Chapter XXVII: Part II: Animal Life (20)

If one chances upon an ant battle, one must needs compare it to a battle of men before the invention of gunpowder; for in those days fighting was more gory and dreadful than now, since man fought man until one of the twain was slain. There is a great variation in military skill as well as in courage shown by different species of ants; the species most skilled in warfare, march to battle in a solid column and when they meet the enemy, the battle resolves itself into duels, although there is no code of ant honor which declares that one must fight the enemy single-handed. Although some ants are provided with venomous stings, our common species use their jaws for weapons; they also eject upon each other a very acid liquid which we know as formic acid. Two enemies approach each other, rear on their hind legs, throw this ant vitriol at each other, then close in deadly combat, each trying to cut the other in two. Woe to the one on which the jaws of her enemy are once set! For the ant has bulldog qualities, and if she once gets hold, she never lets go even though she be rent in pieces herself. At night the ant armies retreat to their citadels, but in the morning fare forth again to battle; and thus the war may be waged for days, and the battlefield be strewn with the remains of the dead and dying. So far as we are able to observe, there are two chief causes for ant wars; one is when two colonies desire the same ground, and the other is for the purpose of making slaves.

Photo by Slingerland.]

Perhaps the most interesting as well as most easily observed of all ant practices, are those that have to do with plant-lice, or aphids. If we find an ant climbing a plant of any sort, it is very likely that we shall find she is doing it for the purpose of tending her aphid herds. The aphid is a stupid little creature which lives by thrusting its bill or sucking tube into a stem or leaf of a plant, and thus settles down for life, nourished by the sap which it sucks up; it has a peculiar habit of exuding from its alimentary canal drops of honey-dew, when it feels the caress of the ant’s antennæ upon its back. I had one year under observation, a nest of elegant little ants with shining triangular abdomens which they waved in the air like pennants when excited. These ants were most devoted attendants on the plant-lice infesting an evening primrose; if I jarred the primrose stem, the ants had a panic, and often one would seize an aphid in her jaws and dash about madly, as if to rescue it at all hazards. When the ant wishes honey-dew, she approaches the aphid, stroking it or patting it gently with her antennæ, and if a drop of the sweet fluid is not at once forthcoming, it is probably because other ants have previously exhausted its individual supply; if the ant gets no response, she hurries on to some other aphid not yet milked dry.

This devotion of ants to aphids has been known for a hundred years, but only recently has it been discovered to be of economic importance. Professor Forbes, in studying the corn root-louse, discovered that the ants care for the eggs of this aphid in their own nests during the winter, and take the young aphids out early in the spring, placing them on the roots of smartweed; later, after the corn is planted, the ants move their charges to the roots of the corn. Ants have been seen to give battle to the enemies of the aphid. The aphids of one species living on dogwood are protected while feeding by stables, which a certain species of ant builds around them, from a mortar made of earth and vegetable matter.

_References_--Ants, W. M. Wheeler, Ant Communities, McCook.

LESSON XCV

FIELD OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS

_Leading thought_--However aimless to us may seem the course of the ant as we see her running about, undoubtedly if we understood her well enough, we should find that there is rational ant-sense in her performances. Therefore, whenever we are walking and have time, let us make careful observations as to the actions of the ants which we may see.

_Method_--The following questions should be written on the blackboard and copied by the pupils in their note-books. This should be done in May or June, and the answers to the questions worked out by observations made during the summer vacation.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find ants’ nests? Describe all the different kinds you have found. In what sort of soil do they make their nests? Describe the entrance to the nest. If the nest is a mound, is there more than one entrance? Are there many mounds near each other? If so, do you think they all belong to the same colony?

2. When the nest is disturbed, how do the ants act? Do they usually try to save themselves alone? Do they seek to save their young at the risk of their own lives? If an ant, carrying a young one is hard pressed, will she drop it?

3. Make notes on the difference in appearance of eggs, larvæ and pupæ in any ants’ nest.

4. In nests under stones, can you find larvæ and pupæ assorted according to sizes?

5. How many sizes of ants do you find living in the same nest?

6. What objects do you find ants carrying to their nests? Are these for food? How does an ant manage to carry an object larger than herself? Do you ever see two ants working together carrying the same load?

7. If you find a procession of ants carrying food to their nest, note if they follow the same path coming and going.

8. If you find winged ants in a nest, catch a few in a vial with a few of the workers, and compare the two. The winged ants are kings and queens, the kings being much smaller than the queens.

9. If you chance to encounter a swarm of winged ants taking flight, make observations as to the size of swarm, the height above the ground, and whether any are falling to the earth.

10. Look under the loose bark of trees for nests of the big, black carpenter ant. You may find in such situations a queen ant starting a colony, which will prove most desirable for stocking an artificial ant’s nest.

