Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1875 — Sagacity of Bees and Ants. [ARTICLE]

Sagacity of Bees and Ants.

Sir John Lubbock, the distinguished English naturalist, has been for some time engaged in experiments designed to test the powers of communication and of cooperation possessed by bees and ants. Thus far the developments arising from his observations tend to show that bees have less sagacity than has been popularly ascribed to them, but, on the other hand, that ants are quite as s wise as poets and philosophers have made them out to be. The friends of the bees protest against the conclusions of Sir John Lubbock, declaring that his experiments have not been sufficiently extended, and that they have been conducted, not perhaps unfairly but in a spirit of prejudice against the hardworking, honey-making insect that has hindered the exercise of perfect justice. The history of his latest experiments has just been printed by Sir John Lubbock in the journal of the Linnaean Society, and is in brief as follows: Oct. 9, the experimenter selected a bee from a particular hive, set a mark upon it, and put it to a good stock of honey. The bee worked at the honey six days, visiting it at intervals of six or seven minutes for many hours each day. Its first visit in the morning was as one of mere inspection. It did not alight, but hovered about for a few moments, and then flew away on some inexplicable errand. On every other visit during the day it bore off a load of honey. Yet in all these six days it brought no companions with it to share in the stock of sweets it had access to. One or two strange bees found the honey, but, there being no signs of connection between their arrivals and the regular visits of the chosen bee, it is fair to assume they discovered the honey by accident. A second bee that Sir John subjected to a similar experiment behaved in the same way for two days, during which it worked diligently at the honey, and not a single other bee came to the spot. Now, if bees labor for the good of the hive, striving to secure the largest possible store of honey for the winter’s use, why did not these two bees obtain help in securing the stock placed at their disposal? Did they selfishly prefer to acquire credit among their fellows for unusually rapid and successful work, or had they no means of communicating to the others the fact that they were drawing from a rich store of ready-made honey? Sir John Lubbock evidently inclines to the latter inference, and yet his observations were not sufficiently elaborate to be conclusive.

His experiments with the ants were in this wise: Into a piece of cork about eight inches long by four inches wide he put seventeen pins, and on three of the pins placed bits of card containing honey. An ant was then put to one of the cards, the operator arguing that if after its visit many more ants came to this pin than to any-other it might be justly inferred that the ant had the power of communicating where it found the honey. The experiment seemed to prove conclusively that it had this power, for during two hours twenty-seven ants visited the pins and nineteen went directly to the right pin, only eight going up the other pins. Other experiments gave still more satisfactory results; and yet others again were less decisive in their testimony. On one occasion an ant worked for more than three hours at some honey without bringing or ■ sending a single comrade. Another interesting experiment was made with some larvae of ants. In every case each ant to which Sir John Lubbock showed a supply of larvae worked hard at removing them to the nest, all day and sometimes for more than a day, without invoking the assistance of any other ant, as was done in all but one of the instances of experiments with honey. What inference is to be deduced from this procedure? Certainly none that is conclusive. In the course of his accounts of these experiments Sir John quotes from F. Muller an incident confirming the theory that bees have a limited power of communicating facts; Mr. F. Muller says:

“Once I assisted at a curious contest which took place between the queen and the worker bees in one of my hives, and which throws some light on the intellectual faculties of these insects. A set of forty-seven cells had been filled, eight on a nearly completed-comb, thirty-five on the following and four around the first cell of a new comb. When the queen had laid eggs in all the cells of the two older combs she went several times round the circumference (as she always does, in order to ascertain whether she has forgotten any cell), and then prepared to retreat into the lower part of the breeding-room. But, as she had overlooked the four cells of the new comb, the workers ran impatiently from this part to the queen, pushing her in an odd manner with their heads, as they did also other workers they met with. In consequence the queen began again to go around on the two older combs; but, as she did not find any cell wanting an egg, tried to descend, but everywhere she was pushed back by the workers. This contest lasted for rather a long while, till the queen escaped without having completed her work. Thus the workers knew how to advise the queen that something was as yet to be done, but they knew not how to show her where it had to be done.” —The Ithaca Journal tells how the victory of the Cornell crew in the Saratoga regatta was received at the college: “The news was telegraphed to the university business office, where President White, Vice-President Russell and others were seated, engaged in conversation, no doubt upon the freshmen’s victory and the prospects of the university race. There was a call from the instrument. Mr. Williams went to it and in a moment shouted the message, ‘ Cornell has won the race.’ Our report is that President White jumped up . in his seat higher than the top of the table and rushed from the room, regardless of his flying hat, with all possible haste, making his way into the McGraw tower, and, breaking the lock from the chimes, began ringing them with great vigor, while Vice-President Russell ran from building to building proclaiming the glad news.”