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ANTS ON FORAGING EXPEDITIONS.

I do not know whether others have studied the way a nest of antß la made aware that a certain place there is something good to eat. However this may be the following observation may be of Interest to Btndenta of ant habits. On one ocoaslon I killed a wasp— the small yellow wasp that Is so common In India. Soon after I observed an ant moving about on the sill of a window. It atruok me as a good opportunity to observe what Bteps this ant would take If brought Into contact with the dead wasp. I placed the wasp In the path of the ant, and watohod the result. The ant, on finding tbe wasp, climbed over tt and explored it thoroughly m all directions. Having satisfied itself that this was a good fiDd, it descended* and ran down the wall of the window and aoroßs a very rough grass mat made of the saccyarum moo?ija (the moonjt or surpui m^itiug of India). £t galloped across the room over this rough surface as hard as It could go iq a particular direction, and disappeared under the wooden sill of a door. 1 still watched to see what would happen. Presently a long string of ants In single file oame out and followed the exact course that the foraging ant had taken. They crossed the mat m the same course and went np the wall straight to the wasp, I left them m peaoe, and some time after I found only the shell of the wasp ; they had eaten Up all Us interior, and returned home. It Is evident that single ants leave the nests as acoata or explorers on foraging expeditions, and go to long distances. By some scent, left on their course, tbey are able to retrace their steps to their neat. The ants m the neßt, probably by some ecentof the body found, whioh the exploring ant brings with It, are made to understand that something good to eat hts been found. Guided by tbe exploring ant, or by the aoent it may have left m its track, the whole neßt, or a portion of it, sallies out, and goes straight to the find. If the body ia easily dragged home, tbe column does ao, m procession, Borne preceding, oome dragging, and some following tbe treasure ; otherwise, they set to and eat up what portions they can of the thing found. This trait ia ants ia most Interesting. Solitary ants are seen m all directions exploring and careering . up and down the stems and leaves of plants. If tbey oome aoroßs a flower With its nectar approachable, that Sower quickly becomes crowded with other ants. Their feeling organs aopear to be their antenrse. As they move about and explore, their antencse are always very aotive, and pre jocted before them. They stop here sad scjp there, and move these sensitive organs na if their whole attention were directed to tho impressions received by them, and It appears they deoide what course to take, Recording to the impreaaions conducted by their antenr •&, When two auta of tho same kind are going m opposlto direotlonß they never "cvt ,v each other and pass on, but invariably stop and bare a chat, so to. speak, and communicate to each other the news. How they do this exactly I cannot tell, nor oan I tell exactly how light communicates to our own brain the presence of objeola outßide of -us, and at a distance from uo,—- Ei Bonavla, M.D.

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Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18871230.2.24

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1728, 30 December 1887, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
615

ANTS ON FORAGING EXPEDITIONS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1728, 30 December 1887, Page 2

ANTS ON FORAGING EXPEDITIONS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1728, 30 December 1887, Page 2

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