11. If you find ants climbing shrubs, trees or other plants, look upon the leaves for aphids and note the following points:

a. How does an ant act as she approaches an aphid?

b. If the aphids are crowded on the leaf, does she step on them?

c. Watch carefully to see how the ant touches the aphid when she wishes the honey-dew.

d. Watch how the aphid excretes the honey-dew, and note if the ant eats it.

e. If you disturb aphids which have ants tending them, note whether the ants attempt to defend or rescue their herds.

f. If there are aphis-lions or ladybird larvæ eating the aphids, note if the ants attack them.

12. If you find a colony of ants under stones where there are brown and black ants living together, the black members are the slaves of the brown. Observe as carefully as possible the actions of both the black and the brown inhabitants of the nest.

13. If you chance to see ants fighting, note how they make the attack. With what weapons do they fight? How do they try to get at the adversary?

14. Write an English theme covering the following points: How ants take their slaves; the attitude of masters and slaves toward each other; the work which the slaves do, and the story of the ant battle. How ants care for and use their herds.

_References_--American Insects, Kellogg, Manual for the Study of Insects, Comstock; Ants, McCook; True Tales, Jordan, page 6.

LESSON XCVI

HOW TO MAKE THE LUBBOCK ANT-NEST

_Material_--Two pieces of window glass, 10 inches square; a sheet of tin, 11 inches square; a piece of plank, 1¼ inch thick, 20 inches long and at least 16 inches wide; a sheet of tin or a thin, flat board, 10 inches square.

_To make the nest_--Take the plank and on the upper side, a short distance from the edge, cut a deep furrow. This furrow is to be filled with water, as a moat, to keep the ants imprisoned. It is necessary, therefore, that the plank should have no knot holes, and that it be painted thoroughly to keep it from checking. Take the sheet of tin 11 inches square, and make it into a tray by turning up the edges three-eighths of an inch. Place this tray in the middle of the plank. Place within the tray one pane of glass. Lay around the edges of this glass four strips of wood about half an inch wide and a little thicker than the height of the ants which are to live in the nest. Cover the glass with a thin layer of fine earth. Take the remaining pane of glass and cut a triangular piece off of one corner, then place the pane on top of the other, resting upon the pieces of wood around the sides. The cover of the nest may be a piece of tin, with a handle soldered to the center, or a board with a screw-eye in the center with which to lift it. There should be a piece of blotter or of very thin sponge, introduced into the nest between the two panes of glass, in a position where it may be reached with a pipette, without removing the upper glass, for it must be kept always damp.

To establish a colony in this nest proceed as follows: Take a two-quart glass fruit jar and a garden trowel. Armed with these, visit some pasture or meadow near by, and find under some stone, a small colony of ants which have plenty of eggs and larvæ. Scoop up carefully eggs, ants, dirt and all and place in the jar, being as careful as possible not to injure the specimens. While digging, search carefully for the queen, which is a larger ant and is sometimes thus found. But if you have plenty of eggs, larvæ and pupæ, the ants will become very contented in their new nest while taking care of them. After you have taken all the ants desirable, place the cover on the jar, carry them to the Lubbock nest and carefully empty the contents of the fruit jar on top of the board which covers the nest. Of course the furrow around the plank has been filled with water, so the stragglers cannot escape. The ants will soon find the way into the nest through the cut corner of the upper pane of glass, and will transfer their larvæ to it because it is dark. After they are in the nest, which should be within two or three hours, remove the dirt on the cover, and the nest is ready for observation. But, since light disturbs the little prisoners, the cover should be removed only for short periods.

The Fielde nest is better adapted for a serious study of ants, but it is not so well adapted for the schoolroom as is the Lubbock nest.

_Reference_--Ants, W. M. Wheeler.

THE ANT-NEST, AND WHAT MAY BE SEEN WITHIN IT

_Teacher’s Story_

Ant anatomy becomes a very interesting study when we note the vigorous way the ant uses it--even to the least part. The slender waist characterizes the ant as well as the wasp; the three regions of the body are easily seen, the head with its ever moving antennæ, the slender thorax with its three pairs of most efficient legs, and the long abdomen. The ant’s legs are fairly long as compared with the size of the body and the ant can run with a rapidity that, comparatively, would soon outdistance any Marathon runner, however famed. I timed an ant one day when she was taking a constitutional on my foot rule. She was in no hurry, and yet she made time that if translated into human terms would mean 16 yards per second. In addition to running, many ants when frightened will make leaps with incredible swiftness.

The ant does not show her cleverness in her physiognomy, probably because her eyes seem small and dull and she has a decidedly “retreating forehead;” but the brain behind this unpromising appearance is far more active and efficient than that behind the gorgeous great eyes of the dragon-fly or behind the “high brow” of the grasshopper. The ant’s jaws are very large compared with her head; they work sidewise like a pair of shears and are armed with triangular teeth along the biting edges; these are not teeth in a vertebrate sense, but are like the teeth of a saw. These jaws are the ant’s chief utensils and weapons; with them she seizes the burdens of food which she carries home; with them she gently lifts her infant charges; with them she crushes and breaks up hard food; with them she carries out soil from her tunnel, and with them she fights her enemies. She also has a pair of long palpi, or feelers.

