Search Results - The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

which the statement of such cases may rest. I will, therefore, add the following instances of the ingenious and determined manner in which ants overcome obstacles, and which so far lend confirmation to the above account. Professor Leuckart placed round the trunk of a tree, which was visited by ants as a pasture for aphides, a broad cloth soaked in tobacco-water. When the ants returning home down the trunk of the tree arrived at the soaked cloth, they turned round, went up the tree again to some

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

hammering oyster shells with stones, 481 Daphnia pulex, seeking light, especially yellow ray, 23 Darwin, Charles, on apparent intelligence of worms, 24; of oyster, 25; of snail, 27; Mr. Hague's letter to, on powers of communication in ants, 54-7; observations on ants keeping aphides, 60, 61; on ants making slaves, 64, 66, 67; communications of Lincecum to, on harvesting ants, 103, 107; on proportional size of ants' brain, 140; communication of M ller on [page] 505 INDEX

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

pencil. After doing this two or three times, they generally took no further notice of the scent. This experiment left no doubt on my mind. In other cases the ants were observed to wave about and throw back their antennae when the scented pencil was brought near. That ants track one another by scent was long ago mentioned by Huber, and also that they depend on this sense for their power of finding supplies which have been previously found by other ants. Huber proved their power of tracking a path

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

Linn an Society, which contains some important additional matter concerning the sense of direction in ants. It seems that in the experiment above described, the hat-box was not provided with a cover or lid, i.e. was not a 'closed chamber,' and that Sir John now finds the ants to take their bearings from the direction in which they observe the light to fall upon them. For in the experiment with the uncovered hat-box, if the source of light (candle) is moved round together with the rotating table

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

temporary repositories; for in a few days both the old and the new burrows were entirely deserted, so that he supposed all the ants to have died. Subsequently, however, he found that they had migrated to a new site, about two hundred yards from the old one, and there established themselves in a new nest. Twelve months later the ants again invaded his garden, and again he treated them to a strong dose of carbolic acid. The ants, as on the previous occasion, were at once withdrawn from the garden

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

so considerable a distance, this hypothesis does not seem probable, and the only other one open to us is that the ants remembered the site of their former home for a period of twelve months. And this conclusion is rendered less improbable from a statement of Karl Vogt in his 'Thierstaaten,' to the effect that for several successive years ants from a certain nest used to go through certain inhabited streets to a chemist's shop 600 m tres distant, in order to obtain access to a vessel filled

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

companions very much in the manner described by Mr. Belt; and he does not appear to be acquainted with Mr. Belt's observations. He figures one case in which he saw three ants co-operating to dig out a buried comrade Powers of Communication. Huber, Kirby and Spence, Dugardin, Burmeister, Franklin, and other observers have all expressed themselves as more or less strongly of the opinion that members of the same community of ants, and other social Hymen-optera, are able to communicate information to one

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

whether many ants would come to the glasses under such circumstances by mere accident, and I may at once say that scarcely any did so. I then took two ants, and placed one of them to the glass with many larv , the other to that with two or three. Each of them took a larva and carried it to the nest, returning for another, and so on. After each journey I put another larva in the glass with only two or three larv , to replace that which had been removed. Now, if several ants came under the above

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

others, expressing by their behaviour great excitement and terror. An hour or two later, the path or trail leading from the lower colony to the vase was almost entirely free from ants. I killed one or two ants on their path, striking them with my finger, but leaving no visible trace. The effect of this was that as soon as an ant ascending towards the shelf reached the spot where one had been killed, it gave signs immediately of great disturbance, and returned directly at the highest possible speed

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

extremely viscid, it is no doubt a convenience to the aphides to have it removed; therefore probably they do not excrete solely for the good of the ants.'1 Some ants which keep aphides build covered ways, or tunnels, to the trees or shrubs where the aphides live. Forel saw a tunnel of this kind which was taken up a wall and down again on the other side, in order to secure a safe covered way from the nest to the aphides. Occasionally such covered ways, or tubes, are continued so as to enclose the stems

