The Columbus Journal

BATTLE AMONG ANTS

Details of an interesting fight which lasted five hours, "hand to hand" struggle—soldiers of reckless daring—distinction between friend and foe—dreadful after the battle.

In the summer a year ago a swarm of black ants (Formica Pennsylvanica) built their nests in the ceiling and the roof of a shed near our dwelling, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. At a distance of a few hundred feet from the shed a second colony of the same species had also built a home in a sheltered place. Both nests were unusually populous.

Battles between ants of different species fought for the purpose of capturing slaves have been often described. But on a bright morning in August I was a witness of a fight between these two colonies of the same species, which could have been waged for no such purpose, and which gave the occasion for a greater display of forethought on the part of the combatants than is usually conceded even to the ant.

The nest in the roof was the one attacked. The only approach to it from the ground was by a post and plastered wall about six feet high. A smooth plank door fitted closely against the wall and post and was raised above the ground by a low step. This floor was the scene of the conflict.

In all my repeated study of these nests and their inhabitants during the summer months the small workers were the only ones who seemed to labor. They did all the foraging, and it was unusual to see one of the larger workers outside of the entrance of the nest, which, however, they faithfully guarded.

The conduct of the latter so much more closely agreed with that of the soldier ants of kindred species that in speaking of them in this paper I shall call them soldiers, because they certainly performed all the duties of a soldier, and, so far as could be seen, did nothing else.

When I saw them on the morning of the battle both the small workers and the large ones, or soldiers, were out on the wall, post and floor in great numbers. There was no fight then going on. A strong force of soldiers held every approach at the foot of the post and wall, smaller bodies were formed in regular lines half way up the post, and large, outstanding groups were stationed at close distances here and there upon the floor and step, and running up and down the post supporting the nest.

While I stood wondering at the unusual commotion I saw at the distance of a few feet a host of small workers, closely followed by a great horde of soldiers, streaming along a fence from the other distant nest. They must have numbered thousands.

In a very short time these hostile workers had descended the fence to the ground, swarmed up the step to the door and poured in crowds upon the defensive scouts. The antagonists rushed upon each other, and with their strong jaws cut off here a leg and there an antenna, and sometimes severed the body of an opponent at a blow.

The foremost soldiers of the defensive party came to the rescue, and the swarm of hostile workers were driven back toward the step.

But by this time the soldiers of the attacking party had reached the floor, moving deliberately onward in a dense black mass, crushing their smaller foes as they advanced.

In a few moments the small workers were either all killed or retired from the front. Then the battle between the soldiers of the opposing forces began in earnest.

Halting a moment till their ranks were close and compact, though by no means regular, the invaders advanced to the attack in a dense mass, seeming to completely cover the floor over which they moved.

In this close array they met the defenders, whom they greatly outnumbered. They were received, however, with a courage as great as their own, and their ranks were quickly broken up and thrown into apparent disorder.

After the general charge had been thus made and the combatants were mixed in an undistinguishable crowd, single champions were seen rushing around the floor seeking foe.

When two of these champions approached each other a mutual examination with the ends of their antennae now seemed necessary to tell foe from friend.

Many such meetings were friendly, and after the salutation both would rush away at full speed.

But when, by the delicate test of feeling or whatever serves them to thus distinguish, each had found an enemy, they rushed upon one another with the utmost rage, clinched both with feet and jaws, and doubling themselves up, rolled over the floor, biting and tearing each other, entirely undisturbed in their deadly work by being lifted up into the air with a pair of forceps.

At one time the door was nearly black with these rolling combatants.

As the battle progressed the superior numbers of the invaders drove the defenders of their home slowly backward to the foot of the post.

Then a number of the small workers, who had been stationed upon the post, ran rapidly up to the nest. In a moment a fresh army of soldiers, numbering many hundreds, rushed from the nest, and, descending the post, passed the guards at the base and fell upon the victorious foe, driving them back slowly, but steadily, to the edge of the step.

The guards at the base of the post did not appear to leave their station to engage in the general fight, and only took part in it at all when the attacking soldiers tried to pass them to reach the nest.

The fight lasted about five hours, and ended in a total rout of the attacking party.

Toward the close the wounded, doubtless of the invading party, were seen dragging themselves off the field, generally carrying with them some enemy which had fastened upon them by his strong jaws in a death embrace.

In many cases these attached foemen were found to consist only of a pair of jaws and a head, all the rest of the body having been torn away in the fight.

With bulldog tenacity the head held on firmly, resisting all efforts of the wounded ants to remove it.

To test the force of his grip of the jaws I touched some of the unwounded soldiers with a pair of steel forceps.

They bit the end of the forceps so firmly that it was not possible to detach them by pressing them against the mouth of a collecting bottle without crushing the ant itself.

When the enemy had been driven off and the fighting was over the workers came down from the nest and carried away many of the dead.

But when they ceased their labors hundreds of the dead were left, and from the fact that before lifting and dragging away a body two or more of them at the same time carefully examined it with their antennae, and then with one accord either took it away or left it where it was lying—never once seeming to differ in their decision—it would seem that even after death they distinguished friend from foe.

The wounded defenders of their home tried to crawl up to the nest. The loss of legs and antennae made this difficult, and while some succeeded many failed.

When the latter found the task a vain one they crept slowly out into the grass and died.

For two days after the battle a strong guard of soldiers was kept at the bottom of the post.

Finally these were withdrawn, and the ant colony settled down to its usual quiet routine.—Philadelphia Ledger.