Although her eyes are so small and furnished with coarse facets, as compared with other insects, this fact need not count against her, for she has little need of eyes. Her home life is passed in dark burrows where her antennæ give her information of her surroundings. Note how these antennæ are always moving, seeming to be atremble in eagerness to receive sensations. But aside from their powers of telling things by the touch, wherein they are more delicate than the fingers of the blind, they have other sense organs which are comparable to our sense of smell. Miss Fielde has shown that the five end segments of the antennæ have each its own powers in detecting odor. The end segment detects the odor of the ant’s own nest and enables her to distinguish this from other nests. The next, or eleventh segment, detects the odor of any descendant of the same queen; by this, she recognizes her sisters wherever she finds them. Through the next, or tenth segment, she recognizes the odor of her own feet on the trail, and thus can retrace her own steps. The eighth and ninth segments convey to her the intelligence and means of caring for the young. If an ant is deprived of these five end-joints of the antennæ, she loses all power as a social ant and becomes completely disenfranchised. Miss Fielde gives her most interesting experiments in detail in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, July and October, 1901.

It is natural enough that the ant, depending so much on her antennæ for impressions and stimuli, should be very particular to keep them clean and in good order. She is well equipped to do this, for she has a most efficient antennæ brush on her wrist; it is practically a circular comb, which just fits over the antenna; and to see the ants using these brushes is one of the most common sights in the ant-nest and one of the most amusing. The ant usually commences by lifting her leg over one antenna and deftly passing it through the brush, and then licks the brush clean by passing it through her mouth, as a cat washes her face; then she cleans the other in a similar manner and possibly finishes by doing both alternately, winding up with a flourish, like a European gentleman curling his mustaches. Her antennæ cleaned, she starts promptly to do something, for she is a little six-footed Martha, always weighed down or buoyed up by many duties and cares. Keeping her antennæ on the qui vive, she assures herself, by touch, of the nature of any obstacle in her path. If she meets another ant, their antennæ cross and pat each other, and thus they learn whether they are sisters or aliens; if they are sisters, they may stand for some time with their antennæ fluttering. One who has watched ants carefully, is compelled to believe that they thus convey intelligence of some sort, one to the other. The ant is a good sister “according to her lights;” if her sister is hungry, she will give to her, even from her own partially digested food; the two will often stand mouth to mouth for some minutes during this process; if she feels inclined, she will also help a sister at her toilet, and lick her with her tongue as one cow licks another. The tongue of the ant is very useful in several ways; with it she takes up liquids, and also uses it with much vigor as a washcloth. Sometimes an ant will spend a half hour or more at her own toilet, licking every part of her own body that her tongue can reach, meanwhile going through all sorts of contortions to accomplish it; she uses her feet to scrub portions of her body, not to be reached by her tongue.

But it is as infant nurse that the ant is a shining example. No mother instinct is hers, for she has yielded the power of motherhood to the exigencies of business life, since all workers are females but are undeveloped sexually. She shows far more sense in the care of her infant sisters, than the mother instinct often supplies to human mothers. The ant nurse takes the eggs as soon as laid, and whether or not her care retards or hastens hatching we know not; but we do know, that although the queen ant may not lay more than two eggs per day, a goodly number of these seem to hatch at the same time. The eggs are massed in bundles and are sticky on the outside so as to hold the bundle together. Miss Fielde says, as the eggs are hatching, one ant will hold up the bundle, while another feeds those which have broken the shell. The larvæ, when young, also hang together by means of tiny hooks on their bodies. This habit of the eggs and young larvæ is a convenient one, since an ant is thus able to carry many at a time.

The larvæ are odd looking little creatures, shaped like crookneck squashes, the small end being the head and neck and the latter being very extensible. The ant nurses, by feeding some more than others, are able to keep a brood at the same stage of development; and in a well ordered ant-nest, we find those of the same size in one nursery. I have often thought of a graded school as I have noted in ant-nests the youngsters assorted according to size.

The ants seem to realize the cost and care of rearing their young; and when a nest is attacked, the oldest, which are usually in the pupa stage, are saved first. When the larvæ are young, they are fed on regurgitated food; but as they grow older, the food is brought to them, or they to the food, and they do their own eating. In one of my nests, I placed part of the yolk of an egg hard boiled, and the ant nurses dumped the larvæ down around the edges of it; there they munched industriously, until through their transparent bodies I could see the yellow of the egg the whole length of the alimentary canal. The ant nurses are very particular about temperatures for their young, and Miss Fielde says they are even more careful about draughts. Thus they are obliged to move them about in the ground nests, carrying them down to the lower nurseries in the heat of the day, and bringing them up, nearer to the warm stones, during the evenings. This moving is always done carefully, and though the ant’s jaws are such formidable nippers, she carries her baby sisters with gentleness; and if they be pupæ, she holds them by the loose pupal skin, like carrying a baby by its clothes. The pupæ look like plump little grain bags, tied at one end with a black string. They are the size of small grains of wheat, and are often called ants’ eggs, which is absurd, since they are almost as large as the ant. Ants’ eggs are not larger than pin points.

