THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THUMMEL

F ANTAS TIC story in the style of Gullivers A Travels or Erewhon, but founded upon the marvellous social life of the ants. A naturalist finds in Central Africa, in a huge ants' nest, dry leaves bearing curious spots. Another scientist, Timothy Thummel, astounds the world with the theory that they may be a kind of script written by ants themselves. He is confined in a lunatic asylum, where he succeeds in deciphering the hieroglyphics as Chronicles of a prehistoric Ant Race. A legendary Giant Ant laid the eggs of the primeval ancestors, and commanded them to work incessantly. Social upheavals take place, resulting in two privileged castes being founded- the "Holy-Ants" and the "Lord-Ants." The story reaches its climax dn the narration of the great Ant World-War, foµght between the three principle races on an area of the size of Lincoln's Inn Fields.

The dnts of Timothy 'I'hiimmel 7s. 6d. net THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH0MMEL MOTTO : Historia formicarum, si omnia commemorare velim, longior futura sit Iliade. ERASMUS EBNERUS : " Encomium Formicarum 11 (in Lib. Declamationum Melanchthonis), A.D. 1541. The Ants of Timothy Thtimmel by Arpad Ferenczy

Jonathan Cape Ltd Eleven Gower Street, London FIRST PUBLISHED 19:24 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WITH THREE DRAWINGS BY T. H. ROBINSON

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BUTLER AND TANNER LTD., FROME AND LONDON TO HORACE DONISTHORPE

Introduction

H_E .few years whi~h have elapsed since the T tragic death of Timothy Thiimmel, Ph.D., Privat-Docent of Entomology, late Custodian of the Insect House at the Zoological Gardens in Budapest, have been sufficient to silence .all the army of his scientific opponents, at the head of whom was Professor Armstrong, the famous African traveller and naturalist. Many of his antagonists have found themselves brought to open retractation, or even to apology. At that time, however, now more than a lustrum, when Thiimmel's first reports on the ARUWIMI ANTS appeared in the leading zoological journals of the world (first of all in the Hungarian Termeszet­ Tudomanyi Kozlony and in the British Entomological Review), they created a sensation not only in the small circle of zoologists, but throughout the whole world, among all cultivated minds. But Thiimmel then reaped only scorn and an unanimous re­ jection. He also lost the reputation which he had won so laboriously by his scientific travels, extending over several years, in New Guinea, whence he had returned, already a physically broken man, with a most marvellous collection of Coleo- and H ymenoptera. Instead of the well­ merited chair, the Professorship of Zoology in the Budapest University, and the coveted recognition and applause, his share was public ridicule, the common lot of so many original minds and great pioneers of human knowledge. That he, enfeebled by tropical fever and his immense exer- 7 INTRODUCTION tions in defending his views and scientific reputa­ tion, soon afterwards departed voluntarily from a life which had lost, for him, all charm, bereft of public esteem and recognition-who could wonder? In the closely written quarto diary books, found among his papers after his most lamentable death by his own hand on the 16th May 1916 in the Kurhaus of Elm, Switzerland, the truth for which he died, and which was not allowed himself to communicate to the world, and to see triumph, is preserved, fortunately. To the last, what was to him an absolute certainty-that his theory on the brain and intelligence of the ANTS was founded, not on mere surmise or conjecture, hypothesis or phantasy, but on well-authenticated scientific data-is now a well-known fact to many of his fellow-scientists, and will soon be so to every cultivated layman throughout the world. Thiimmel was the first scientist to formulate the extraordinary theory that the cerebral ganglia of the Hymenoptera are relatively more developed than those of the Mammalia, and consequently, that the chief representatives of the former genus, the ants, are far more intelligent beings, in their sphere, than any of the mammalia, such as dogs, apes, or even-human beings! Hence the superiority and marvellous progress of these tiny insects in economics and moral and social life ! His startling theory, once so boldly formulated, wa~ followed by the strange proposal at the Inter­ nat10nal Congress of Zoology at Jena, to revise the whole antiquated nomenclature of Linnreus, and transfer the misleading title of" sapiens" from Man to the-Ant ! Though his resolution found not even 8 INTRODUCTION a seconder, much less a supporter, and was unani­ mously rejected by that learned Conference, he soon afterwards acted on it, as if it had been carried unanimously at Jena. In the next edition of his small Text-Book of Zoology for Secondary Schools he called MAN "HOMO immoralis semisapiens" and the ANT "FORMICA sapiens diligens" (founded, as he had explained in a foot-note, on the most conspicuous characteristics of the two species). But his book was confiscated, and he was deprived of his Lectureship and his living as Custodian of Insects, by the reactionary clerical government in Hungary at that period. · One day we are sure all his views will be univers­ ally accepted, and envelop his memory in the golden rays of a posthumous glory, and place his name among those of the greatest discoverers and thinkers of mankind, in Zoology and Sociology, since Darwin and Spencer. For to-day it is evident that the proofs produced by him in corroboration of his strange theory were not concocted in levity by himself, as some of his malignant opponents had __affirmed. Those yellow-spotted leaves, at that time so vehemently discussed, which were collected on the Congo by Professor Ixli in the nineties, and deciphered many years after his death by Dr. Thiimmel, have been reproduced since in many facsimilia by zoological periodicals in Europe and America, and have made it evident that they were unquestionably authentic records of the pre­ historic, social and intellectual development of certain ant-tribes existing even at present in Central Africa, and are veritable documents of -HISTORY. 9 INTRODUCTION To us, to whom fell the sad privilege of carrying out the last will of our departed friend, and of administering his literary estate, there remains only one duty to discharge : to transmit to posterity the genial, lifelong work of our friend unaltered, without addition or subtraction, as we found it at Elm. We now perform this duty in the full conviction that we thereby not only accomplish the complete rehabilitation of our late friend, but also add a valuable gem to the literary treasures of humanity. Let the reader draw his conclusions, however, not from our eulogies, but from Dr. Timothy Thiim­ mel's own reports.

IO Contents

INTRODUCTION

FIRST PART

CHAPTER THE MYSTIC TREE PAGES THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY-THE FABULOUS JOURNEY OF MYE-MYE-HIS WISE LAWS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF LABOUR AMONG ANTS 19-28

CHAPTER II THE GIANT-ANT

CONCERNING THE MARVELLOUS TREE-CLIMBING OF KYE-KYE-THE SACRED NAME OF TYE-VYE-NYE AND THE ORIGIN OF THE HOLY-ANTS 29-40

CHAPTER III THE SACRED NESTS

THE SACRED ANT-NESTS AND THE FAT-BELLIES­ THE HOSTILITIES CAUSED BY THE SACRED NAME OF THE GIANT-ANT-THE DEPLORABLE FATE OF THE ANT-LARVlE IN CAPTIVITY

CHAPTER IV THE BIG-HEADS

THE INGENIOUS IDEA OF AN IDLE BUT VALIANT WARRIOR-THE ROBBER-ANTS AND THE ORIGIN OF THE BIG-HEADS, OR LORD-ANTS 47-56 II CONTENTS

PAGES CHAPTER V THE MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF THE KING'S DAUGHTER THE VARIOUS NATIONS OF THE ARUWIMI ANTS­ THE SURPASSING BEAUTY OF A KING'S DAUGH­ TER, CALLED TYE-NYE, AND HER ABDUCTION­ BLOODY WAR BETWEEN THE BROWN-ANTS AND THE RED-ANTS ON ACCOUNT OF THE KIDNAP- PING OF THE BEAUTEOUS PRINCESS 57-63

CHAPTER VI THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS THE EPIC POEMS OF THE ARUWIMI ANTS AND THEIR PERPETUATION THROUGH THE WORLD-FAMED DISCOVERY OF A HOLY-ANT-THE FIRST FOOT­ HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE ANTS-THE MOST ANCIENT ANT-CHRONICLES

CHAPTER VII " AN UNLAID EGG IS NO EGG " MENTAL CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY AMONG THE ANTS-PHILOSOPHY, SOCIOLOGY, AND META­ PHYSICS-COSMIC POSITION OF THE ANT­ FREEDOM OF THOUGHT-ARCHITECTURE AND 2ESTHETICS 72-78 CHAPTER VIII THE HOLY INTOXICATION THE MIRACULOUS POOL AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE SACRED BERRY-JUICE-THE ANT-CASKS AND THE FIRST SIGNS OF AN ANT-INDUSTRY

CHAPTER IX AGRICULTURE THE ANT-COWS-HUSBANDRY AND CATTLE-BREED­ ING--THE DISCOVERY OF THE ANT-RICE AND THE REMARKABLE INVENTION OF MUSHROOM­ HORTICULTURE 88-93 I2 CONTENTS

PAGES CHAPTER X THE LIVING HONEY-POTS AN ANT IS NOT A BEE-THE STRANGE IDEA OF A SLAVE-ANT-THE MYSTERIOUS ALLIES-IN­ VENTION OF THE ANT-POTTERY 94-roo

CHAPTER XI THE WEAVING INDUSTRY A NEW BRANCH OF INDUSTRY-THE INGENIOUS ANT HERDSMAN AND HIS VISIT TO THE CHAMBER OF THE LARV~ AND PUP~-DESCRIPTION OF AN ANT-NURSERY-THE MARVELLOUS INVENTION OF' THE ANT-TEXTILE-INDUSTRY l0I-I06

CHAPTER XII THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS WHAT CAUSED THE GOOD-NATURED KING TYE-MYE TO REFORM THE SYSTEM OF ANTENNARY VIBRATION OF THE SMALL-HEADS, THE SLAVE­ ANTS, AND TO GRANT THEM THE TITLE OF " FREE ANTS "-THE POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF THE LEARNED PROFESSOR IXLI, AND THE REMARKABLE DISCOVERY OF THE ELM ANT­ FOOT-HIEROGLYPHICS 107-122

SECOND PART

CHAPTER XIII THE BETRAYAL THE MARVELLOUS TREE-CLIMBING OF THE PIOUS KYE-PSZYE-THE BETRAYAL OF THE SACRED NAME OF THE GIANT-ANT AND THE DESTRUC­ TION OF THE SACRED NESTS-THE NEW EGG­ LAPPERS, LARV~-EDUCATORS AND HONEY- POTS OF THE BIG-HEADS 125-134 r3 CONTENTS

PAGES CHAPTER XIV THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS GENERAL CULTURAL CONDITION OF THE ARUWIMI ANT PEOPLE PREVIOUS TO THE GREAT ANT­ WORLD-WAR-SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ETHNO­ GRAPHIC CONDITIONS-THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARUWIMI ANT-COMMONWEALTH AND A MAP OF THE SAME WELL AUTHENTICATED BY AN ANT• NOTARY-PUBLIC 135-144

CHAPTER XV

1WARLIKE PREPARATIONS BELLICOSE SPEECHES OF THE KING OF THE RED-ANTS AND THE TERROR OF THE OTHER ANT-NATIONS­ IN WHAT MANNER THE RED WAR-LORD TRAINED HIS SMALL-HEADS IN THE ART OF WAR AND HOW HIS EXAMPLE WAS FOLLOWED BY THE SOVE­ REIGNS OF THE OTHER NATIONS-THE GENERAL SUSPENSE BEFORE THE BREAKING-OUT OF THE GREAT ANT-WORLD-WAR 145-153

CHAPTER XVI COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT ANT-W~)RLD-WAR-THE THEFT OF A COW AND THE ASSASSINATION OF A KING­ DECLARATION OF WAR-ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE BLACK- AND THE BROWN-ANTS AGAINST THE RED-ANTS-INVOCATION TO THE MUSE OF KILIMANDJARO 154-165

CHAPTER XVII THE BRIDGE THE GIANT-HEAD HYE-DYE-BYE AND HIS MARVEL­ LOUS PLAN OF WAR-INVENTION OF THE LIVING-ANT-BRIDGE-THE TERRIBLE DEFEAT 14 CONTENTS

PAGES OF THE BROWN-ANTS-THE VIOLATION OF A VIRGIN FLOWER-A DUEL BETWEEN BEE AND ANT, AND OTHER REMARKABLE EVENTS 166-175

CHAPTER XVIII THE TUNNEL PLAGUE AND STARVATION IN THE ANT-NESTS-THE SECOND SUMMER OF THE WAR-THE GIANT­ HEAD'S NEW STRATEGY-HOW HE HAPPENED TO BUILD A TUNNEL BENEATH THE RIVER- THE ROUT AND FLIGHT OF THE BLACK-ANTS I 76-I 87

