Collectanea de Diversis Rebus: Addresses and Papers

by Sir Peter Eade

The brown Ants are the more numerous, and in the summer months display an enormous amount of activity. Doubtless there is a good reason for their incessant movements, but to the ordinary observer these often seem to be purposeless and merely the result of restlessness and excess of energy.

The favourite situation for their little Ant-hills is decidedly along the edge of the gravel path, where this abuts upon the grass sward, and it is noticeable that almost the whole of these are placed on the easterly edge of this. From these nests, or centres, very little use is made of the adjacent grass territory, but from nearly all a track is made across the gravel path to its opposite (westerly) side, where either a hole is made into a small fresh home, or a semi-tunnel is made through the grass edging on to and into the earth of the flower-border beyond. There appears to be no attempt to tunnel in the firm gravel path, but the incessant racing backward and forward in the same line very soon (as Sir John Lubbock, now Lord Avebury, has pointed out) makes a well-trodden road, along which they follow each other in rapid succession.

As to their hour of rising in the morning for work, I cannot speak from personal observation. But as Solomon holds them out as an example to those inclined unduly to keep their beds, I conclude that their motto is, “Early to rise.” But I can say that the opposite half of this proverb, namely, “Early to bed,” does not apply to them, for, at least in the warm weather, they do certainly often work until late at night.

It is very interesting to watch these Ants at work, and to note their activity and energy and strength. An Ant is “but a little creature,” but he is certainly able to perform a large amount of physical work. And especially is this seen in the way he builds up those little heaps of earth known as Ant-hills. I have had many of these under observation, and the rapidity with which they reappear after injury by pressure or a heavy rain-storm is very remarkable. Twenty-four hours, or even less, being often sufficient for their complete restoration. They are of varying form, but some are perfectly conical, with a circular hole at the top exactly like that of some Norfolk “kilns” used for the burning of bricks. Others are irregular, or flattened and spongy, with several holes. But it would seem that the varying shapes are largely due to the special conditions under which they are made.

* 1907. I have noted that this year the brown Ants have varied in colour, or have been replaced in their more usual spots on my gravel walk by others that are nearly if not quite black. And I have also noticed that their habits are somewhat different. The little conical Ant-hills which they make are much smaller, but more numerous, than those of their predecessors, and they seem to burrow more in the adjacent grass lawn. But they keep to almost the same spots. In their daily workings and activities also there is a decided difference. They are very active in the early mornings, but often can scarcely be seen all the mid-day or afternoon, instead of racing about above ground almost the whole day, as the others did. But they may have been influenced in this by the continued cool and showery weather of the season.

One very warm day about noon, in the early part of September, I witnessed some of the proceedings at one of the well-known “wedding ceremonials” of Ants. The whole body of the Ants were swarming on the grass above the nest, and racing about in evidently a great state of excitement. Amongst these were five large winged (Queen) Ants, constantly moving about, though more quietly, and in and out of the nest opening. Also in the group were some forty or more smaller winged (Male) Ants, also moving about upon the ground. None of the winged Ants were flying far about. I watched this state of commotion for some time, then left, and returned in about an hour, when the whole body of these insects had disappeared, presumably into the nest. Whether the brides and bridegrooms were about to take their wedding flight, or whether (as appears most probable) they had just returned, I am unable to state; but I saw no further commotion outside later on in the day.

I have often watched these little creatures at work upon their “heaps,” and have noted how these are gradually built up of aggregations of single grains of earth or sand, which evidently have been dug out grain by grain from the earth, where the excavation is going on, and are then brought in the Ant’s mouth to the surface, and to the top of the rising earth-heap. They are then dropped over its edge, and the Carrier Ant at once races back into the hole presumably for a fresh burden. This process is a very remarkable one, and the way the Ant brings his grain of earth in his mouth and drops it over the edge of the rising Ant-hill, irresistibly reminds one of a railway navvy who wheels his barrow full of earth and tilts it over the edge of the embankment upon which he is at work. The number of single grains in even a small Ant-heap must be very large, and must amount to many thousands, or perhaps to hundreds of thousands. What, then, must be the untiring energy of a small Ant colony, which can reproduce such a granular heap in less than twenty-four hours?

It does not always seem clear what the streams of Ants from the parent nest are so constantly occupied in. They may be, to a certain extent, colonizers, but they certainly do not, with me, raise secondary Ant-hills to any great extent at the end of their runs. They make holes in the ground there, and possibly they may be engaged in their proverbial custom of securing and storing up food for the winter. To the uninstructed eye these holes look very much like Colonial outposts.

The activity of these Ants entirely ceases with the advent of autumn, and their Ant-hills in my garden entirely disappear until the following season.

As we all know, this instinct of storing up food for winter use has been largely denied, but from Sir John Lubbock’s account it certainly exists in some species, though its extent varies greatly. As he says that many of the Ants live through the winter, some food would seem to be required.