ANTS IN CAPTIVITY.
THERE is no doubt that the world has become a great deal more industrious since the days of Solomon. For one thing, it has moved Westward with the best of its intelligence and its enterprise, and the Western climate is less conducive than the Orient to a love of luxurious leisure. Solomon therefore might think that some at least of his maxims were kept closely at the heart of the modern world, and might be pleased to find that his counsel to the typical leisure-lover had been taken even to the very letter, for if the sluggard does not now go to the ant, he has at all events brought the ant to himself ; he considers her ways, and we hope that he gathers wisdom. The fashion—for it really is having quite a vogue —of keeping ants in glass houses, so that all their ways may be considered, is a very interesting one. At many shops in London you may now buy nests, as they are called, of ants, con- sisting of two panes of glass clamped together with an interval of an eighth of an inch or less between them, a little earth enclosed between the panes, and the principal population of one of the colonies of the yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus) inhabiting it. The ant population proper consists of a single queen, of a number of workers, of a considerably less number of males, which live in the winged or perfect state for a short part only of the year, and of a number of pupae or nymphs (in a stage corresponding to the chrysalis phase of butterfly or moth life), of larvae or grubs (corresponding to the cater- pillar stage of the lepidoptera), and of eggs. The principal business of the workers is to look after, to feed, and to clean the queen; to dispose of the eggs as she lays them, and move them about to get the proper temperature ; to move the larvae and pupae for a like reason; to clean and feed the larvae ; and to make any tunnels and do any mason's work that is wanted in the common domicile. No one else in the house, speaking from the ants' point of view, does any work at all. But the ants have some domestic animals, and there are certain other little creatures that quarter themselves upon the ants (the mutual relations of hosts and gue'sts are not in all the instances fully understood), some of whom, it is quite conceivable and probable, may be useful workers in the general economy, though we do not yet know what their particular respective spheres of usefulness are. The prin- cipal of these domestic animals are a small white mite— they vary in size a good deal, but, to indicate roughly their dimensions, they may be said to be about equal in total size to the head of one of the workers of L. flavus—a species of wood- louse, white in colour, and blind, which is about a quarter the size of the common wood-louse, or even less ; and the 4phides, or "green-fly." The mite and the wood-louse live in the nests of the ants, and never seem to leave them. The aphides live outside the nest, some on the rose, others on the daisy and other plants; but there is a good deal of evidence that the ants take their eggs into the nest and bestow.care on them, as if they knew that animals of value to themselves would batch from them. The mites and wood-lice will live, for a while at all events, in the glass cases with the ants themselves, and specimens of each of these are sold with the ants that are their hosts. It is claimed also that eggs of the aphides are placed in the cases, but the present writer does not know of instances of their being hatched out in any of the bought nests. But if these -cases do not contain everything, they contain, at all events, a great deal that is of interest, and are very convenient and portable. An occasional spoonful of water, put in at an opening left for the purpose, is all that is necessary to keep the air and the earth between the glass panes sufficiently moist, and an occasional drop of honey or of melted sugar during the summer is enough nutriment for a great number of ants. Between the panes all the domestic life of the ants may be watched,—the moving, feeding, and care of the larvae, the assiduous, and, as it appears, very burdensome and vexatious, attendance on the poor queen, and all the other details of their economy ; but unfortunately it can be seen only in fleeting glimpses, for the admission of the light drives the ants hurrying hither and thither, and disturbs the even flow of their life entirely. Something may be done to modify their distress by using yellow-tinted instead of white glass, and sufficient light to enable one to observe the ants may then be let in without greatly disturbing their ordinary business. They are very sensitive to jar or vibration, so that it is important, if they are to be observed peacefully at work, that the cover over them be withdrawn as gently as possible.