CHAPTER XIX THE SAVAGES THE HELLISH PLAN OF THE CRAFTY COMMANDER­ IN-CHIEF OF THE BROWN-ANTS-HIS NEW, EVIL-SMELLING ALLIES-THE CONDITIONS OF THE ALLIANCE AND THEIR SINGULAR EFFECT ON THE FOLLOWING GENERATION OF BROWN­ ANTS 188-195

CHAPTER XX BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE CHARACTER AND MODE OF LIFE OF THE BLACK-ANTS OF THE LESSER GLADE-THEIR HIGHLY GIFTED CHIEF, UNCLE SZYE, CALLED "HE WITH THE SPARKLING FEELERS "-HIS MAGNANIMOUS RESOLVE TO HASTEN TO THE RESCUE OF THE BLACK-ANTS OF THE GREATER GLADE FROM PURE BROTHERLY LOVE 196-213

CHAPTER XXI THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS THE GIGANTIC ARMY OF THE BLACK-ANTS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW CAMPAI<;;N-THE . ATTEMPT OF THE RED-ANTS TO REPEAT THE 15 CONTENTS

PAGES OPERATIONS OF THE PRECEDING YEAR-IN WHAT MANNER THE RED WAR-LORD WAS OVERWHELMED BY THE SAVAGE ANTS-FOR­ MIC ACID AS A WEAPON-CONCLUSION OF THE WAR AND HEROIC DEATH OF THE RED WAR­ LORD-HOW THE ANCIENT ANT-PROVERB, "MANY PLANT-LICE OVERPOWER EVEN A DUNG-BEETLE," WAS VERIFIED 214-224

CHAPTER XXII THE SUPER-ANT A SUBTLE ANT AND HIS CURIOUS COGITATION ON THE TOP OF THE TREE OF MYSTERIES-THE DEPLORABLE FATE OF A HOLY-ANT TRANS­ FORMED INTO A HONEY-POT-THE CELEBRATED SPEECH BY THE BIG-HEAD PYE-KSZYE TO HIS SMALL-HEADS-HOW HE BEGAN TO WORK­ HIS FLIGHT AND HIS WANDERING IN THE FOREST AMONG THE SAVAGE ANTS 225-240

CHAPTER XXIII OVERTHROW AND RECONSTRUCTION STRANGE MEETING AND MOMENTOUS COLLOQUY IN THE FOREST BETWEEN THE FUGITIVE BIG­ HEAD AND A SAVAGE ANT-RETURN OF THE EXILE AND REBELLION OF THE BLACK SMALL­ HEADS AGAINST THE BIG-HEADS OF THEIR NATION-GREAT REVOLUTION OF THE SMALL­ HEADS OF ALL THE NATIONS OF THE ARUWIMI GLADE-RESTORATION OF THE ANCIENT LAWS OF MYE-MYE AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GIANT-NESTS

CHAPTER XXIV CONCLUSION

NOTES ON THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE ANTS 259-320 16 FIRST PART

B MOTTO : " Eritis sicut dei, scientes bonum et malum." Genesis iii. 5. CHAPTER I

THE MYSTIC TREE N the heart of Africa, a few degrees of latitude I to the north of the Congo, between the tributaries Aruwimi and Delle, stands out in savage loneliness a gigantic primeval forest. The very outskirts of it are seldom entered even by the negro tribes living in the open country beyond. The sun, invisible in the gloom of the forest, sheds a satanic heat over the ocean of tree-tops during the day and irresistibly draws the moisture of the soil below into the impenetrable roof of foliage. A dense maze of creepers covers trunks and branches with a fantastic network. The eye cannot pierce the roof above, which like a lofty frame of timber­ work lies hidden in the dusk of many shadows, through which beams of inexpressible beauty and softness timidly steal. , The scorching rays of the equatorial sun succeed but in a few places, and only at noon, in penetrating the mystical twilight created by lianes and creepers. The maze of the lonely forest of enchantment is broken only here and there by broad smaragdine glades on which the grass, under the stimulating effect of the lukewarm showers during the rainy season, and the influence of the tropical heat, grows almost to the height of man. Such a glade is a whole world in itself. Here myriads of iridescent butterflies, adorned wit? the brilliancy of a thousand colours, pass the1r brief but unspeakably sweet existence, exchanging caresses with a profusion of flowers, resplendent with all the colours of the rainbow. This wilder- 19 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL ness is not subject to any definite system of either order or mutual consideration; apparently it knows no law, only an unconscious, irresponsible, blissful intoxication. All individuals lead an existence of complete, untrammelled freedom ; they order their lives according to their own pleasure and do not trouble themselves about anything else in the world but their own happiness. Taking no notice of one another, the variegated beetles, the fluttering butter­ flies, the fragrant flowers live but for the hour, in the blissful belief that the fructifying rain, the warmth-spending sunbeams, were created for them alone. In this beatific lawlessness only one creature, only one inhabitant of the Glade, does not take part­ a dark-coloured, small insect: the ANT. As far as our knowledge of the nature and habits of this little insect extends, it has always had an exist­ ence that differed essentially from that of the other occupants of the Forest, for-'--it WORKED ! How came it to be different ? Whence the provident care, the zeal for gleaning and hoarding? Why did it confederate with its own kind, why did it construct subterranean and overground dwellings ? Who could answer these questions ? Was it because it alone could not find nourishment on the ever profusely supplied table of Nature? Was it alone among all the other children of Mother Earth begrudged this irresponsible bliss, and alone destined to be apprehensive of and solicitous for the future? Was it alone unable to exist as a solit.ary individual, when many millions of creatures of like weakness were all in all to themselves ? Could this creature alone find no refuge between 20 THE MYSTIC TREE the labyrinth of roots or in the hollows of the trees? All this is indeed an enigma, a perplexing secret, as. perplexing as that other mystery : why many miles away a creature of another kind exists which pompously struts about, not on six, but only on two legs, a creature a million times larger, which lives a life so remarkably similar to that of the ant ? Fortunately we have at present no interest to spare for this two-legged race. We desire to interpolate concerning it but this one comment that, although within this species too there are different varieties, of various sizes and various colours-just as among the ants-they are neverthe­ less much uglier and less lovable creatures of Mother Nature than the heroes of our story. And for this very reason we shall take no further notice of them in the whole course of our narra­ tion.

Once upon a time in the primitive ages, many millions of ant-generations ago, before two-legged or even four-legged giants appeared on the surface of the earth, the ants lived in these glades in the Aruwimi Forest beneath the wind-swept grass­ blades in the same tranquil thoughtlessness of their future as the other creatures. Like them they drew from the superabundant fountain of nature what their pleasure craved, without knowing aught of that foresight and passion for hoarding for which historic mankind shows them such great esteem. But one memorable day an apparently quite insignificant event completely ,and for eve~ c~anged the life and ways, not only of the Armv1m1 Ants, 2I THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL but of the total ant race of the world, which des­ cended from them. On that day a· perfectly ordinary, insignific~nt ant climbed to the extreme top of a tree standing on the edge of the Glade. The poor little creature gasped from utter exhaustion when after the long and weary journey it arrived at the topmost branch. How gladly it stopped to take a well­ deserved rest ! It was high noon, and the scorching rays of the sun almost seared its head with their wellnigh unbearable heat. Whether from this cause, or in consequence of the unusual exertion, or for any other ·reason, we know not, and the Aruwimi Chroniclers in later times could never reach per­ fect agreement concerning this point-the little creature suddenly became conscious of a miraculous change taking place in its head, of a certain sublimer light dawning upon the brain. In astonishment the ant gazed about. Until this moment it had never seen more than imme­ diately met the eye on the limited floor of its native glade. True,. an inexplicable something within it had urged it to wander about for the purpose of seeking nourishment between the grass stalks and stones, but never before had it become conscious of the reason why it acted thus. How could it be expected to employ self-determination when, until this moment, it had not been able to THINK ? :Sut on this day-many ant-generations· ago­ this common-place ant, after it had set foot on untrodden heights, became conscious of a most remarkable feeling, as if in the head a curious clairvoyant enlightenment were taking place. Just 22 THE MYSTIC TREE as though a veil were removed from the world around, it saw trees and bushes, flowers and butter­ flies, the beauty of which it had never observed before, saw all at once more than the mere dew­ drop which had quenched its thirst, and the tiny grain of seed which had satisfied its hunger. " What has happened to me ? " the little ant exclaimed. "My head feels dreadfully queer and is almost bursting with fire! What are these things about me ? Are they all good to eat ? Impossible-for they are so immense, and even millions of little creatures like me could not devour such monsters." We can apprehend the train of thoughts of this ant only dimly and cannot accurately describe it, for only a few obscure passages by the most ancient ant chroniclers have been handed down to us concerning this memorable event. Although it must be admitted that these frag­ mentary records upon which the above-mentioned description is based are by no means the only existing historic sources, we greatly prefer them, for they seem the most credible and certainly the most probable among them. Another tradition, much more popular and almost generally accepted, which later became the tenet of faith, the religious conviction of many billions of ants, but in still later ages scoffed at and rejected by more cul­ tured ant-generations, says that the celebrated ant with which the thinking of ants began was not. a mere ordinary every-day ant. On the contrary, it was the very first ant which everlastingly l?ng ago lived in the world, or :°~re exactly spe3:kl?g, in the centre of the Aruwim1 Forest, the pnstme 23 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL home of all the ants of the universe. This very first representative of the race-so the tradition endeav­ ours to persuade us-was created by an?ther ant of gigantic size, dwelling on the topmost pmnacle of the tallest tree, after her own likeness with six legs, and the Giant-Ant granted to her little creature not only the faculty of reasoning, but also the right to enter her sacred kingdom. In accordance with her will the whole race was destined to begin an existence of sublime bliss in her glorious presence immediately after death, and in that super-blessed condition to continue an ideal ant-life from ever­ lasting to everlasting. Many millions of ant-generations later, however, the tradition was rejected as a superstition invented by dreamers, and countless ants refused to believe either in the actuality of the Giant-Ant or in the reality of her fabulous kingdom, which was said to be situate somewhere on the highest tree-tops. Let us, however, return to this first ant without embarking on speculations concerning the question which of the diverging reports by the most ancient ant historians really deserves belief the most. Be that as it may : their scientific credibility is natur­ ally quite out of the question ; for even the most subtle and hair-splitting ant erudition did not . succeed in discovering exactly the dates concerning that most obscure period and that memorable event which formed the turning-point of the entire ant history and which even the ancient ant-generations considered mere legendary lore. The ant mentioned in the beginning of our story -which in the Chronicle is called Mye-Mye, a male name-after a less strenuous journey to the foot 24 THE MYSTIC TREE . of the tree, arrived among his kindred as a great prophet; and from that time forth he zealously strove to make his people realise what a merciful miracle had been manifested to them through his person, formerly so humble. All his endeavours, however, proved unsuccessful, for, although he made the utmost effort to communicate his ideas in a form so simple that even the most feeble­ minded among his relatives should have understood them, the curious crowd surrounding him continued to gape, with ever-increasing stupidity. Embittered thereat, but by no means discouraged, the rejected prophet withdrew from the company of his relatives, and with a rather foolish, but extremely pretty­ winged female ant called Nye-Nye, which however rendered the deepest homage to his greatness and implicitly believed his narrative, he founded an independent family from which grew the genealogi- . cal tree of a perfectly new race of ants. Mye-Mye and Nye-Nye are pronounced by the ant-chronicles deciphered by us to be the ancestors of all ants, not only of those which live in the Aruwimi Glade, but also of all the black, brown, red, yellow and green ants which beyond the glade populate the great forest, in fact of all the quin­ tillions of ants in the world. The children of the inspired Mye-Mye and his foolish mate Nye-Nye, who inherited more or less of the super-intelligence. of their f~ther, leari:ed from him the art of workmg, the habit of collectmg and storing up of food, the construction of subter­ ranean and over-ground dwellings. They learned from him even a very curious, new art: the great art of war! For the advantages accruing from 25 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the first--mentioned peaceful arts were so very evident that even the ants still living in irrational condition, although incapable of fully digesting Mye-Mye's lofty ideas, realised darkly that it is infinitely easier and incomparably more comfortable to nourish one's self from previously filled store­ houses than to obtain the sustenance of life by running about blindly all the day long, and every day of the year. The realisation of the beneficial economic results of Mye-Mye's culture by the ants remaining in a state of stupidity, incapable of collecting stores and living at rack and manger, gave rise to long and bloody wars between these robbers and the intelligent descendants of Mye-Mye defend­ ing bravely the storehouses. The wars finally ended with the overpowering victory of Mye-Mye's children and the total destruction and extinction of the irrational and idle tribes of ants, so that the progeny of Mye-Mye for untold generations were able to devote all their time and energies to the development of culture and civilisation. The searching for food, the building of dwellings, the collecting and storing of means of sustenance, the nursing and rearing of the young : such were the occupations which absorbed the interest of the ants for countless ages after the death of Mye-Mye. These lofty aims represented the spiritual bond which inseparably united the individuals of every ant-commonwealth. Love, concord, diligence, and the sense of solidarity became the chief characteristics of the ant-life in the whole Glade, and later on, beyond the borders of the Forest, in the entire World. The searching for and storing of food were always ~6 THE MYSTIC TREE the most important object in life for the ants. The ~ost. talented, or as we may well say, the super­ mtelhgent Mye-Mye soon realised that his own life and that of his family were exposed to the greatest danger, unless care were taken in advance for future alimentation. He observed how the other insects perished in masses during the rainy season, just as his own lazy and improvident kinfolk had dis­ appeared from the world without leaving a trace. " Ye shall collect, lest your whole race be destroyed in the time of deluge when nourishment faileth," thus sounded the foremost law of Mye-Mye, which, according to tradition, he brought down from the top of the Giant-Tree. " Every ant must work ;-lazybones be not endured," was the text of the second legislative demand. " Food can be stored safely .only in fortified storehouses, else it falleth prey to all manner of predatory beasts," the third fundamental law set forth, and : " In walled and roofed dwellings ye will find a safer refuge during the time of rain than outside under the roof of heaven. The larvre, too, the future of our race, thus preserve their vitality, and every egg can be hatched in peace and safety." Thus spoke Mye-Mye ; and it was owing only to these far-sighted legislative measures that, not­ withstanding the inclemency and unpleas~ntness of the climate, the amazing power of resistance of his people increased to s~ch an extent that the pitiless demon of starvat10n had no longer power over them. Thus there lived in the.Aruwimi Forest, under the 27 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY Tff0MMEL beneficial influence of these wise laws, many mil­ lions of ant-generations from the time of the wJracu­ lous tree-climbing of their founder to that second memorable day when among them there arose another aspiring genius and great revolutionary. This restless spirit conceived, strange to say, the same idea as the founder of his race. He too climbed the sacred tree, and after his return delivered his prophetic message which resulted in a complete revolution of the ancient foundations of the law and civilisation of the great Mye-Mye. From this time forth the life of the Aruwimi Ants was disturbed by one revolution after the other. These extra­ ordinarily wonderful events we shall now describe, holding fast to· the Chronicles of the Aruwimi Ants transmitted to us, with the fidelity and conscientious­ ness of a true historian.

