For many years ants have been recognized as among the most interesting of the little animals that people our fields. However, not until recently have we begun to understand, even in a small measure, their economic importance and the part they play in maintaining the balance in insect life. Therefore, we shall give a few studies of ants and their ways, and as a knowledge of their habits is necessary to begin with, we will take up the ant-nest first.
An Ant-nest.
Two panes of glass laid flat one on the other with a space between of one-eighth of an inch or less, these panes covered with a piece of dark paper or wood to keep out the light and then placed on something that will allow them to be surrounded by water; a bit of blotting paper two inches square, dampened and placed at one end of the glass chamber—these are all the materials and the art necessary for the construction of a perfectly equipped ant-nest.
Once we wished to make an ant-nest hurriedly, and this is the way we did it: we chose an agate wash basin ([Fig. 154]), as this would not rust, and filled it half-full of water; in this we made an island, by placing in it a three-pint agate basin turned bottom side up. We took two discarded negatives, size 4x5 inches, and cleaned off the films; then we placed one of the pieces of glass on the basin-island, took the stumps of four burnt matches and placed one on each side of this glass near its edge; then we placed the other piece of glass on top, letting it rest on the matches to make a chamber just high enough for the ants to live in comfortably. This done, we took the cover of a cigar-box and cut it down to the size of the negatives, put a screw-eye in the center to lift it by and placed it on top of the upper glass to make the chamber below quite dark. Then we took a trowel and fruit-can and went after some inhabitants for our island. We went to an open pasture and turned over stones until we found beneath one a heap of yellowish grain-like pupæ and little translucent whitish bodies, which we knew were larvæ, all being cared for by swarms of worker-ants. One of us pushed the trowel beneath, taking up dirt and all, while the other held the can open, into which the trowel was emptied. We hastened back and as gently as possible, taking care to hurt none of our little captives, placed the contents of the can on the top of the nest.
Fig. 154. An improvised ant-nest.
As the first thought of an ant is never for its own safety, but for the safety of its infant sisters, the little workers began to hunt for a safe and dark place in which to stow away their charges. In running about they soon discovered the space between the two pieces of glass and in a few hours the young ones were moved into the new quarters. Then we cleaned away the earth on top of the nest, and by lifting the cover we were able to see all that was going on within. The water in the wash-basin prevented any of our uneasy captives from escaping, as these little people, so clever in most things, have never yet mastered the art of swimming.
I have an ant-nest on my table as I write, shown in [Fig. 156]. Instead of matches to keep the two pieces of glass apart I have a narrow strip of canton flannel glued around the edge of the glass floor except for two little doors at the opposite corners; there is also a narrow strip of cloth partitioning the chamber into two rooms with a door at one end. One room I left empty and in the other I placed a bit of blotting paper which I keep damp by occasionally adding a few drops of water. The nest is placed upon a piece of plank 18 inches square. Around the plank near the edge is a groove about an inch deep made with a chisel and kept full of water, so that my ants have a castle with a moat. It was necessary to paint this bit of plank thoroughly, above and below, to keep it from warping.
The ants in my nest I found on a hillside beneath a stone; they are brownish with yellow legs and a little less than a quarter of an inch in length. They were stupid at first and would not discover the chamber prepared for them, but persisted in hiding their young under bits of earth which were brought in with them. So I made a scoop of a sheet of writing paper and with it placed a heap of the young, with a few of the nurses, in the empty chamber, then put on the glass ceiling and cover and left them. In a few hours the whole colony had moved into this chamber, but evidently it was not humid enough for the health of the young, and by the next morning the pupæ and larvæ and eggs were all in the other chamber arranged around the edges of the blotting paper.