The ant nurses keep the larvæ and pupæ very clean by licking them; and when a youngster issues from the pupa skin, it is a matter of much interest to the nurses. I have often seen two or three of them help straighten out the cramped legs and antennæ of the young one, and hasten to feed her with regurgitated food. When ants first issue from the pupa skin they are pale in color, their eyes being very black in contrast; they are usually helpless and stupid, although they often try to clean their antennæ and make a toilet; but they do not know enough to follow their elders from one room to another, and they are a source of much care to the nurses. In case of moving, a nurse will lock jaws with a “callow,” as a freshly hatched adult ant is called, and drag her along, the legs of the callow sprawling helplessly meanwhile. If in haste, the nurse takes hold anywhere, by the neck or the leg, and hustles her charge along; if she takes her by the waist the callow curls up like a kitten, and is thus more easily moved. After moving them from one chamber to the next, I have noticed that the callows are herded together, their attendants ranged in a circle about them. Often we see one ant carrying another which is not a callow, and this means that a certain number of the colony have made up their minds to move, while the others are not awake to this necessity. In such a case, one of these energetic sisters will seize another by the waist, and carry her off with an air that says plainly, “Come along, you stupid!”

Ants are very cleanly in their nests, and we find the refuse piled in a heap at one corner, or as far as possible from the brood.

If we are fortunate enough to find a queen for the nest, then we may observe the attention she gets; she is always kept in a special compartment, and is surrounded by ladies in waiting, who feed her and lick her clean and show solicitude for her welfare; although I have never observed in an ants’ nest, that devotion to royalty which we see in a beehive.

Not the least interesting scene in an ants’ nest is when all, or some, are asleep and are as motionless as if dead.

LESSON XCVII

OBSERVATIONS OF ANTS IN AN ARTIFICIAL NEST

_Leading thought_--The ants are very devoted to their young and perhaps the care of them is the most interesting feature in the study of the artificial nest.

_Method_--Have, in the schoolroom, a Lubbock’s nest with a colony of ants within it, with their larvæ in all stages, and if possible, their queen. For observing the form of the ant, pass one or two around in a vial.

_Observations_--1. What is there peculiar about the shape of the ant’s body? Can you see which section bears the legs? Are the ants’ legs long compared with her body? Can she run rapidly?

2. Look at the ant’s head through a lens, and describe the antennæ, the jaws and the eyes.

3. Note how the ant keeps her antennæ in motion. Note how she gropes with them as a blind person with his hands. Note how she uses them in conversing with her companions.

4. How does the ant clean her antennæ? Does she clean them more often than any other part of her body? How does she make her toilet?

5. See how an ant eats syrup. How do ants feed each other?

6. How does the ant carry an object? How does she carry a larva or a pupa? Have you ever seen one ant carry another? If so, describe it.

7. Note the way the ants feed their young. How do they keep them clean? Does an ant carry one egg or one small larva at a time or a bundle of them? How do you suppose the bundle is fastened together?

8. Describe an egg, a larva and a pupa of the ant and tell how they differ. Do you know which ant is the mother of the larvæ in the nest?

9. Do you find larvæ of different sizes all together in your nest? Do you find larvæ and pupæ in the same group? Do the ants move the young often from one nest to another? Why do you suppose they do this?

10. Note how the ant nurses take care of the callow ant when it is coming out from the pupa skin. How do they assist her and care for her? How do they lead her around? How do ants look when resting?

11. Note where the ants throw the refuse from the nest. Do they ever change the position of this dump heap?

THE MUD-DAUBER

_Teacher’s Story_

This little cement worker is a nervous and fidgety creature, jerking her wings constantly as she walks around in the sunshine; but perhaps this is not nervousness, but rather to show off the rainbow iridescence of her black wings; surely such a slim-waisted being as she, has a right to be vain. No tight lacing ever brought about such a long, slim waist as hers; it is a mere pedicel, and the abdomen is a mere knob at the end of it. The latter seen from the outside, would seem of little use as an abdomen; but if we watch the insect flying, we can see plainly that it is used to steer with.