These ants, the L. flavus, are in some ways the best adapted for keeping and observing in this manner ; but in some ways only. They seem to be contented to remain always within the confinement of their nest. The orifice is stopped up with a little plug of cottonwool, so that it is impossible for the most adventurous ant to come out ; and it is wonderful what a comfort it is in households where there is a morbid fear of insects to know that all possibility of the ants' escape is cut off. But, on the other hand, just because they are such home- lovers and so little of adventurers, these L. flavus are not very interesting ants to keep. They have little enterprise; as fighters they are conquered by nearly every other kind ; they become torpid at a temperature a good deal higher than some others; and they have, an annoying way of fastening some smoky-looking, grey mucous or other stuff to the top pane of glass, which prevents one seeing what is going on below. For all these reasons, other ants are more amusing. There is a very nice kind, Myratica ruginodis, less common than L. ftavus, but so far common that a little search in the meadows (it lives in similar places with the yellow meadow ant) in a lightish soil would be likely to dis- cover a nest in any summer month. It is more energetic, is awake and more or less active during most of the winter, only falling into the torpid state when the thermometer goes down to several degrees of frost—whereas the kind sold in the nest- glasses becomes comatose when the thermometer touches the frost mark—and does not coat its glass with any white- washing arrangement to make itself invisible. It is more than twice the size (is perhaps about twice the size, speaking of the common workers) of L. flavus, of a bright chestnut colour, shining and handsome. Another interesting'and active ant is the common black ant, L. niger. It fs very quick indeed in its movements, and a wonderfully strong creature and powerful fighter for its size. Lord Avebury, who kept a great many kinds, speaks of F. fusca, a shining brown ant, as one of the most attractive to keep; but the present writer does not know this kind from personal acquaintance. Fusca (the fourmi noir-cendree of Huber) lives under stones and makes tunnels, rather than raises mounds like the others just men- tioned. Any and all of these kinds can be kept quite easily, and in apparent content, between two panes of glass similar to the arrangement sold in the shops ; only it has to be remembered that a larger kind, such as ruginodis, requires rather more space between the panes than a little ant like flavus. They may easily be induced to take up their quarters within the artificial cases by the simple means suggested by Lord Avebury (or by him first suggested to the present writer) many years ago, of preparing the nest first, with the earth between the panes at the right degree of moisture, leaving one of the side-walls open, and then heaping above the glass case thus prepared the contents of the anthill from which
your new colony is to be founded, and so leaving it. All this must be placed in a tray full of water, or a box with sides lined with a strip of fur, with the hairs pointing downwards (which seems to.defeat all attempts of the ants at escape as effectively as a moat of water), until the whole population have settled in between the panes of glais and taken in their queen, larvae, pupae, eggs, and domestic creatures. They will do this in a day or two, for the sake of the moisture kept between the panes of glass, as all the moisture evaporates from the earth outside. Then begins a very interesting spectacle,—the tunnelling of the galleries and chambers, and so on. Once established in these nests, the ants show no disposition to leave them, provided food is within access (and wonderfully little food suffices for them), and provided the earth is not allowed to become too dry. Probably none of the kinds except flavus would be quite happy and healthy if they were debarred altogether from going out, and it is always well to leave a door open by which they can come out and roam. They may, if you like, be surrounded by a moat of water or by hair, but it does not seem necessary. They will find their way back—guided, probably, by a very delicate and complete sense in a certain joint of the antennae resembling our sense of smell—to the nest if they leave it, and, as a matter of fact, but few of them do leave it. As a rule they come out more by night than by day, all the tunnelling ants seeming to dislike light, and making no use of their eyes for the practical purposes of what we should call seeing, though very likely the eyes are extremely sensitive to light.
Of course there are many other kinds of British ants, some of which make very evident use of their eyes, that are quite as interesting to keep and study in confinement, such as the horse ant, F. rufa, that makes the big mounds of pine needles in the fir woods ; but they require a much larger range, and are not so conveniently kept. The ordinary British house- maid would be liable to "go off" if a nest or two of them were introduced into her domains. They are better in an outhouse, or studio, than as drawing-room pets ; and the apparatus for keeping them has to be relatively elaborate; besides Which, their habit of heaping up the needles and bits of stick makes it difficult 'to watch them. Yet the manners of some of this kind will repay the trouble. The interesting slave-making ant is a near cousin, and though it is probably hard to find him in England now, you may find him readily in Southern Europe, and we have not yet arrived at the time when a duty shall be imposed on the import of ants.
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