28 CHAPTER II

THE GIANT-ANT ANY hundreds of thousands, or even millions, M of ant-generations after the death of the great Mye-Mye-thus the Aruwimi Ant-Records report-during the reign of the puissant ant-king Tye-Mye, the Hundred and Nineteen Thousandth, the extraordinary event took place through which the even tenor of the life of the Aruwimi Ants suf­ fered the most violent shock. A rebellion against the authority of the king broke out-for the first time in the history of the ants ! Until this time all ants had enjoyed social co-ordin­ ation and equal rights before the law. Not even the king could claim a greater amount of food than the humblest of his subjects, but led as simple and Spartan a life as all his countrymen : he collected food as zealously as they, and performed all his tasks with the same fidelity and self-surrender. Was he not recognised as leader and king only for the reason that he was the most diligent and suc­ cessful worker among his fellows? Many a two-legged giant holds the erroneous opinion that the race of ants knows no kings, but only queens, whose only duty is to lay eggs in the innermost recesses of the nests. This is, as indicated, a sad mistake. As we are able to prove from the ant-chronicles, besides the queens, every ant-tribe has also a foreman : a Chief or King ! We stupid two-legged creatures are, however, not able to dis­ tinguish between him and the other ants, because the ant-king bears no crown and does not prove his kingship by idleness, as some of the two-legged 29 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL giant kings do, but actively shares in his people's labour. Thus was at least the law of the Aruwimi Ants of that time ; the most diligent among them was recognised the highest in position, and his counsels and orders were universally obeyed. Thus Tye-Mye, the Hundred and Nineteen Thousandth of that name, ascended the throne with­ out violence, without shedding of blood, only on account of his diligence and the confidence of his people. There were no national celebrations or Lucullan banquets, no coronation or speech from the throne, when he took the reins of government. As the most diligent and best worker he was the uncontradicted leader of his people, which vol­ untarily subordinated itself to him and readily obeyed his commands. No difficulties were to be overcome before he could enter upon his high office, for there was not a single ant which had not memorised the eternal laws of the great Mye-Mye or would ever dream of a change con­ cerning them or criticise, or show itself refrac­ tory against them. For the king there was but one royal duty to perform daily, namely, the appoint­ ing and placing of guards to watch the dwellings. When this was done, he cheerfully sought the meadows with all his subjects to vie with them in diligence. When the rainy season set in, it was he who took care that the food stored up in the tribal granaries was distributed justly. There was, it is true, another duty devolving upon him by the law of Mye-Mye, namely, to lead· the people to war; but in that golden age, since the total destruction of the irrational ants the very idea of war was unknown among the Ar~wimi 30 THE GIANT_;ANT Ants, and the various nations lived peacefully side by side. It is therefore most probably due to a mere chance that it was just in that peaceful golden time when the great revolution took place which influenced and wholly changed the public life of the Aruwimi Ants for untold generations, as far as their internal tribal life, and relationship between the various ant nations, was concerned.

On a cloudless, red-hot summer day one of the ants of the Glade climbed the gigantic trunk of the mystic tree from which ages ago the great Mye­ Mye had brought down the sempiternal laws of the ant race. For some time this ant had been tormented by doubts whether up yonder in the verdant paradise the hermetic philosophy of ant-life was really hidden, until its curiosity became so unbearable that soon after the first rays of the sun touched the floor of the Glade it set forth on the wearisome journey and finally reached the spot where the thirst for knowledge was to be quenched. Under the parching effect of the sun's rays the acquired conceptions began to purge themselves in the brain of this ant as in a crucible, and new and most extra­ ordinary thoughts, never before conceived by mortal ant, flashed through the mind. "Well, I never!,, Kye-Kye-for such was his name-exclaimed, " a wondrous light dawns upon me : I have been out of my senses to toil and drudge all day long for others, collecting stores of which I receive but an utterly insignificant part, so that when I draw my exhausted body home in the even- 31 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL ing, I feel as if all my bones were broken and as if I had been beaten black and blue all over.... Now I see clearly : Why in the world do I WORK anyway ? Is it because Mye-Mye ordained this ages ago ? Who was this Mye-Mye, who gives me orders even after his death ? Can anyone vouch with absolute certainty that he ever existed? " Wholly absorbed in these extraordinary and rebellious thoughts, Kye-Kye crawled slowly down the wrinkled trunk of the ancient tree, meditating hard all the way, and when he had finally arrived at its bottom he was firmly resolved never to work again. He made up his mind no longer to collect stores or to do a single stroke of work; and, should the king reprimand him, he was determined to refuse obedience once and for all, no matter what the consequences. An opportunity was offered the very next day. As soon as the light of day dawned above the grass-tops the ants were bestirring themselves all around their native hill, but Kye-Kye, who had left home with them, sought a quiet mossy nook and calmly stretched himself out in the sun. There he lay immovable like a statue. For a time the king did not observe the idleness of his subject, for he was as usual extremely busy and a cluster of ferns obstructed his view. His ants had just discovered a terribly heavy, gigantic grain of seed, three-tenths of an inch wide and four-tenths of an inch long, and were busy rolling the rich booty with united forces over hill and dale to their storehouse. · The king, who, according to ancient custom, had been working harder than any of his subjects, as 32 THE GIANT-ANT b~fits a royal leader, stopped for a moment to get his second breath when, looking around as with a sigh he_ wiped off the perspiration from his brow, he espied Kye-Kye, comfortably lying on his back and staring vacantly into the blue depths of heaven. '' What ho, Kye-Kye!'' he called out to his subject. "What does this mean? Are you for­ getful of the law of the great Mye-Mye which makes work obligatory to every ant? Hurry, you slug­ gard, help us to roll this mountain of a seed to our granary!'' Kye-Kye, however, did not stir, but as if turned to stone, remained motionless in his most comfort­ able position. Tye-Mye, the king, at first probably thinking him dead, stepped up to him and poked him in the ribs. "Move on, fellow ! Go to work ! " he admon­ ished him. "What is ailing you? Are you sick? " Kye-Kye only glanced at him through half-closed eyes, turned over on his back, and paid not the slightest attention to his words. An event of such significance of course could not happen without creating a sensation. Numerous ants working in the neighbourhood stopped their work and watched the unusual occurrence with the greatest attention. It always had been a matter of course to them that even when dangerously ill ants worked diligently to the very last moment when their souls were transplanted into the ·eternal kingdom of the Giant-Ant. Kye-Kye, however, was-every one perceived it clearly-perfectly well and sound. There was not the slightest sign of any illness or even discomfort. On the contrary, 33 C THE ANTS· OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL his whole attitude, the lazy gleam in his eye, revealed his bodily bliss. With breathless attention the crowd awaited his answer. Finally he began to rub his feelers slowly and impressively against those of the king, and said:- " Most august Majesty, from the luminous Fire­ Globe, which at high noon enkindles the tree-tops with the dazzling light, I have received a celestial revelation. When yesterday I had climbed to the topmost pinnacle of this tree it was granted to me to behold with my mortal eyes the Giant Queen­ Ant which of yore created the great Mye-Mye after her own likeness with six legs, and whose children we all are. The Giant-Ant whispered to me her sacred name. It is, 0 King, similar to thine: TYE-VYE-NYE,"-and Kye-Kye, bowing low, de­ voutly crossed his forefeet on his breast. "The holy TYE-VYE-NYE," he continued," is our common Mother. She is the only ant which did not issue from an egg, but bare itself. Therefore she sends you and our people through me the message that WE ALL should in the future adore her holy name unceasingly day and night." "Nonsense, Kye-Kye, we must work without ceasing," the king answered severely. " Where could we find the time to pray day and night? " "In this case," Kye-Kye answered unabashed, "the Giant-Ant bids me say that you will never enter the resplendent Fire-Globe where the Sacred Kingdom is situate, but be plunged into the abode of gloom and darkness, and that under the roots of trees you will be changed into sheer dung-beetles! " All the ants gasped with horror. The dung- 34 THE GIANT-ANT beetles were the most horrible creatures they knew, and the mere idea of taking on the form and nature of such disgusting beings, was appalling. There was not a single ant which doubted the truth of Kye-Kye's words, for until that time "falsehood" was unknown among this diligent and honest people. Tye-Mye, the king, was frightened the most. "If my people," he pondered, "cease work and from this time forth unceasingly adore the sacred name of the Giant-Ant, the whole Commonwealth will be dismembered and the people will perish." " What shall we do ? " he lamented aloud, and grasped his head in despair. For the people around him stopped working and lay down in the grass, imploring Kye-Kye to teach them the Sacred Name of the All-Mother Tye-Vye-Nye, that they might adore It in the spirit of the celestial message. "To work! To work!" the king fairly screamed; but -the ants answered in unison: "We shall no longer work, we desire to be admitted to the Lumin­ osity of the Giant-Ant. We do not want to be flung into the abode of gloom after death to grub dung below the tree-roots. Let us adore the Sacred Name of Tye-Vye-Nye ! " "This is open rebellion ! " the king shrieked in utter exasperation. But, no matter how violent his imprecations, how sound his arguments, how per­ suasive his admonition, his people turned a deaf ear. Suddenly Kye-Kye, who so far had silently watched the growing distraction of the king, arose and said in solemn tone : "0 august Majesty, though the sacred. name of our AU-Mother cannot be without adoration even 35 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL for a single moment, I realise that your entire people would be doomed to destruction, if it ceased all work and prayed incessantly. I feel certain that the Giant-Ant, in Her abode above the trees, does not desire such a calamity. Therefore we must endeavour to shed light on Her Sacred Inten­ tion. I shall thus sacrifice myself once more for thy people and shall climb the tree to the very threshold of the Globe of Fire, where SHE reigns whose celestial glory ye all will share, if you obey Her Commandments. There, in Her Immediate Presence, I shall perchance be granted grace and receive from the Sacred One Herself the wisdom to avert the doom of destruction from our people!'' The despairing Tye-Mye, whose heart was almost breaking from fear that his people might perish, was willing to permit anything and everything. Thus Kye-Kye started on his upward journey, whilst the people below adoringly murmured the Sacred Name which they had just learned. No one knows what Kye-Kye's experiences on the tree this time really were; certain it is, however, that he returned to his anxious brethren in a sm­ prisingly short time. If we may believe the sacred traditions of the ants, Kye-Kye floated directly from the lustrous radiance of the Palace of the Giant-Queen to the earth. Later and unbelieving generations, however, which doubted even the existence of the Sacred-Six-Foot, considered this miraculous journey through the air an utter myth. These scoffers greatly suspected that Kye-Kye, in order to save himself the trouble of another laborious journey, had climbed only to one of the lower branches and had dropped himself from there, so 36 THE GIANT-ANT that ~e arrived in the midst of his people with startlmg suddenness. The only miracle, they say, was that the crafty fellow had not broken a foot or even a feeler. . This_irrevere~t opinion we must, however, implic­ itly reJect, for 1t flatly contr~dicts the sources and sacred traditions, and must regard it an irrefutable fact that a supernatural occurrence really took place with Kye-Kye, and that, borne by the special grace of the Giant-Ant, he was transferred directly from the Fire-Globe to Mother Earth. If his contemporaries had not had absolute proof of the reality of the miracle, Kye-Kye would never have been canonised during his lifetime ! Scarcely had St. Kye-Kye set foot on firm ground when he arose with difficulty and stepped, gasping, before the king. His countenance shone with an unearthly brightness and his antennre trembled with heavenly ecstasy as he touched those of the sorrow-laden sovereign, while the hosts of the people, struck dumb with awe, were wholly intent on watch­ ing the agitated antennre-conversation flashing to and fro between the two chief actors of the scene. "Fall on your knees before me, 0 Ant-People! " he exclaimed. "Know ye that straightway from the summit of the Sacred Tree, from out the depth of the golden palace of the All-Mother Ant have I been transplanted down among you to bring you the glad tidings. Behold me, Her Earthly Vice­ Roy, the chosen prophet of the Sacred Tye-Vye­ Nye ! My fervency in prayer moved the Mighty One to compassion, 0 august King ! She sent me to save you all from destruction. Thus our All- 37 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Mother Tye-Vye-Nye sends t~rough me? Her humble messenger, the followmg revelat10n :­ ' Ye shall not perish, your eggs sha~l be blessed, and ye shall live to the end of all time. Ye are my chosen people; all other ~nts, yea, a~l in~ec~s, even yon overbearing butterfhes with thelf scmtil­ lating wings, which deem themselves so greatly superior, will all be plunged into utter darkness to wallow in filth, to grovel in dung. Ye people of My Choice, ye alone will be lifted up to Me, the All-Powerful One, into the radiance of the un­ dying Globe of Fire.' This is the message of our Mother, the Giant-Queen-Ant, whose Name be thrice blessed!'' " But who is to perform the necessary labour, without which we all shall miserably perish ? " interrupted the king, whose soul was still oppressed by this principal anxiety. "I alone, as representative of all our people, shall adore the Sacred Name of Tye-Vye-Nye," said Kye-Kye, "but you are permitted to continue to work as of yore. Thus spoke the Giant-Ant." '~ We shall not work any longer," cried the people, which already had taken too deep a draught from the cup of indolence and ease, "we all desire to adore the Sacred Name of Tye-Vye-Nye to the hour of our death." Kye-Kye, at first somewhat confused by the unexpected turn of affairs, soon regained his com­ posure and continued:- ." Ye Ant-People," he began unctuously, turning his devout gaze to the Fire-Globe. " Ye, who are the first creatures to hear the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant from my hallowed lips, are, like me, 38 THE GIANT-ANT prophets of the All-Mother. Ye, my sanctified brethren, sacrifice yourselves with me for the com­ mon weal and work no more! Adore the Sacred Nam~, that the toiling people, though they pray not mght and day, may also enter the sacred dwelling of the Giant-Ant after death." The crowds of ants basking in the sun acclaimed the orator with the greatest fervour :-" We shall make the sacrifice, we shall work no more, we shall sing psalms of adoration day and night to the Sacred Name of our Mother Tye-Vye-Nye ! " A heavy load was taken from the king's heart. He stealthily counted the multitude assembled around him and calculated their number to be a few thousands. But besides them, many millions of his people, who so far had not heard aught regarding the wonderful experience of Kye-Kye, were hard at work in the Glade and all around on the edge of the forest. The Fatherland was saved! "These few thousands," the king mused, "will pray for the rest of the people, who will continue to labour as before." Giving a sigh of relief he exclaimed:- " Thrice blessed be the Sacred Name of Tye­ Vye-Nye ! My royal gratitude to ye, 0 holy ants, that you sacrifice yourselves for your brothers and will no longer work ! '' "But, 0 King Tye-Mye, a special reward is our due,,, Kye-Kye intenupted. "Is death by star­ vation to be our recompense for our great sacrifice? Take care of us, therefore, wise King! Furnish us with food and lodging, and order that no other ant disturb us in the active worship of our All­ Mother. For else you will never enter the luminous 39 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL globe of splendour, but will sink into the realm of doom to wallow in filth ! " The king was so greatly delighted that his people were saved from utter destruction that he could afford to show himself magnanimous. "Do not be apprehensive, 0 holy ants," he said in reassuring tones, "we, the rest, will collect and work for you." "This is not sufficient, 0 King," Kye-Kye answered. "As we sacrifice ourselves for the people, they must minister to our wants with greater zeal than to their own ; and we must receive the very best food and a greater quantity than the common ants which only work, whilst we-pray!" " This is out of the question," replied the king. " But it is not impossible," the rebel interrupted. " The working ants must only increase their diligence and work with greater intensity so that we may receive a threefoid amount of food! " The king climbed down again. Submissively he agreed even to this demand, only to save his people from destruction. To be rid of Kye-Kye and to plug up the fellow's mouth he gave the order that the new prophet with his whole crowd of saints should in the future receive thrice the amount of food from the storehouse served to the ordinary ants which only worked. Thus ended the first revolution in the Common­ ~ealth of the Aruwimi Ants. But, unfortunately, 1t was not the last. CHAPTER III