In early summer, we find this black wasp at her trade as a mason. She seeks the edges of pools or puddles where she works industriously, leaving many little holes whence she takes mud to mix with the saliva, which she secretes from her mouth to make firm her cement. This cement she plasters on the under side of some roof or rafter or other protected place, going back and forth until she has built a suitable foundation. She works methodically, making a tube about an inch long, smooth inside but rough outside, the walls about one-eighth of an inch thick. She does all of the plastering with her jaws, which she uses as a trowel. When the tube is completed except that the end is left open, she starts off in quest of spiders, and very earnestly does she seek them. I have seen her hunt every nook and corner of a piazza for this prey. When she finds a spider, she pounces upon it and stings it until it is helpless, and carries it to her cement tube, which is indeed a spider sarcophagus, and thrusts it within. She brings more spiders until her tube is nearly full; she then lays an egg within it and then makes more cement and neatly closes the door of the tube. She then places another tube by the side of this, which she provisions and closes in the same way; and then she may make another and another tube, often a half dozen, under one adobe roof.

The wasp in some mysterious way knows how to thrust her sting into the spider’s nervous system in a peculiar way, which renders her victim unable to move although it yet lives. The wasp is no vegetarian like the bee, and she must supply her young with wasp-meat instead of bee-bread. Since it is during the summer and hot weather when the young wasps are hatched and begin their growth, their meat must be kept fresh for a period of two or three weeks. So these paralyzed spiders do not die, although they are helpless. It is certainly a practical joke with justice in it, that these ferocious creatures lie helpless while being eaten by a fat little grub which they would gladly devour, if they could move.

Drawn by Anna C. Stryke.]

The wasp larva is a whitish, plump grub and it eats industriously until the spider meat is exhausted. It then weaves a cocoon of silk about itself which just covers the walls of its home tube, like a silken tapestry; within this cocoon the grub changes to a pupa. When it finally emerges, it is a full-grown wasp with jaws which are able to cut a door in the end of its tube, through which it comes out into the world, a free and accepted mason. The females or queens, which issue late in the season, hide in warm or protected places during the winter; they particularly like the folds of lace window curtains for hibernating quarters. There they remain until spring comes, when they go off to build their plaster houses.

There are about seventy species of mud wasps in our country. Some provision their nests with caterpillars instead of spiders. This is true of the jug-builder, which makes her nest jug-shaped and places two or three of them side by side upon a twig. She uses hair in her mortar, which makes it stronger. This is necessary, since the jug is saddled upon twigs and is more exposed to the rain than is the nest of the most common mud-dauber. The jug-builder is brown in color and has yellow markings on the abdomen; but she does not resemble the yellow-jackets, because she has a threadlike waist. There are other species of mud wasps which use any small cavity they can find for the nest, plastering up the opening after the nest has been provisioned and the egg laid. We often find keyholes, knot-holes and even the cavity in the telephone receiver, plastered up by these small opportunists.

The mud-dauber which is the most common, and most likely to be selected for this lesson, is a slender creature and looks as if she were made of black tinsel; her body gives off glints of steel and blue; her abdomen constantly vibrates with the movement of breathing. Her eyes are large and like black beads; her black antennæ curve gracefully outward, and her wings, corrugated with veins, shimmer with a smoky blue, green and purple. She stands on her black tip-toes when she walks, and she has a way of turning around constantly as if she expected an attack from the rear. Her wings, like those of other mud-wasps are not folded fan-wise like those of the yellow-jacket, but are folded by each other over her back.

LESSON XCVIII

THE MUD-DAUBER

_Leading thought_--There are certain wasps which gather mud and mix it into mortar with which to build nests for their young. Within these nests, the mother wasp places spiders or insects which are disabled by her sting, for the food of the young wasps.

_Method_--Have the pupils bring the homes of the mud wasps to school for observation. The wasps themselves are very common in June and also in September, and they also may be studied at school and may be passed around in vials for closer observation; they do not sting severely when handled, the sting being a mere prick. The purpose of the lesson should be to stimulate the pupils to watch the mud-daubers while building their nests and capturing their prey.

_Observations_--1. Where did you find the mud-dauber’s nest? How was it protected from the rain? Was it easily removed? Could you remove it all, or did some of it remain stuck fast?

2. What is the shape of the nest? How does it look inside? Of how many tubes does it consist? How long is each tube? Were the tubes laid side by side?

3. Of what material was the nest made? Is it not much harder than mud? How did the wasp change the mud to cement? Where did she get the mud? How did she carry it? With what tools did she plaster it?

4. For what purpose was the nest made? Is the inside of the tubes smooth as compared with the outside of the nest?

5. Write a little story about all that happens in one of these tubes, including the following points: What did the mother wasp place in the tube? How and why did she close it? What hatched from the egg she placed within it? How does the young wasp look? On what does it feed? What sort of a cocoon does it spin? How does it get out of the nest when full-grown?

6. Describe the mud-dauber wasp. How large is she? What is the color of her body? Of her wings? How many wings has she? How are her wings folded differently from those of the yellow-jacket? Describe her eyes; her antennæ; her legs; her waist; her abdomen.

7. Where did you find the wasp? How did she act? Do you think that she can sting? How does she pass the winter?

8. Do you know the mud wasps which build the little, jug-shaped nests for their young? Do you know the mud wasps which utilize crevices and keyholes for their nests and plaster up the opening?

