. Each pair is armed with a spur, and fringed with very short hairs, which serve the purpose of brushes. The abdomen, large, short, oval, or square, is always most voluminous in the females.
There are three genera of ants which we shall mention. The Myrmicæ have two knobs to the pedicle, by which the abdomen is attached to the thorax; the Poneræ only one. In these two genera, the females and the neuters have a sting, and the larvæ do not spin a cocoon in which to change into pupa. Lastly, the Formicæ—ants properly so called—have but one knob on the pedicle of the abdomen, as in Ponera; their larvæ spin a silky cocoon. They have no sting, but they pour into the wounds made by their mandibles an acid liquor, the pungent smell of which is well known. This liquid is formic acid, a natural product, which the chemist now-a-days knows how to make artificially, by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on maize and other vegetable matters. Their whole body is impregnated with this acid, and has a strong sour smell. Some people like to chew ants, on account of their sourish taste. "They also make," says Charles de Geer, "creams for side-dishes, to which these ants give, they say, the taste of lemon-juice." We know, in the south of France, people who have eaten these crèmes aux fourmis! Polyergus forms a sub-genus of Formica.
Fig. 361.—Sections of an Ant's Nest.