THE SACRED NESTS HE rebellion of Kye-Kye, even though it T ended happily as described, was nevertheless followed by after-effects of the greatest import to the social. and international development of the Aruwimi Ants during the subsequent historic periods. In the first place the holy ants completely isolated themselves from their working, secular brethren. Their only task was incessant prayer, and in order that the saintly company might perform this duty in undisturbed serenity, Kye-Kye ordained that the holy ants should leave their tribal habitation and live in an isolated Sacred Nest. This naturally had to be built by the working ants, while Kye­ Kye and his disciples-looking on at their kinsmen working by the sweat of their brow-raised their feelers in psalms of praise to the glory of the All­ Mother, living eternally in the resplendent glory of the Fire-Globe. The Sacred Nest with its spacious rooms stood prepared, and the holy inmates celebrated their installation. But what they did within the sacred precincts, whether they really called incessantly on the blessed name of the Giant-Ant, or only lolled about and dawdled away their time, was never revealed, for the common ants were never permitted to cross the threshold of this sanctum sanctorum and the chronicles of that time very prudently observe silence concerning this question. When the newly hatched saints left their habita­ tion to take exercise they could be distinguished from all other ants. They c;lid not work, but 41 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL unceasingly murmured-softly, that no one might hear-the sacred name:-" Tye-Vye-Nye ! Tye­ Vye-Nye ! " But their chiefest characteristic, through which they attracted notice at a great distance, was their embonpoint, their beautiful,· shining round bellies. As they consumed three times the amount of food that the other hard­ working ants took, and in consequence of their unremitting indolence, they grew to such immense proportions that the ant-people, to show their deep respect, called them "Fat Bellies." At first it happened occasionally that they took the trouble of visiting the tribal storehouse in order to choose the best morsels and to roll them home by their own exertions, but later, when they had grown to unwieldy size, even this labour became too burdensome. Therefore they held a Grand­ Council, and decreed that the working ants should as their duty transport their share of the food to the entrance gate of the Sacred Nest, for any moment or fraction of a moment not spent in prayer signified the commission of an unpardonable sin. The news of the great event which happened in the country of King Tye-Mye spread like wild-fire in all the other countries of the ants. In a sur­ prisingly short time messengers came in from all sides to inquire concerning the secret causes of the great social upheaval, but no particulars could be learned by them, except that Kye-Kye had visited the refulgent Fire-Globe above the tree-tops and had seen the Giant-Queen face to face. The messengers heard of the Prophet's miraculous journey through the air from the top of the sacred tree to the earth, and were told that some of the inhabitants of the 42 THE SACRED NESTS kingdom did not work, but prayed incessantly, that they had fat bellies and adored the sacred name of the Giant-Ant day and night without ceasing. The messengers, however, returned to their kinsfolk sorely disappointed, for they were unable to learn the sacred name of the Giant-Ant for which pur- . pose they had really been sent. This thrice-holy name was the most precious secret of the holy ants of the Tye nation, known only to one layman, namely, the king, who as guardian of this mystery was more profoundly respected by the people than ever before and deserved in the eyes of his simple­ minded subjects a triple halo of glory. The obedient people of King Tye-Mye gladly bore the great burden of providing for the holy ants. They were inordinately proud of being the chosen people of the Sacred Giant-Ant, and almost enjoyed the toil and labour of their present existence for the sake of the future bliss promised to them in the shining dwelling beyond the greep. roof of the Forest. Their greatest joy and satisfaction, how­ ever, was that all the other ants were doomed, without hope of redemption, to be plunged after death into utter darkness and to be changed into miserable dung-beetles. St. Kye:..Kye therefore expressly forbade his nation, the people of King Tye-Mye, to continue to maintain friendly relations with other ant nations. " The other ants," thus he instructed them, " are unclean and shall never be permitted to behold the transcendent countenance of the Giant-Ant." Nevertheless the great social reformation of Kye-Kye's commonwealth did not remain without effect on the other ant nations of the Aruwimi 43 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Glade, all of which longed to possess big-bellied saints. Neither was there lack of unselfish ants among· them who, like the Fat-Bellies of the Tye nation~ were perfectly willing to sacrifice them­ selves eschew all work and to adore the name of th: sacred Giant-Queen-Ant for the rest of their lives. But there was one difficulty which seemed insurmountable. No one knew the name of the Giant-Queen-Ant except the holy ants of the Tye nation. They, however, were not in the least willing to reveal their precious ·secret. What did the would-be saints of the other nations do but invent names for the Giant-Ant, each national group according to its own taste, and assert with astound­ ing boldness that this or that name was the only true one and that the names adored by other Aruwimi nations were utterly false and were to be condemned as heresy. Thus the Giant-Queen was, adored as " Pye-Vye-Nye " by the nation Pye, as " Hye-Vye-Nye " by the nation Hye, as " Rye-Vye­ Nye " by the nation Rye. But all ant nations held the belief in common that the object of their adoration lived in the glowing splendour of the Globe of Fire above the tree-tops. There were even ant tribes which believed in the existence of several Giant-Ants, and not a few reverend Fat­ Bellies asserted that the top of every tree, nay, of every bush, was the habitation of a Sacred Queen ; yea, there actually were ant nests, the inhabitants ?f ~~ich W?r~hipped a multitude of super-arboreal, mv1s1ble deities. · But alas ! This development and growth of the worship of the almighty Giant-Ant was the cause 44 THE SACRED NESTS of untold misery and misfortune. The adoration of the sacred name of the All-Mother sowed the fiercest _discord and unquenchable hatred among the ant nat10ns of the Aruwimi Glade, which until that time had been bound together by the ties of blood and natural love and united by the most peaceful international intercourse. Every ant nation laboured under the delusion that THEIR Giant-Ant was the only true All-Mother, having the sole disposal of th.e means of grace; every ant nation considered itself the only Chosen People and was firmly con­ vinced that only the souls of its own fellow-believers were predestined to be transported to the ant­ paradise, while all the other ants of the world would be changed to dung-beetles in the .realm of filthy darkness under the roots of the trees. This hatred could not but give rise to provoking banterings, to serious quarrels; and finally to bloody wars. These wars, which by the Aruwimi Chronicles are called "Holy Wars," lasted for untold generations and caused the complete collapse of the moral character and the good customs of the ant-world. This was the period when the foul institution of slavery was first introduced among the ants. The belligerents were not only intent on exter­ minating the enemy and on getting possession of the latter's stores, but strove with the greatest zeal to capture the enemy's larvre, his only hope for future generations, in order to make them their working slaves as soon as they had burst their cocoons. The wholly inexperienced prisoners of war, when they first saw the light of day in_ captivity, con­ sidered their status of slaves qmte natural and 45 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL were thus willing to work and collect food for their masters all their lives without ever losing patience. But, though the holy wars lasted a long time, finally the sound common sense of the ants was bound to prevail. In time they began to realise that it hardly paid for the sake of a name, be it ever so holy, to sacrifice so many millions of ant lives. Thus full peace was restored ultimately, and the Peace-Treaty solemnly guaranteed to every tribe or nation the right to adore the Giant-Ant, the majestic Queen of the shining globe of fire, under any name it chose, and as many Giant-Ants as it liked. But until this enlightened standpoint finally gained the day, the whole multitudinous ant-world· of the Aruwimi Glade repeatedly stood on the brink of total destruction. Only the fact that their queens continued with unabated diligence to lay their superfluity of eggs in spite of the con­ fusion and turmoil of war, preserved this intelligent and noble race from complete extinction. CHAPTER IV