9. Do you know about the digger wasps which pack away grasshoppers or caterpillars in a hole in the ground, in which they lay their egg and then cover it?

_Supplementary reading_--Insect Stories, Kellogg; Wasps, Social and Solitary, Peckham; Wasps and their Ways, Morley; The Ways of the Six-footed, Comstock; Home Studies in Nature, Treat.

THE YELLOW-JACKET

_Teacher’s Story_

Many wasps are not so waspish after all when we understand one important fact about them; i. e., although they are very nervous themselves, they detest that quality in others. For years the yellow-jackets have shared with us our meals at our summer camp on the lake shore. They make inquisitive tours of inspection over the viands on the table, often seeming to include ourselves, and coming so near that they fan our faces with their wings. They usually end by selecting the sweetened fruits, but they also carry off bits of roast beef, pouncing down upon the meat platter and seizing a tidbit as a hawk does a chicken. We always remain calm during these visitations, for we know that unless we inadvertently pinch one, we shall not be harmed; and it is great fun to watch one of these graceful creatures poising daintily on the side of the dish lapping up the fruit juice as a cat does milk, the slender, yellow-banded abdomen palpitating as she breathes. Occasionally, two desire the same place, and a wrestling match ensues which is fierce while it lasts, but the participants always come back to the dish unharmed. They are extra polite in their manners, for after one has delved eagerly into the fruit syrup, she proceeds to clean her front feet by passing them through her jaws, which is a wasp way of using a finger bowl.

Both yellow-jackets and the white-faced black-hornets build in trees and similarly, although the paper made by the yellow-jackets is finer in texture. However, some species of yellow-jackets build their nests in the ground, but of similar form. The nest is of paper made of bits of wood which the wasps pull off with their jaws from weather-worn fences or boards. This wood is reduced to a pulp by saliva which is secreted from the wasp’s mouth, and is laid on in little layers which can be easily seen by examining the outside of the nest. These layers may be of different colors. A wasp will come with her load of paper pulp, and using her jaws and front feet for tools she will join a strip to the edge of the paper and pat it into shape. The paper tears more readily along the lines of the joining, than across. The cover of the nest is made of many layers of shell-like pieces fastened together and the outer layers are waterproof; the opening of a nest is at the bottom. Mr. Lubbock has shown that certain wasps are stationed at the door, as sentinels, to give warning on the approach of the enemy. The number of stories of combs in a nest depends upon the age and size of the colony. They are fastened together firmly near the center, by a central core or axis of very strong, firm paper, which at the top is attached to a branch or whatever supports the nest. The cells all open downward, in this respect differing from those of the honey-bee, which are usually placed horizontal. The wasp-comb differs from the honey-comb in that it is made of paper instead of wax, and that the rows of cells are single instead of double. The cells in the wasp-comb are not for storing honey, but are simply the cradles for the young wasps. (See Fig. p. 457.)

Sometimes a wasp family disaster makes it possible for us to examine one of these nests with its inmates. Here we find in some of the cells, the long white eggs fastened to the very bottom of the cell, in an inner angle, as if a larva when hatched needed to have a cozy corner. These wasp larvæ are the chubbiest little grubs imaginable and are very soft bodied. It was once a mystery to me how they were able to hang in the cells, head down, without getting “black in the face” or falling out; but this was made plain by studying the little disk at the rear end of the larva’s body, which is decidedly sticky; after a larva is dead, its heavy body can be lifted by pressing a match against this disk; thus it evidently suffices to keep the baby wasp stuck fast to its cradle. The larva’s body is mostly covered with a white, papery, soft skeleton skin; the head is yellowish and highly polished, looking like a drop of honey. At one side may be seen a pair of toothed jaws, showing that it is able to take and chew any food brought by the nurses. They seem to be well trained youngsters for they all face toward the center of the nest, so that a nurse, when feeding them, can move from one to another without having to pass to the other side of the cell. It is a funny sight to behold a combful of well grown larvæ, each fitting in its cell like meal in a bag and with head and several segments projecting out as if the bag were overflowing. It behooves the wasp larva to get its head as far out of the cell as possible, so that it will not be overlooked by the nurses; the little ones do this by holding themselves at the angle of the cell; this they accomplish by wedging the back into the corner. These young larvæ do not face inwards like the older ones, but they rest in an inner angle of the cell.

After a larva has reached the limit of its cell room, it spins a veil around itself and fastens it at the sides, so that it forms a lining to the upper part of the cell and makes a bag over the “head and shoulders” of the insect. This cocoon is very tough, and beneath its loose dome the larva skin is shed; the pupa takes on a decidedly waspish form, except that the color is all black; the legs and the wings are folded piously down the breast and the antennæ lie meekly each side of the face, with the “hands” folded outside of them; the strong toothed jaws are ready, so that when the pupa skin is molted, the insect can cut its silken curtain, and come out into its little nest world, as a full-fledged yellow-jacket.

