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Ants — Part 6

Dr. William M. Wheeler has recently published some very important studies of the peculiar ants of the family Poneridae, as they occur in Texas (Biological Bulletin, Vol. II., No. 1, October, 1900). These ants make rather primitive nests and they seem to be generalized creatures from a socialistic standpoint. They do not seem to feed one another like the specialized ants, but they have the same habits regarding the cleanliness of the individuals and of the nests. Their larvae differ from those of other ants, as do their eggs. They are not nearly so prolific as are other ants and the feeding habits of the larvae are very remarkable. The workers capture another insect, cut it into pieces and scatter the pieces among the larvae, which insert their long necks through the cut surfaces, feeding upon the juices of the recently killed insect. Dr. Wheeler found that there is no such sharp distinction between the sterile and the fertile female with the Poneridae as with the more specialized ants. He finds an irregular polymorphism in both sexes. The workers have the same habit of opening the cocoons and drawing out the pupae which are ready to transform. Ten or a dozen workers were observed to gather around a prematurely extracted pupa and lick it for hours.

One of the most interesting features of the study of ant colonies is the wonderful diversity of guest insects which are found in them. Insects of several different orders may be found, including beetles, grasshoppers, plant lice, bark lice and Thysanurans as well as mites. All these creatures play some part or another in the economy of the community. Several are cared for by the ants and furnish food through their secretions. Others live at the expense of the ants, either as true parasites or as partakers of ant food. Wasmann has long made a study of these ant guests and his papers afford such fascinating reading that they should be generally translated into English for the benefit of persons engaged in nature study.

Typical Life History.

From the observations or Dr. McCook on the agricultural ant of Texas a nearly complete typical life history could be drawn up, but the geographic range of this ant is so uncharacteristic of the greater part of the United States that it does not seem wise to devote the necessary space to such a treatment. The absence, therefore, of a typical life history in such an abundant and common group as the ants will serve to emphasize, as strongly as anything which has been said, the ease with which novel and important observations can be made upon insects. It is the earnest hope of the writer that some student will take up, for example, the large carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, study it most carefully and compare his observations with those of European writers upon congeneric forms, although, as a matter of fact, representatives of this particular genus are not abundant in Europe. Whoever begins the careful study of this large carpenter ant must first read Dr. H. C. McCook's interesting paper entitled "Notes on the Architecture and Habits of the Pennsylvania Carpenter Ant" published in Vol. V. of the Transactions of the American Entomological Society, pp. 277-289.