we find in these minute creatures, no less than among mankind. They act upon system in all their great works; whether it be in their public buildings, or in the making of roads, or in colonization, or in their wars,-everything seems to be done upon a system: as they cannot fly though the air like bees (having the use of wings but for a very short time, and then only the males and females), and owing to the slight elevation of their eyes above the surrounding country, they are very apt to lose their way, they are driven, like ourselves, to making roads. This is a great proof of civilization in man-savages do not make roads and I see no reason why we should not allow the same credit to ants. These roads are not mere tracks worn by the constant tread of the ants, but roads made by gangs of labourers, "navvies" we might call them;-those of the large wood-ants, as Huber remarks, sometimes a hundred feet in length and several inches wide. Their wars are conducted in the same systematic manner as their other great undertakings. They throw out skirmishers in front, and post troops to cover their retreat. The order of march in some species, when near the enemy, is rather peculiar. "The advanced guard," says Huber, "usually consists of eight or ten ants; but no sooner do these get beyond the rest, than they move back, wheeling round in a semicircle and mixing with the main body, while others succeed to their station." Thus they seem to advance by a series of loops, and it is supposed that the object may be to communicate intelligence more readily from one part of the column to the other. The battle itself appears to be made up chiefly of a number of single combats, reminding one very much of Homer's battles at the time of the Trojan war. Their offensive arms are their formidable jaws, and in some species, stings, accompanied by the squirting of formic acid, of which the battle-field always exhales a powerful odour. 3. Lastly, a few words as to the language of ants. That such intelligent social beings should have some way of communicating their ideas to each other is but natural; and that they have a rapid and effectual way of doing so is evident from the following extracts from Huber and Gould, and may easily be learnt by any common observer. Huber says of one kind of ants inhabiting the trunks of hollow trees, "That, when he disturbed those that were at the greatest distance from the rest, they ran towards them, and, striking their heads against them, communicated their cause of fear or anger; that these in their turn conveyed in the same way the intelligence to others, till the whole colony was in a ferment, those neuters which were within the tree running out in crowds to join their companions in the defence of their habitation. The same signals that excited the courage of the neuters, produced fear in the males and females, which, as soon as the news of the danger was communicated to them, retreated into the tree as to an asylum. دو The other extract is from Gould: "Having deposited several colonies of ants in flower-pots, he placed them in some earthen pans full of water, which prevented them from making excursions from their nest. When they had been accustomed some days to this imprisonment, he fastened small threads to the upper part of the pots, and extending them over the water-pans, fixed them in the ground. The sagacious ants soon found out that by these bridges they could escape from their moated castle. The discovery was communicated to the whole society, and in a short time the threads were filled with trains of busy workers passing to and fro." Now it may not be correct to call this way of communication language, as that word is derived from lingua, the Latin for "tongue," and ants have no tongues. Call it, if you like, pantomime, or mute action; or coin a new word, and call it antennage, as the antennæ of the insect appear to be its organs. "What's in a name?" The thing is there plain enough, sufficient for converse on all subjects that ants care for, and occupying the same important place as language among us. And what are we to say to all this? Are not ants very well-conducted and intelligent little creatures? May we not learn something from them? If Solomon, with all his heaven-taught wisdom, thought it not loss of time to study their ways, and recommended us to do the same, there must be something in them worth studying, something which by divine grace may make us wiser and better. |