THE BIG-HEADS HE inevitable further consequence of the T many holy wars in the countries of the Aruwimi Ants was, beside the establishment of slavery, the enormous growth of the authority of the kings. In the good old times no special distinc­ tion was made between the king and his sub­ jects, except that the king worked even more diligently than his most diligent subject. But when these great wars broke out and were waged for so many generations, the role of the sovereigns was altered as a matter of course. Now they led their people in battle, framed and elaborated the plan of mobilisation and warfare with the assistance of the most eminent and astute ants, which formed their council of war, and actively fought against the enemy at the very head of their armies. In most of the battles the king, the most valiant of all heroes, fell as one of the first victims of the fury of war, and at the close of the battle the nation as a rule found itself subject to a new sovereign-­ the most daring, blood-thirsty warrior who by reason of his special valour and military wo~th was ipso facto recognised by the people in arms as their future leader. After the enemy had been massacred or put to flight, the work of plundering began; the booty in food and the larvre-prisoners­ of-war, the future slaves, were dragged to the habitations of the victorious people under the command of the new king, whose title of glory and of law was no longer based as of yore on his diligence, but on his cruelty and on his 47 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL exceptional talent for committing wholesale murder. We cannot wonder that in such circumstances the kings soon weaned themselves from peaceful labour, and that they advanced the brazen demand that they too must receive their food from the national storehouse without working for their living, because the secret of the sacred name of the Giant­ Ant Queen was known also to them. The people which had cause to dread the kings' hardness, were afraid to resist and to remind them of the eternal law of the great Mye-Mye, and therefore acceded to their request. But the kings increased their demands as time went on, until finally they isolated themselves with their households from the common ant habitations, kept the larvre-prisoners-of-war for themselves, trained them as their serfs, and made them construct magnificent palaces for the sole use of royalty and the retainers. From these fortified dwellings they ruled the people with an iron hand. But the latter, continuing to obey the aricient laws of Mye-Mye, worked incessantly and stored the food, gathered with indefatigable diligence, in the common granaries. Was it not natural that the idleness of the holy­ ants and the kings developed many jealous and eager imitators among the crowds of common ants? It was especia}ly the many intractable warriors who,. aft_er their return from the wars, were usually not mclmed to resume their peaceful but onerous labours,. for they had grown inordinately fond of the adventurous life of soldiers at war. They would have liked nothing better than to gad about, even though that was so contrary to the sacred 48 THE BIG-HEADS laws of their great ancestor Mye-Mye. Thus they pondered long and hard how they could manage to live without working, until an unusually bright and original ant ultimately succeeded in finding a wholly unexpected and decisive solution to the problem. This ant, originally belonging to the class of workers, but later a warrior, celebrated for his unexampled dare-devilry in many wars, where he had bitten hundreds, yes, thousands of enemies through the neck, spent ~11 his time racking his brain how to adjust his life to that of the holy ants and the king who lived at ease and affluence without exerting themselves in the least. If we may interpret certain obscure passages of the Aruwimi Chronicles correctly, this ant too, the valiant Pye-Pye, one day took the long journey up the trunk of the tree of the sacred myth, on the lofty summit of which the wise Mye-Mye, and later the saintly Kye-Kye, had received their inspirations many thousands of ant-generations ago. We do not doubt for a moment that Pye-Pye's impulse to set forth on this journey of discovery was born less of his ardent desire to emulate these great prototypes, and of the hope like them to experience great things, than of his growing sus­ picion of the reliability of the sacred traditions. But strange to say, like the great prophets of yore, he too felt the blood mount to his head and the waves of an unwonted heat course through his veins, until from the refractory chaos sprang forth wholly new thoughts, which gradually took firm shape. 49 D THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL "Am I in truth a slave," the gallant soldier was driven to muse, "that I must gather food and work, as if I had been born of a larva of a con­ quered people? Have I not several times been almost chosen king? How can I manage to live a life of ease? How can I avoid the necessity of doing filthy work ? " He reflected only a few moments when, suddenly, light dawned upon him. " Now I begin to see clearly ! " he jubilated. "The matter is ridiculously simple! How stupid of me not to obtain the clue instantly ! " With rapid strides the valiant Pye-Pye, engrossed by his magnificent idea, his mind enriched by a world-shaking, lofty, new thought, climbed down to earth and instantly communicated his scheme to a few of hjs soldier comrades who in the war had fought at his side, and of whom he was con­ vinced that they too hated work, and for this very reason were imbued with the deepest repug­ nance for the legal regulations of their ancestor Mye-Mye. All of them were seized with a mighty joy that their comrade had made this great discovery, that without hard work there was yet another and infinitely easier way to secure the necessary food. The very next day they set out in great crowds to carry the idea into execution. Instead of going to work they hid in ambush in the shade of a thick blade of grass, attacked their unsuspecting brothers as they returned homeward groaning under their savoury loads, unmercifully slaughtered them and robbed them of everything. This ingenious solution of the problem conceived 50 THE BIG-HEADS by the talented warrior Pye-Pye was imitated as readily by the Aruwimi ant-world as the surprising idea of the holy Kye-Kye had been universally admired. In the flash of a match numerous indo­ lent, valiant ants, anxious to secure the privilege of a life of ease, were ready and willing to butcher and despoil their brothers according to the example of the knightly Pye-Pye. These were sad times in the history of the Aruwimi Ants. The kings became phantom sovereigns, wholly impotent against this ever-growing licence of morals. Their most valiant and faithful warriors rebelled and joined the murderers and marauders. The wonderful order of the ant-world established by Mye-Mye slackened more and more, and the commonwealth, once so flourishing, took rapid strides towards destruction. And still from this universal chaos arose, strange to say, a new order, which, though wholly different from the old order of things, was, after all: an order. How ca~ this about? Those passages in the Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles which treat of this epoch are, to be sure, somewhat fragmentary, but for­ tunately permit us, after all, to gain a clear picture of the development of the subsequent cultural period. Soon the criminally inclined vandal warrior ants had thoroughly weaned themselves from the habit of working, and knew only one aim in life, namely, ease and comfort. It was not long before even their predatory profession became wearisome to them. They longed to lead a life of utter in- 51 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL activity, stay for ever at home, and did not wi~h to risk their lives the livelong day. No sooner did this wish dominate their hearts than they found a way to fulfil it : instead of robbing from the working ants, they simply robbed-the ants themselves ! They made them prisoners, put them under strict surveillance, and compelled them to do the work of slaves. Although at first all kinds of difficulties ensued, for the prisoners defended themselves and rebelled against their tormentors from time to time, later complete order was restored_. For when the larvre-progeny of the prisoners, which were captured at the same time, crawled from their cocoons, the slave-holders simply murdered their old rebellious prisoners without exception. Thus they gained the great advantage, that the new slaves had not the slightest knowledge of being descendants of free ants and considered their servitude a perfectly natural state of affairs. Thus a new ant-civilisation, with a wholly altered social order, was established in the Commonwealth of the Aruwimi Ants, and it seemed as if this new order of society rested on firmer and rµore unshak­ able foundations than that ancient system of cultural order which had disappeared with the origin of the robber-ants. Yes, it was not long before the general view prevailed that the new order was even of greater sanctity than the ancient cultural system of Mye­ Mye. The new social class attached itself to the group of Holy-Ants as a special caste : the " Robber­ Ants." But as they realised after a while that this designation was not refined and elegant enough to express their dignity, they soon exchanged it 52 THE BIG-HEADS for a finer and more aristocratic title, the" Lord­ Ants," and, in order to be able to sustain this proud name, they forced their people to construct mag­ nificent habitations for their sole use. The inevitable consequence of these conditions was that the immense old tribal ant-mansions, which not infrequently surpassed in size even the huts of the two-legged giants, became depopulated more and more, and gradually began to crumble to pieces. Thus the Glade was soon covered with thousands of small nest-structures in place of the old gigantic dwellings, and the Aruwimi Ants, all of which were formerly hard workers, the queens excepted, were now divided into three distinct classes :-Praying or Holy-Ants, Robber or Lord­ Ants, and finally Working or Slave-Ants. Dispersed over the whole Glade in thousands of small nests, the Lord-Ants, unless when engaged in bloody wars among themselves, spent their whole time in keeping guard over their slaves, in issuing ordrrs to them, and in spurring them on to drag, push, and carry food into the store-rooms of their masters. Just as the Holy-Ants neither sowed nor reaped, but, with the semblance of deep religiosity, pretended to adore the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant unceas­ ingly, and received as a gratuity for their life of surrender a superfluity of the good things of life from· their devoted people, thus the Lord-Ants asserted with pride that it was not only the Fat­ Bellies who sacrificed themselves for the people, but to a much greater degree did they themselves do so by commanding and supervising the necessary labours of the workers. Later they even main- 53 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL tained that the act of commanding represented WORK, indeed a nobler kind of work than the religious exercises of their saintly brethren, not to speak of the mandibual labour performed by the slaves. And they never grew tired of assuring the working ants with ever-growing firmness and certitude that they would be altogether incapable of working, if there were no Lord-Ants in the world who took on themselves the heavy and responsible burden of issuing commands to them. Thus the slaves supported not merely the kings and the Holy-Ants, but also the Lord-Ants, until the laziness and indolence of these parasites grew so excessive that they became too slothful even to lift the food to their mouths. They preferred to have the slaves to cram the food down their throats and were content to digest it. The slaves nourished, nurtured, and fostered also the larvre of their lords and masters, in short, performed all the necessary labour in the nests and out in the open. It sounds strange, and we two-legged creatures would scarcely believe it, if the Aruwimi chronicles did not bear credible testimony, that the working ants, although collecting all the food, received but a pitifully small part of it. Their masters left them a scanty sufficiency which saved them from starvation and kept them just strong enough to do the work. It is certainly a remarkable fact, although we can scarcely believe that intelligent creatures like the ants could be so stupid, that no one seemed to realise the senselessness of a social order in which those who worked were compelled to suffer hunger, and those who did not work had food in profusion and waxed plump and fat. 54 THE BIG-HEADS The Lord-Ants could be distinguished easily from the rest, because in time their heads grew to an enormous size, wherefore the chronicles usually mention them as " Big-Heads," in distinction to the working ants, "Small-Heads." They differed from the Holy-Ants in that their stomachs were a trifle less portly, and their habits considerably coarser and more brutal. Their uncultured rude­ ness led them, for instance, to abuse, to curse, and to rail against the Sacred Name of the Giant-Queen­ Ant, when they should have reverenced Her and Her saintly servants. This practice strikes us as all the more remarkable as in the presence of the slave-ants these fierce lords pretended to go into ecstasies of adoration of the mysterious Giant-Ant (as if they were in full accord with the holy ants), glorified the All-Mother, offered her the incense of adulation, and publicly expressed their gratitude that she had ordered the world so extremely well that only the dependent, small-headed and small-bellied multitude had to work. It is a remarkably strange fact that during this period of demoralisation and hypocrisy the dis­ covery of the Sacred Berry was made, of which we shall report more exhaustively in the further course of our story. In the same measure in which this transformation of the social life made progress and took root, the remembrance of the lofty and beneficial laws of Mye-Mye faded from the minds of the ants, and the time came when the ant-people knew, so to speak, only from hearsay, that at an incalculable distance, far beyond the glade, in the recesses of 55 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the Forest there existed other kinds of ants with heads of the same size and with stomachs of the same circumference which worked from sunrise to sunset, without exception, from the king down to the lowest subject. But that crowd, so far behind the times in social development, was commented upon by the progressive people of the Aruwimi Glade in expressions of ·contempt and depreciation. At this practice the Holy-Ants were proficient, who could not proclaim loud enough how those .contemptible " heathen ants " were predestined not to be admitted to the resplendent kingdom of the Giant-Ant, but must be changed, after their demise, to disgusting, horrible, filthy dung-beetles. And even the last vestige of respect for those distant tribes was lost when the Lord-Ants expressed their scorn by declaring bombastically that those "Aborigine Ants" were still so little civilised and so stunted in mentality that they had not even succeeded in bringing forth big-headed ants, and that therefore it was really a sin to use the honourable appellation " ants " in referring to them. This is much the picture which, on the strength of the Ant-Chronicles of that age, fortunately spared, we are able to draw of the national and social life of the ants. We shall now devote ·"a few chap~er? to the political and cultural history of the Aruwim1 Ants of that period. CHAPTER V

THE MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF THE KING'S DAUGHTER T would be an almost impossible undertaking I to enumerate all the ant-tribes which lived on the Glade in the centre of the great Aruwimi Forest. An important fact, however, which we must remember in order to understand the following events, is that three distinct races must be distin­ guished· :-the brown, the black, and the red ants, of which each group was again divided into countless smaller nations. Among the Brown-Ants it was the Tye Nation, among the Black-Ants the Pye Nation, and among the Red-Ants the Hye Nation, which was regarded as the most prominent ; and around each of these principal nations were grouped the various tribes of their blood-relations. Among the Great Three it was decidedly the Tye Nation which played the foremost role in the long history of the ants. For in their territory that mystical Sacred Tree spread its branches, above the lofty top of which dwelt the invisible Sacred Six-Footer, the Giant-Ant, from whom,. according to the most ancient traditions, the great law­ givers and benefactors of the entire ant-race, the wise Mye-Mye, the saintly Kye-Kye, and the valiant Pye-Pye, had received their heavenly missions. For this reason the sovereigns of the Tye-Kingdom claimed the right to be called the Sovereign-Lords of the ants of the whole World ! As conscientious historians of those times we may not conceal the truth, however, namely, that these kings really succeeded in subjecting to their dominion only the Brown-Ants, and even these not altogether and not 57 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL all the time, while the Black and Red Nations never recognised the supremacy of the Brown-Ants at all.