What a harlequin the wasp is, in her costume of yellow and black! Often in the invertebrate world these colors mean “sit up and take notice,” and the wasp’s costume is no exception. Whoever has had any experience in meddling with yellow-jackets, avoids acquaintance with all yellow and black insects. Yet we must confess that the lady wasp has good taste in dress. The yellow cross bands on her black skirt are scalloped, and, in fact, all her yellow is put on in a most _chic_ manner; she, being slender, can well afford to dress in roundwise stripes, and she folds her wings prettily like a fan, and not over her back like the mud wasp, which would cover her decorations. There is a sensation coming to the one who, armed with a lens, looks a wasp in the face; she always does her hair pompadour, and the yellow is here put on with a most bizarre effect, in points and arabesques. Even her jaws are yellow with black borders and black notches. Her antennæ are velvety black, her legs are yellow, and her antennæ comb, on her wrist, is a real comb and quite ornate.

In the nest which we studied in late August, the queen cells were just being developed. They were placed in a story all by themselves, and they were a third larger than the cells of the workers. The queen of this nest was a most majestic wasp, fully twice as large as any of her subjects; her face was entirely black, and the yellow bands on her long abdomen were of quite a different pattern than those on the workers; her sting was not so long in proportion, but I must confess it looked efficient. In fact, a yellow-jacket’s sting is a formidable looking spear when seen through a microscope, since it has on one side some backward projecting barbs, meant to hold it firm when driving home the thrust.

While wasps are fond of honey and other sweets, they are also fond of animal food and eat a great many insects, benefiting us greatly by destroying mosquitoes and flies. As no food is stored for their winter use, all wasps excepting the queens die of the cold. The queens crawl away to protected places and seem to be able to withstand the rigors of winter; each queen, in the spring, makes a little comb of a few cells, covering it with a thin layer of paper. She then lays eggs in these cells and gathers food for the young; but when these first members of the family, which are always workers, come to maturity, they take upon themselves the work of enlarging the nest and caring for the young. After that, the queen devotes her energies to laying eggs.

Wasps enlarge their houses by cutting away the paper from the inside of the covering, to give more room for building the combs wider; to compensate for this, they build additional layers on the outside of the nest. Thus it is, that every wasp’s nest, however large, began as a little comb of a few cells and was enlarged to meet the needs of the rapidly growing family. Ordinarily the nest made one year is not used again.

LESSON XCIX

THE YELLOW-JACKET

_Leading thought_--The wasps were the original paper makers, using wood pulp for the purpose. Some species construct their houses of paper in the trees or bushes while others build in the ground.

_Method_--Take a deserted wasp-nest, the larger the better, with sharp scissors remove one side of the covering of the nest, leaving the combs exposed and follow with the questions and suggestions indicated. From this study of the nest encourage the children to observe more closely the wasps and their habits, which they can do in safety if they learn to move quietly while observing (See Fig. p. 457.)

_Observations_--1. Which kind of wasp do you think made this nest? Of what is the nest made? Where did the wasp get the material? How do the wasps make wood into paper?

2. What is the general shape of the nest? Is the nest well covered to protect it from rain? Where is the door where the wasps went in and out? Is the covering of the nest all of the same color? Do these differences in color give you any idea of how the wasps build the paper into the nest? Does the paper tear more easily one way than another? Is the covering of the nest solid or in layers?

3. How many combs or stories are there in the wasp house? How are they fastened together and how suspended?

4. Compare the combs of the wasp-nest with those of the honey-bee. How do they resemble each other and how differ? Do the cells open upward or downward? For what purpose are the combs in the wasp-nest used? Are all the cells of the same size? Do you know the reason for this difference in size?

5. How do the young wasp grubs manage to cling to the cells head downward? Are the cells lined with a different color and does this lining extend out over the opening in some cases? Is this lining of the cells made of paper also? Do you know how a young wasp looks and how the white lining of the cells is made?

6. Do you believe that some wasps of the colony are always posted as sentinels at the door to give warning if the colony is attacked?

7. Do wasps store food to sustain them during the winter? What happens to them during winter? Is the same nest used year after year?

8. Can you describe the beginning of this wasp-nest? When was it made? Tell the story of the wasp that made it. How large was the nest at first? How was the nest enlarged?

9. What is the food of wasps? How do these insects benefit us?

10. Write a story giving the life history of a wasp.

11. In the summer watch a yellow-jacket eat from a dish of sweetened fruit which you may place out of doors to coax her to come where you can carefully observe her. What are the colors of the yellow-jacket? Where is the yellow? How are the yellow bands made ornamental? How does she fold her wings? How many wings has she? What is the color of her legs? Describe her antennæ and eyes. How does she eat the fruit juice? Can you see the motion of her body when she breathes?

