Do Ants Reason?

Press, Volume L, Issue 14971, 19 May 1914, Page 7

Do Ants Reason?

While prospecting at Poseidon, Victoria, some years ago I was one daygiven what seemed to mo clear proof that ants are capablo of reasoning up to a certain point (writes a correspondent in the '/Sydney Mail"). The district was infested with them, and 1 had great trouble with' them in camp. They got at food articles of every description, and, finally, I was obliged to stand all vessels . containing food in

water. For a time this device worked well, and I thought I. had solved the ant problem. But one day I arrived back at my tent to find a tin of condensed milk, which I had left standing, opened, in a saucer of water on tho table, simpiv black with them. *or a minute I was completely puzzled tp know how thov had managed to reach it, for the tin'was still completely surrounded by water. Then I observed that the cunning little creatures were crawling up the inside walls of the tent to a point on the sloping roof immediately above the tin. From there they deliberately allowed themselves to drop on to the tin. which was only about six inches below them. But jT though seemingly they possessed sufficient intelligence to solve the problem of reaching tho milk—they had not sufficient either to devise a means of escaping from the tin after they had satisfied their appetites or to realise that they would sink in the milk if they walked upon it; so they either perished or found themselves cornered by the surrounding water.