On a fearfully sultry day of midsummer a red ant from the Hye Nation had crossed the frontier­ line of his country, and had stopped on the soil of the Tye Nation. This act of trespass was com­ mitted by no means with the intention of working there or of seeking food, for this individual was a member of the ruling class, a Big-Head, a Lord-Ant. The curious gentleman merely desired to have a look at the foreign world, for he felt very much bored at the time. Scarcely had he taken a few steps, however, on this unknown soil when high above him, on the topmost point of a lofty grass-blade, he suddenly beheld a marvellously ·beautiful female ant of the brown Tye-Nation. It was Tye-Nye, the enchantingly lovely daughter of King Tye-Mye, at that time the sovereign lord of the Tye Nation. The chanting of the heavenly beauty of Tye-Nye finds no limit in the Aruwimi Chronicles. All Chronicles depict her as the fairest female ant of all times and of the whole World, meaning, of course, the Glade in the midst of the Aruwimi Forest. Her bewitching eyes,-thus her admirers report,-bore such a resemblance to the resplendent glory of the heavenly Fire-Globe that every male ant, which, stricken by pangs of love, gazed into those luminous depths, if but once only, lost possession of his mental balance for ever. When she moved along the lev:el ground, t~e beholder perceived the graceful swmg of her delicately formed hinder parts ; when 58 MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF KING'S DAUGHTER she climbed a blade of grass, her six lovely limbs moved with such bewildering natural grace that the mere view filled the bosom of every ant-youth with inexpressible delight, and even the grass blade trembled in rapture that it was privileged to bear such a wondrously sweet burden. Her four wings-she was still a virgin-were wholly intact, and sparkled at the least motion in all the colours of the rainbow. But het most beautiful adornments were the expressive, slender, poetic feelers which at the sight of a young male ant she moved to and fro with exquisite coquetry. In short, she must have been the most perfect Ant Beauty which the world has ever seen. Accord­ ing to the descriptions contained in the Chronicles, which as a rule were written in rather a dry style, we can gain but a faint idea of the extraordinary beauty of Tye-Nye, but the whole story of her life, and the world-shaking events connected with her name, prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that she must indeed have been surpassingly beautiful, so that we need not wonder when we read that for her sake billions of ants lost their lives. To see her and to fall in love was the work of a moment ! . Hye-Hye, the Red Ant-King Hye­ Mye's youngest son, with courteous reserve but irrepressible eagerness climbed up to her, declared his love on the spot, and instantly asked for the hand, or, more correctly expressed, for the wing of the prettily blushing royal maiden. "But you are one o~ those Red-Ants,".the P!incess objected, gently.: rubbmg her feelers aga1_nst his owi:, which action caused the intoxicated swam to lose his senses completely. "Know you not that the law 59 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL of St. Kye-Kye forbids mauiage between ants differing in colour ? " " Why should we bother about St. Kye-Kye, as long as we love each other ? " the enamoured Red­ Ant replied passionately. "Take me on your sweet back and fly over to the realm of my father, the mighty sovereign of the nation Hye. There you will learn that love is stronger than all the sacred laws of Kye-Kye ! " Thus he lured and courted her with honeyed, seductive feeler-movements and feeler-protestations until the exquisite royal maiden, who had never seen a red gentleman, a foreigner, in her life, and who perhaps was so deeply impressed for this very reason, succumbed to his wooing and declared herself prepared to take the momentous flight. Taking him on her back she rose in the air and flew with her adoring lover to the country of the Red-Ants, and her love was so passing great that even in the air she became his wife. Yea, before the loving pair had alighted on a cactus plant, the marriage was perfected and they had become man and wife. in defiance of all the laws of St. Kye­ Kye, and united through the eternal law of love. This unholy union, which scandalised the whole ant-world, caused however a terrible war. The news of the abduction of the beautiful King's Daughter spread with lightning rapidity throughout the Glade. King Tye-Mye, the Three Hundred and Fifty-Three Thousandth of that name, after a short p~riod of reflection, resolved· to avenge the rape of h_is daug?ter, f~r neither he nor his subjects con­ sidered 1t possible that a maidenly and chaste brown ant-princess had of her own free will con- 60 MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF KING'S DAUGHTER sented to become the life-partner of an ill-favoured Red-Ant. The incensed King, therefore, easily persuaded not only his own people, but all the Brown-Ants of the entire world, even those living as far away as the edge of the Forest, to follow his call to wage war against the race of Red-Ants. The warriors came streaming in great crowds fo the rendezvous, declaring with enthusiam and fierce anger that the national honour had been defiled and the royal dignity attainted, and that nothing else could make atonement but the blood of the despoilers. The terror of the Red-Ants knew no bounds when they heard of this mobilisation. In all haste they too ordered a general levy, and made all possible preparations to withstand the onslaught of the Brown-Ants. Soon the army of Red-Ants, under the supreme command of their puissant King Hye-Mye, the Two Hundred and Ninety­ Eight Thousand One Hundred and Fifteenth, stood facing the battle-array of the brown warriors. Only the Black-Ants, faithful to the sacred law of the Giant-Ant, and in conformity with the ant-law-of-nations established by Mye-Mye for all time, maintained strict neutrality. For the ancient international laws of the ant-race contained the regulation according to which, in case ants of two different nests fought against each other, any ant belonging to a third community was duty­ bound to crawl past the warriors, though engaged in a struggle for life or death, with the most indiffer­ ent, solemn-browed face in the world. The Aruwimi Chronicles give an exhaustive description of this great war. Beginning with the 61 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL abduction of the fair Tye-Nye, the Chronicles treat of the siege, the capture, the destruction and pillage of the great nest which served the King of the Red-Ants as castle; they chant the single combat between the Big-Head Hye-Hye, the heroic bridegroom of the abducted Princess, and the equally big-headed champion Tye-Tye, her former admirer. They furthermore describe how finally, after a terrific battle, in which the advantage shifted to and fro a dozen times, the valiant Tye-Tye, with one mighty nip, severed the head from the body of the equally gallant Hye-Hye. The Chronicles sing a plaintive song of the agony of weary wandering by the people of King Hye-Mye, until the homeless Red-Ants at last discovered, somewhere in the middle of the Glade, a specially fruitful rice-shrub, among the roots of which the few survivors of their race founded a new kingdom, destined to grow even mote powerful than their ancient Fatherland on the edge of the forest. And finally the ancient epic rises to accents of sheer jubilation over the ever-growing propagation of the race of Red­ Ants in consequence of the amazing fertility of Tye­ Nye, called after her abduction Hye-Nye, who, despite of her wingless state and advanced cor­ pulency, had lost little of her individual charm and beauty. Yea, according to the myth, reported by later Chronicles, her fruitfulness as a result of that single rapturous nuptial journey in the air, was so stupendously great and so permanently effective that on some days she laid near to one million eggs ! For many ant-generations these heroic poems formed the only contents of the Aruwimi Chronicles ,· 62 MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF KING'S DAUGHTER and they were celebrated as the foremost classic of ant-literature, not only in the country of the Brown and Red-Ants, but also in that of the Black-Ant race. It is no less than a miracle that we were able to gain information concerning the purport and origin of all these magnificent epics of antiquity, a miracle so great that we consider it our duty to reveal to the reader the means by which they were handed down to the present day. CHAPTER VI

THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS N the beginning of time, and for countless genera­ I tions, these legends were transmitted from feeler to feeler, and the ancient traditions were preserved from destruction only by antennary vibration. Thus it was at least to the period in which, through the far-reaching discovery of a Holy-Ant, the culture of the Aruwimi Ants took an immense forward­ leap ; and it was this stroke of genius to which we owe not only the preservation of those fabulous epics, but also our thorough knowledge of the life and ways of the Aruwimi Ants, above all concerning their history and the customs prevalent amongst .them.

One fine morning an extremely corpulent Holy­ Ant, called Kye-Rye, was sunning: himself before the entrance gate of the Sacred Nest, waiting for the choice morsels which the simple-minded devout Small-Heads were to transport to the habitation of the congregation of saints. Weary of waiting, and tired of the endless repetition of the invocation to Tye-Vye-Nye, he finally walked round the Sacred Nest and meandered aimlessly to and· fro in the fine sand at its rear. For quite a while he kept up his exercise without racking his brain with aught but the ever important question how he could spend the coming day in the greatest possible comfort and ease. "What ant has crawled here before me? " the Holy Fat-Belly suddenly asked himself in surprise, for when he perchance glanced down where the 64 THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS points of his feet moved indolently his eyes beheld other foot-prints .faintly engraved in the sand. It must be acknowledged that at first he was vtterly confused, and vainly strove to settle the question in his mind what other ant might have traversed this spot before him. For some time the rakish Kye-Rye, scenting a love-affair, vainly rummaged about for a possible female ant, until he unravelled the enigma and realised that the mysterious tracks could be only his own footprints engraved in the sand during his aimless walk around the Sacred Nest. " How very singular ! " he mused ; " when an ant walks on sand it leaves tracks behind! " and from pure amusement he began to draw most original and merry lines in the fine sand which, according to the traditions of the Holy-Ants, ran in the following forms : THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL From that day forth this diversion caused so great a satisfaction to Kye-Rye that he devoted nearly all his spare time to it. "How would it be, if, while thinking hard, one were purposely to leave such tracks in the sand? " the mentally most active ant asked himself suddenly. Henceforth Kye-Rye found no peace of mind. The light of knowledge dawned in his soul. With bowed head and in deep meditation he crawled about all day long, so that his reverend brethren, to whom he continually raved about his tracings, considered him mentally deranged. Whatever they undertook to induce him to drop his studies was not appreciated and ended in failure. But Kye-Rye was by no means discouraged. One day with an energetic antennary gesture, revealing his firm resolution, he called together his friends and said to them :- " Name me a name, ye holy Fat-Bellies ! " "Holy is the name of Tye-Vye-Nye," the reverend ants chanted in unison, raising their eyes to heaven. "Behold," said Kye-Rye, "I shall trace for you the track of this Holy Name in the sand!" Thereupon he began without hesitation to craw about the sand in the most incomprehensible manner until at last the following hieroglyphics appeared :