THE LEAF-CUTTER BEE

_Teacher’s Story_

One beautiful day in late June when I was picking some roses, I saw a bee, almost as large as a honey-bee but different in shape and darker in color, alight on a leaf and moving with nervous rapidity, cut a circle out of a leaf with her jaws “quicker’n a wink;” then taking the piece between her fore-feet and perhaps holding it also with her jaws, she flew away, the green disk looking as large in proportion to her size as a big base drum hung to the neck of a small drummer. I waited long for her to come back, but she came not; meanwhile I examined the leaves of the rose bush and found many circlets, and also many oblong holes with the ends deeply rounded, cut from the leaflets.

I knew the story of the little bee and was glad I had seen her cut a leaflet with her jaw shears, which work sidewise like real shears. I knew that somewhere she had found a cavity big enough for her needs; perhaps she had tunneled it herself in the dead wood of some post or stump, using her jaws to cut away the chips; maybe she had found a crevice beneath the shingles of a roof or beneath a stone in the field, or she may have rolled a leaf; anyway, her little cave was several inches long, circular in outline and large enough to admit her body. She first cut a long piece from the rose leaf and folded it at the end of the tunnel; and then she brought another and another long piece and bent and shaped them into a little thimble-like cup, fastening them together with some saliva glue, from her mouth. After the cup was made to her liking, she went in search of food, which was found in the pollen of some flowers. This pollen was carried not as the honey-bees do, because she has no pollen baskets on her legs; but it was dusted into the fur on the lower side of her body; as she scraped the pollen off, she mixed it with some nectar which she had also found in the flowers, and made it into a pasty mass and heaped it at the bottom of the cup; she probably made many visits to flowers before she had a sufficient amount of this bee pastry, and then she laid an egg upon it; after this, she immediately flew back to the rose bush to cut a lid for her cup. She is a nice mathematician and she cuts the lid just a little larger than the rim of the cup, so that it may be pushed down in, making it fit very closely around the edges; she then cuts another and perhaps another of the same size and puts them over and fastened to the first cover. When finished, it is surely the prettiest baby basket ever made by a mother, all safely enclosed to keep out enemies. But her work is then only begun. She has other baby baskets to make and she perhaps makes ten or more, placing one cup just ahead of another in the little tunnel.

But what is happening meanwhile to the bee babies in the baskets? The egg hatches into a little white bee grub which falls to and eats the pollen and nectar paste with great eagerness. As it eats, it grows and sheds its skeleton skin as often as it becomes too tight, and then eats and grows some more. How many mothers would know just how much food it would require to develop a child from infancy until it grows up! This bee mother knows well this amount and when the food is all gone, the little bee grub is old enough to change to a pupa; it looks very different now, and although mummy-shaped we can see its folded wings and antennæ. After remaining a motionless pupa for a few days, it sheds its pupa skin and now it is a bee just like its mother; but as the oldest bee is at the bottom of the tunnel, even after it gets its wings and gnaws its way out of its basket, it very likely cannot escape and find its way out into the sunshiny world, until its younger brothers and sisters have gone out before it.

There are many species of these leaf-cutter bees and each species makes its own kind of a nest, always cutting the same size of circlets and usually choosing its own special kind of leaf to make this cradle. Some are daintier in their tastes and use rolled petals instead of leaves; and we have found some tiny cups made of gorgeous peony petals, and some of pansy petals, a most exquisite material.

At Chautauqua we found a species which rolled maple leaves into a tube which held three or four cups, and we also found there a bee stowing her cups in the open end of a tubular rod, used to hold up an awning. There are other species which make short tunnels in the ground for their nests, but perhaps the most common of all wedge their cups between or beneath the shingles on the roofs of summer cottages. But, however or wherever the leaf-cutter works, she is a master mechanic and does her work with niceness and daintiness.

Drawing by Anna C. Stryke.]

LESSON C

THE LEAF-CUTTER BEE

_Leading thought_--When we see the edges of rose leaves with holes of regular pattern in them, some of the holes being oblong and some circular, we know the leaf-cutter bee has cut them to make her cradle cups.

_Method_--It is very easy to find in June or autumn the leaves from which the leaf-cutter bee has cut the bedding for her young. Encourage the pupils to look for the nest during the summer and to bring some of the cups to school when they return, where they may be studied in detail; meanwhile the teacher may tell the story of the nest. This is rather difficult for the pupils to work out.

_Observations_--1. Do you find rose leaves with round holes cut in their edges? Do you find on the same bush some leaflets with oblong holes in them? Sketch or describe the rose leaf thus cut, noting exactly the shape of the holes. Are the circular holes of the same size? Are the long holes about equal in size and shape? Do you find any other plants with holes like these cut in them? Do you find any petals of flowers thus cut?

2. What do you think made these holes? If an insect was taking a leaf for food would the holes be as regular? Watch the rose bush carefully and see if you can discover the insect which cuts the leaf.

Photo by Slingerland.]