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

help from the nests connected with their colony, and thick black columns were at once seen coming out from the surrounding trees. The pratenses were obliged to fly, and left behind them a mass of dead as well as their pup , which last were carried off by the victors to their nests to be eaten. Battles, however, are not confined to species of ants having warlike and slave-making habits. The agricultural ants likewise at times wage fierce wars with one another. The importance of seeds to these ants

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

ants of the same species are often different even at the same season and date. Thus these warring colonies of ants were active on many days when the majority of the nests were completely closed; and I have even seen these robbers staggering along, enfeebled by the cold, and in wind and rain, when all other ants were safe below ground. The agricultural ants of Texas do not appear to be less pugnacious than their European congeners. Thus MacCook says: A young community has sometimes to struggle

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

. Perhaps we should be quite as unsuccessful in case of these ants as of our human congeners, should we seek a sufficient reason for these wars, or satisfactory cause for these differences in dealing with neighbours which appear from the comparison of Lincecum's observations with mine.' In connection with the wars of these ants, the following quotations may also be made from the same author: The erratic ants do not appear to be held as common enemies by the agriculturals, and they are even permitted to

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

arouse the sleeper by a sharp touch of the quill. She stretches out her head, then her legs, which she also shakes, steps nearer to the light, and begins to cleanse herself in the manner already described. This act invariably follows the waking of ants from sleep. The above description applies to the general habit of somnolence as observed upon the two named species of harvesting ants for nearly four months. I have often applied the quill, and even the point of a lead pencil, to the sleeping

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

passage.] The actions of these ants looked like simple indulgence in idle amusement. . It is probable that these hours of relaxation and cleaning may be indispensable to the effective performance of their harder burdens; but whilst looking at them, the conclusion that the ants were engaged merely in play was irresistible.1 Funereal Habits. In another connection it has already been stated that Sir John Lubbock found his ants to be very careful in disposing of the dead bodies of their comrades

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

the ant-hill had apparently fallen in through these mines. Unfortunately I was unable to follow further the progress of the new building, for I was obliged to leave the next day for San Juan del Sur. When I returned at the end of a week the building was finished, and the whole colony was again busy with the leaves of the coffee plants. Harvesting Ants (Atta). The ants which, so far as at [page] 97 HARVESTING ANTS

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

supplies. The facts, therefore, certainly seem to indicate that certain ants are told off as foragers, and that during winter, when but little food is required, two or three such foragers are sufficient to provide it. Although Sir John Lubbock's ants showed such meagre resources of intelligent adjustment, other species of ants, which we have already had occasion to consider, appear to be as remarkable in this respect as they are in respect of [page] 128 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

he found his provisions in the safe swarming with ants as before, and on investigating their mode of access to them found Proceeding along the whitewashed wall a string of ants going and coming from the outer door to a height of four feet on my wall, and corresponding with that of the safe; and looking between it and the wall, I discovered the secret the bridge which these persevering little insects had made. It consisted of a broken bit of straw, which rested with one end on a mud buttress

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

white line represents the course then pursued by the ant in its endeavours to find the pencil, which was shifted only a few inches from A to B. That is, 'the ants on their journey to the shifted object travelled very often backwards and forwards and round the spot where the coveted object first stood. Then they would retrace their steps towards the nest, wander hither and thither from side to side between the nest and the point A, and only after very repeated efforts around the original site

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F1416 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1882. [Extracts from Darwin's draft chapter 10 of Natural selection]. In Romanes, G. J., Animal intelligence. London: Kegan Paul Trench & Co. Text Image PDF

both of Belt and M ller that the object of all this labour is highly interesting and remarkable. The leaves when gathered do not themselves appear to be of any service to the ants as food; but when cut into small fragments and stored away in the nests, they become suited as a nidus for the growth of a minute kind of fungus on which the ants feed. We may therefore call these insects the 'gardening ants,' inasmuch as all their labour is given to the rearing of nutritious vegetables on