66 THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS "What do ye behold, 0 Reverend Brethren ? " he asked. " Tracks in the sand ; naught else," they re­ plied. " Ye fools, these be no common tracks," cried Kye-Rye triumphantly. "The first track signifies "Sacred," the second "Name," the third "Giant-Ant; " and all together, "TYE-VYE-NYE." The devout brothers laughed so uproariously that their fat bellies wobbled. "You have imbibed too much of the juice of the sacred berry," they exclaimed in unison; and no matter how hard he tried to make them see his point, they refused to take him and his discovery seriously. The Giant­ Ant-fearing Fat-Bellies were interested only in obtaining their threefold portion of food, in swilling as much of the juice of the Sacred Berry as they could hold, and in lounging about in the sunshine, but for mere tracks in the sand-why, tracks were tracks, and sand was sand, and-Kye-Rye was dotty. The unfortunate Kye-Rye, repulsed and mis­ understood, became more strange every day and finally grew totally insane; from morning till evening he whirled around the sacred nest with lightning rapidity, which action is the sign of incurable insanity among the ants. Soon after­ wards he died, still young in years, for he was just four rain-periods old. His pious colleagues carried him in solemn procession to the ant-cemetery, where the most reverend of his brethren trilled his hearers a fine thrilling funeral sermon,. setting forth the deceased's genial nature, and warning them against the danger of speculating on senseless 67 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL tracks in the sand. Thereupon his mortal remains were laid out at the end of the row of mummiform corpses of his departed comrades in order t? .be pulverised gradually by the heat of the shmmg Globe of Fire. In .time his body too disappeared from sight without a single one of his contempor­ aries realising that he had enriched the civilisation of the Aruwimi Ants by a great and notable dis­ covery. But within the holy precincts of the Sacred Nest the remembrance of the self-conceited Fat­ Belly, who had grown mad as a hatter over his own foot-prints, did not fade away for many years. Thus the whole discovery might have fallen into oblivion if, a few egg-hatching periods later, another Holy-Ant, named Kye-Lye, who had shed bitter tears at the sad fate of the unfortunate Kye-Rye, had not climbed to the top of that lofty tree on which the radiant Globe of Fire was wont to take a short siesta at high noon. The head of this ant began to glow from the effects of the rays of the heavenly fire, and the brain began to whirl with strange thoughts, which ultimately had the fortu­ nate result that the amazing discovery of Kye-Rye at last became the most precious cultural treasure of the entire Aruwimi race. " Those tracings in the sand of the insane Kye­ Rye ! " he began to muse. " How curious ! No matter how often we repeat them, they always. seem full of meaning ! And we can repeat them as often as we desire ! Kye-Rye was not demented ! It is as clear to me as the Fire-Globe at noon-day. I know now what the poor fellow meant!" 68 THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS Kye-Lye was so utterly convinced that he had received a celestial inspiration that, wholly shaken and with trembling limbs, he hastened down the tree and really flung himself at the work which the unfortunate Kye-Rye had left in the initial stage so long ago. How familiar seemed these three-figure tracings which, according to Kye­ Rye's information, signified the sacred name, " Tye-Vye-Nye ! " For the Holy-Ants in their leisure hours, while discussing the sad story of poor Kye-Rye, were wont to trace these traditional figures in the sand. It was a merry game in which he had also often taken part, never realising what a deep meaning lay hidden behind that childish diversion. In his zeal to enlighten his colleagues, the Holy Fat-Bellies, he immediately called them together, drew the three figures in the sand by crawling to and fro, and asked them: '' Ye know, Reverend Brethren, what these tracks be? " "Certainly we do," they answered, crowding around him. " These be the tracks of the crazy Kye-Rye.'' "And what is their meaning? " "The Sacred Name of our ALL-MOTHER: Tye­ Vye-Nye." "Then O ! my brethren-then Kye-Rye was NOT crazy!" Kye-Lye exclaimed, staring at them with fixed gaze. " Ye are all perfectly informed regarding the meaning of these tracings, are ye not? Very well! This is just what poor Kye­ Rye intended ye should be! vVhy could we not, in the same manner, trace other tracks in the sand, 69 iHE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL but with a different meaning of course, which meaning they too would retain for ever ? '' The Holy- Ants gasped in amazement, but gradually began to realise the immense imI;>ortance and the possible range of the wonderful discovery of Kye-Rye. And though it had scarcely passed the initial stage of development, Kye-Lye devoted his whole life to the study of this science of Track­ Tracing, and indeed with such intensity that in time his figure lost the corpulency of his fellow­ religionists and he became lank and emaciated from indulging in continual brainwork and in intel­ lectual effort. Soon he observed that tracks could be traced not only in the sand, but also on various other surfaces. After many experiments he discovered for this purpose a black berry, the juice of which was eminently suited to serve as ant-ink. The application of this wonderful fluid was extremely simple ; merely to bathe in it, and instantly crawl­ ing hither and thither on a dry leaf, Kye-Lye was able to trace just as distinct and even more legible hieroglyphics than he could trace in the sand. Thus Kye-Lye was the originator of that oldest system of ant-foot-hieroglyphics which were traced, or rather crawled, on dry laurel leaves and so beautifully described the Tree-Climbings of Mye­ Mye, of Kye-Kye and Pye-Pye, the abduction and marvellous fecundity of the lovely Tye-Nye, and the famous siege and capture of the citadel of the Red-King, Hye-Mye. The science of Track-Tracing, much as the know­ ~edge of the Holy Name of Tye-Vye-Nye, was Jealously kept as a precious secret by the Order of 70 THE MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS Holy-Ants, and added greatly to their reputation among the big-headed nobility, and especially among the small-headed rabble, for being the first­ born and most beloved children of the All-Mother in the Fire-Globe. CHAPTER VII

" AN UNLAID EGG IS NO EGG " T is unfortunate that the sources from which we drew the data concerning the life and the history· ofI the Aruwimi Ants give us only a confused and almost incomprehensible impression regarding their spiritual life, and the science and art flourishing among them. Just as we are unable fully to comprehend the physical strength of the ants, and explain why an ant is capable of lifting an object two or three hundred times heavier than the weight of its own body, so also we cannot fathom the depth of their mental and spiritual life. This ignorance on our part is doubtless caused by the fact that not only the outer organs of sense, but also the inner nervous system, specially the cerebral ganglia, of these hymenoptera have reached a much higher plane of development, and are subject to a much finer systematic arrangement, than either the senses or the brains of the uncouth two-legged mammal called "Homo sapiens (?) Linn." and that in consequence it seems impossible to transfer the essence of their sphere of apperception into the limited world of the conceptions of the latter species. To attempt this would be as hopeless a beginning as to endeavour to make one blind from birth realise the wondrous colour-combinations of a painting by Raphael, or a deaf-mute the heavenly music of a Mozart, or an idiot the incom­ parable poetic imagination of a Dante, or a maniac the idealistic lofty philosophy of a Plato. Just as for these unfortunates everything which we 72 " AN UNLAID EGG IS NO EGG " should attempt to convey would remain a senseless salmagundi, so the spiritual and mental life of the ants appears to us utterly absurd and confused; -for co1npared with the ants we certainly are colour-blind, deaf-mute, and soft-witted creatures. How much more generous was nature to the ants regarding the organs for the expression of thoughts than to us clownish giants! What magnificent organs of sense are those two long antennre which, rising from the head, serve the purpose of thought­ transmission ! Can our pitiful, sluggish tongue, of the natural aptitude and perfectibility of which we are so inordinately proud, in any way be compared to them? Each of these two feelers consists of twelve most :flexible and supple joints which, as they can also be moved separately, endow every ant with an organ of twenty-four segments with which to communicate its thoughts and feelings. We cannot imagine, even faintly, the immense wealth in modes of expression represented by these twenty-four tiny joints, every one of which can be brought into contact with any, or all, or with any combination of feeler-joints of other ants, whenever communication is desired. How many varieties of permutation, of combination, and of variation are thus at their disposal ! The number of separate possibilities of communication calculated by means of mathematical formulas are: 13,336,310,000,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo, in words: thirteen quintillion, three hundred and thirty-six thousand three hundred and ten quadril­ lion! · So many words, or better, syllables-if we 73 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL may use these expressions of the two-legged demi­ gods-are at the disposal of the ants to express their emotions and thoughts! What enormous successions and combinations of thoughts, what inexpressible delicacies of feeling, what mighty symphonies of the spiritual world, and what an unlimited stock of ideas of loftiest wisdom may be revealed through such a superfluity of means of expression !

This general obscurity of our knowledge of the Aruwimi Ants, whenever we seek to fathom the mental life of this most highly gifted race ,is illumined, scantily, only here and there by a tiny ray of light. Still it can be maintained with absolute certainty that the loftiest of all mental sciences, philosophy had, even at the most ancient, obscure period of which we treat at present, reached a high state of development, and was cultivated with the utmost zeal among the ants. It is an irrefutable fact that nowadays every ant, even the lowliest and most common of the kind. thinks, reflects, draws conclusions~id est, philoso­ phises ! How were this possible, if previously they had not discovered and firmly formulated the universal and eternal laws of thinking? Thus they must have had their philosophy from the earliest time. ' Indeed, psychology, logic and ethics seem to have reached a plane of unexampled development among them ; and especially in the domain of sociology they are, not even their only rivals, the bees, excepted, the most phenomenal, brilliant creatures of the entire creation. This fact is well 74 "AN UNLAID EGG IS NO EGG" known to anyone who even but casually observes the social life of the ants. There also exists beyond the shadow of a doubt, an ant-metaphysics, even though unfortunately it is uncommonly difficult, perhaps even impossible, to express the lofty conceptions contained in it, by the hypotheses of our poverty-stricken philosophy. Most intricate metaphysical problems must have arisen among the ants at a very early period, for an obscure passage in the Chronicles of the Aruwimi Country-the only one of philosophic character, which, in spite of the immense difficulties con­ nected with it, we were able to decipher to some extent-contains the following, most remarkable clause: The Holy Kye-Mye ...... (here follows a long text, to us quite unintelligible) ...... unlaid egg ...... no egg ...... Giant Ant ...... no ant ...... what does not exist ...... is not ...... is nothing ...... We interpret this extremely difficult, very obscure Upanishadian passage-though, we frankly acknow­ ledge, it might be interpreted in other ways-as follows. A great ant-philosopher, a certain Kye­ Mye, of the Fat-Bellied Holy Caste, in the very earliest period of ant-history formulated the stupen­ dously important problems, entity and non-entity, ego and non-ego, s~lf-hood, and so forth, a!ld by ~he application of wonderful ac~men. and mgen.mty, solved them to his own satisfact10n. True 1t 1s, certainly, that Kye-Mye was the first ant which began to doubt the existence of a "personal" or 75 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL " individual " Giant-Ant-and indeed for the reason that, according to the sacred traditions, it did not come forth from an egg ; and in consequence founded an atheistic, perhaps also pantheistic, at any rate a pessimistic and nihilistic School of Philosophy and formulated a myrmecocentric theory of the cosmic position of the ant. No one can deny that for a Holy-Ant, whose vocation, from the very moment of the crawling out from the egg, was the continuous adoration of the sacred name of a Six-Footed Being throning above the tops of the highest trees, this attitude was most peculiar and remarkable, whence we have a perfect right to surmise that the principle of freedom of thought obtained a firm footing among the ants at a very early date. It is even possible that the ants owe it to this principle that in later times they were able to make such colossal progress in all domains of civilisation, so that nowadays they are the very foremost, the most flourishing and wide-spread race on earth, for it is a well-known fact that the number of ants on earth is greater than that of all other six-legged, four-legged, and two-legged creatures together; and, therefore, any ant might boast of the mastery of the Earth with ~ore justice and reason than the conceited, bump­ tious two-legged monster of the diluvial and present period.

Vve have thus the most cogent reasons for the convic~ion th3:t the mentality bf the ants, just as their physical force, has reached an incom­ parably higher state of development than that of all human creatures, who on account of their 76 '' AN UNLAID EGG IS NO EGG'' pitiful amount of intellect cleem themselves the lords, yea, even the very crown, of creation! As far as the resthetical life of the ants is con­ cerned, our faulty two-legged intellect can, in a small measure, grasp and appraise only their . architectural ability. Even the smallest ant-nest is in itself an architectonical masterpiece. But there are varieties of ants, especially in Africa, which build of clay or grey and black foster-earth great palatial edifices of perfect artistic form and constructed with admirable mathematical exactness. These small creatures are also capable of erecting structures many million times the size of their . tiny bodies, which is more astonishing than if we two-legged giants had constructed Mont Blanc or Mount Everest. The gigantic ant-nests are at any rate much more remarkable masterpieces than the world-famous pyramids of Gizeh, built by the two­ legged giants. Unfortunately we have no knowledge of the resthetic life of the ants in other domains, but can merely surmise that it has reached a lofty plane of development in every respect. Their organs of taste and smell, for instance, are doubt­ less much finer and much more delicate than the organs of sense of ours, gigantic bipeds. It is therefore not out of the question that in taste and smell the ants partake of such wondrous sensual and resthetic delights, that we, in consequence of our most imperfect senses, cannot in the least imagine them. The same is true in regard to the other senses. What bliss-bestowing psychical exper­ iences in the magic realm of colour! The ant's wonderful prismatically constructed eye, by means 77 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL of which it can gaze at the same time in all directions, projects such a magnificent variegated panorama of the beauties of nature upon the delicately organ­ ised cortex of the tiny brain that in comparison our human eye must be regarded as a most primitive organ. The ant sees, besides, marvellously tender shades of colour which our eye cannot perceive at all; and the superiority to ours is most probably true also in the realm of tone, in which nature is so infinitely opulent and of which our deficient hearing apparatus is able to record only the coarsest vibrations. The general obscurity and confusion of the Aruwimi records, as they appear to our limited human understanding, make it even probable that, besides the already mentioned five senses, the ants possess still others, of which we have no know­ ledge whatever. We are therefore compelled to give up for ever the hope of fathoming :completely the wondrous and lofty soul of an ant, and must be satisfied with apprehending only its simplest physical wants and most primitive psychical exper­ iences, as the whole mode of life of the six-footed tiny and delicately organised creatures, and the manner of living of the brutal two-legged giants show identical or similar characteristics in no other respect. Thus with the greatest regret we are forced to be satisfied with depicting those cultural events in the history of the Aruwimi Ants which, in spite of the imperfection of our mental apparatus, we are able to apprehend. CHAPTER VIII

THE HOLY INTOXICATION EVERAL times in the course of our narrative Swe were obliged to make mention of the remark­ able juice of a certain " Sacred Berry," which, when indulged in by the Aruwimi Ants, threw them into paroxysms of hilarity and boisterousness, soon followed by a most profound, sweet sleep. This liquor, consisting of the juice of a certain berry, must have been discovered during the period of which our report treats, and the way in which its beneficial and singular effect became known is so odd that we have not the heart to keep it from our readers. The discovery of the Sacred Berry, just as many other progressive developments in the cultural life of the Aruwimi Ants, was due to a mere accident. On the first fine day shortly after a period of showers a Holy-Ant belonging to the Tye Nation of the Brown race~his illustrious name was unfor­ tunately not handed down to us-took his wonted constitutional in the direction of the forest. Inces­ santly murmuring the hallowed name of the invisible · Giant-Queen-Ant and wholly engrossed in the prescribed devotional exercise, he suddenly missed his footing in passing immediately beneath a low shrub, and fell into a puddle. After he had suc­ ceeded with difficulty in extricating himself, he lay down in the sun on the edge of a bit of turf to dry himself. Scarcely had the devout creature settled himself comfortably when he became conscious of a feeling of physical bliss which grew in intensity until he 79 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL fell into a profound sleep. Immovable he lay sleeping for _hours and dreamed the strangest, most blissful dreams, even that he had been transplanted to the pinnacle of the Magic Tree where the sacred Giant-Ant unveiled her countenance before him, and held sweet converse with her faithful worshipper. The cool breeze of the waning day at last drew him from the embrace of sleep. "What has happened to me? " the devotee asked himself, rubbing his eyes and still half stupe­ fied. "I have slept in broad daylight and dreamed strange magic dreams ! Never have I had such remarkable experience since my larva days and since in accordance with the sacred will of the Giant-Ant I joined the fraternity of the Holy Fat­ Bellies ! '' In vain our friend tortured his brain to fa thorn the mystery why he had slept so long and deep, and had dreamed of such beautiful things. How was it possible for him to find a reason for this strange occurrence, especially as he had frequently before stumbled into a puddle without feeling stupefying after-results; on the contrary, he always · felt refreshed after such an involuntary bath. Thus it might have happened easily that the great momentous discovery had come to nothing, if the little accident had not occurred again on the very next day, when the Holy Fat-Belly fell into the same puddle the second time. Scarcely had he regained terra firma when he again became be­ numbed, fell into a deep sleep full of enchanting dreams, from which he was wakened by the cool breeze which the goddess of night wafted from the darkening forest. 80 THE HOLY INTOXICATION "By the Holy Name of Tye-Vye-Nye ! What else could have stupefied me but my involuntary bath ? " he exclaimed, as soon as he had regained his senses. For a minute or two he brooded and speculated, until, suddenly, he exclaimed with fervent enthusiasm: "This pool must be sacred! We shall make it into a place of pilgrimage!" As soon as he arrived at the Holy Nest, he com­ municated the great discovery to his colleagues, and the following day had scarcely dawned when the entire population of the sacerdotal edifice floundered about in the sanctified puddle and ultimately lay sprawling about on the grass by the edge to sleep off their fumes. Soon the whole Tye-Nation knew of this epoch­ making event, and great crowds of ants, especially of the caste of Big-Heads, streamed from all direc­ tions towards the stimulating supernatural pool to bathe in the miraculous waters and afterwards to partake of the blissful joys of a sleep full of marvellous dreams. The Holy-Ants, however, had appropriated the pool already as their exclusive property, but magnanimously permitted the Big-Heads to bathe and become helplessly drunk. Some of the latter, it is true, were drowned, for they could not get enough and stayed in too long, and others, succeeding only with super-ant exertions to reach the shore, never lost the agreeable drowsiness resulting from their bath. Yea, there were indi­ viduals even who, on awakening from their stupefaction, had lost their entire ant-reason and never regained it. Chronic dreamers, incurable eccentrics, they circled round their nests day after Sr F THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL day, from morning till night, until they fell to the earth in utter exhaustion. It was most fortunate that the miraculous pool dried up soon after the beginning of the hot season, for otherwise all the Fat-Bellies and Big-Heads of the Tye-race would have perished miserably-of delirium tremens. When the rainy season set in again, the pool too appeared, but the thousands of eager bathers were sorely disappointed: the bath resulted in their getting soaked with~water ; but not otherwise. It was only reasonable that the reverend brethren should be greatly dejected, for, in the first place, they desired to enjoy the practice of Holy Intoxi­ cation themselves, and, in the second place, they had intended to earn large profits by permitting not only the Big-Heads, but also the small-headed rabble, to bathe in the Pool. For that privilege the simple-minded pilgrims would be obliged to deposit special gifts of food in the storehouses of the sanctuary. But that youthful ant-eleric who had discovered the pool of wonders, was by no means willing to acknowledge himself beaten, for he was a direct descendant of the Holy Kye-Kye and had inherited to some extent the indomitable fiery spirit of that first prophet of the Giant-Ant. Whole days he spent on the edge of the puddle and _Pondered on a possible solution of the mystery. Agam and again he bathed and tried his best to get drunk and to fall asleep, but all his endeavours proved in vain. One day a~ he sat disconsolate in the sun, he suddenly received a blow from above which nearly 82 THE HOLY INTOXICATION startled him into a fit. As soon as he had regained his mental equilibrium, he looked about and made the comforting discovery that the assailant had been a berry which, falling from the shrub over­ head, had almost crushed him to death. For­ tunately the berry was soft, over-ripe, and some­ what decayed, else the poor Fat-Belly would have died a sudden and violent death. The devout saint, very cross that the juice of the rotten berry had drenched him through, stretched himself out on a sandy spot in order that the blazing rays of the sun might dry him. Scarcely had he settled himself when again he became conscious of that long-missed delicious sensation which, formerly, bathing in the sacred pool had brought him. In a trice he was asleep and was transported to fairyland, where he tasted the delights of paradise, until at sunset the cool breeze again roused him to life. "I have dreamed again," he mused on awakening, "How can this be, when this time I did not bathe in the pool ? "-" A berry fell on me and almost crushed me ! "-." What caused me to fall asleep ? " The whole night he brooded and racked his brain, until at last the truth dawned on him that in reality he HAD bathed that day also, if not in the sacred pool, at least in the juice of the berry which had drenched his body. On the following day, early in the morning, he hastened to look the shrub carefully over, but, to make sure, first immersed himself in the water of the puddle. Nothing happened. Neither his phy­ sical nor his mental equilibrium was in any wise disturbed by the bath. At last he surmised that 83 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL -perhaps the pool had nothi1;1g, b1:t the juice o! the berry everything to do WI th his former blissful sensation, and he looked for the hall-rotten berry which had fallen from the shrub the day before and had nearly killed him, and, when he found it, he sprawled out in its juicy softness. Perhaps he lay thus too long, for he sank into such a deep stupor that it was only with the greatest exertion that he was able to crawl to safety. But as soon as he had reached dry ground, he instantly fell into a deep swoon. Thus he lay immovable the whole day, the entire night, and far into the second day. For­ tunately some of his reverend brethren, who were coursing about in quest of him, found him under the shrub. Thinking that he was dead, they threw his body into the pool, for the cemetery belonging to the Sacred Nest was situated at too great a distance ; but the cool plunge revived the poor fellow and saved his life, for he would, doubtless, have perished but for this summary action on the part of his comrades. This adventure now settled the question in his mind. Not the pool, but the juice of the berry was the actual bliss-bestowing, sacred agent which afforded the mortal ants the pleasures of this strange sensation! Soon his tiny, but highly developed ant-brain succeeded in unravelling the other mystery, namely that in the preceding year that insignificant puddle had become holy solely because a sacred berry had fallen into it . . Fr?m this hour the devout Holy-Ant made a p1!gnmage to the blessed shrub every day without fail, and always succeeded in :finding a berry or two sufficiently rotten to get drunk on. But 84 THE HOLY INTOXICATION experience is an excellent teacher, especially for an ant ; so our friend took good care not to prolong his berry-bath unduly, and behold ! he had his pleasure every day and spent all his leisure hours in paradise ! After our ingenious Fat-Belly had experimented exhaustively with his great discovery, which was no less than epochal in the history of the civilisation of the Aruwimi Ants, he solemnly announced it to the entire population of the clerical palace, among which it called forth the greatest enthusiasm and jubilation. The holy brethren eagerly threw them­ selves at those sacred berries, rotting on the ground under the shrub, and took baths without ceasing. Many accidents, even cases of death, resulted from excessive indulgence in this luxurious habit, and gradually led the fraternity of Fat-Bellies to use greater caution, until after awhile they realised that it was not at all necessary to bathe in the juice of the berry, but that it was quite sufficient to sip it. It would lead too far, if we narrated in these pages how the adoration of the wonderful berry gradually developed, in what manner the juice became the sacred beverage of the Aruwimi Ants, and how, for so many years, only the Holy-Ants were permitted to indulge in it; until in a later and more progressive age the sacred intoxicant became the common property of the entire Aruwimi Ant­ race. At first, however, indulgence was permitted only to the Big-Headed nobility, but later the small-headed rabble too was granted this delicious boon. For it was generally observed that when 85 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the ant-people sipped the juice of th_e sacred b~rry, they forgot all wretchedness and. misery, and m a state of ecstasy and beatitude were inclined to believe that the whole world was arranged in the most perfect manner possible, and that they were the most fortunate beings indeed. Apart from the " Holy Will of the Giant-Ant," which was emphasised continually and referred to by Her devout servants and the Lord-Ants, the juice of the Sacred Berry was the chief means and expedient by which the non-working Fat-Bellies and Big-Heads unshakably maintained their domination over the working Small-Heads for many millions of ant-generations. By means of the miraculous beverage the working strata of ant-society were stultified and finally became so blunted of intellect that they never aroused themselves sufficiently to think on the question why they should be called upon to collect food and to work for other ants. In this connection the Ant-Chronicles establish another fact, namely that the industrial develop­ ment among the Aruwimi Ants really began with the discovery of the Sacred Berry-Juice. For, a few generations later, a specially astute Holy-Ant of the red Zye-Nation discovered how the indulgence in this remarkable liquor could be rendered possible, not only during a definite season when the berries happened to be in a state of decomposition, namely immediately after the rainy period, but at any time. For this purpose, he rolled tiny, soft grains into the juice of the rotting berry, and after they had a?sorbed a sufficient amount of liquid, dragged them mto the cool store-rooms of the sacred edifice, where he and his companions could at any time 86 THE HOLY INTOXICATION regale themselves with this incomparable delicacy. The red Fat-Bellies succeeded in keeping their invention snug for a number of years, but, as such delicious secrets are bound to get abroad sometime or other, it soon became public property among the Aruwimi Ants and ultimately the festival of the Sacred-Berry Harvest became the Red-Letter Day for all the myrmecean inhabitants of the Aruwimi Glade. The invention of these absorbent lozenges was the impetus for a higher cultural development of the Aruwimi Ants, and the clerics thus became the first servants of the vineyard of the new epoch. CHAPTER IX

AGRICULTURE T will not be imagined that during all this ~ime I the tiny brains of the Small-Heads all remamed inactive ; they too made discoveries galore in all domains of the economic life, the ingenuity of which cannot but imbue even the two-legged giants with admiration and awe. According to our authorities the ants of that period tamed a tiny wild creature, which later became the most popular domestic animal of the ant-people. The particulars of this epoch-making progress are veiled in obscurity, as the chronicles are incomplete and merely fragmentary just at this period. But the fact is established beyond the least shadow of doubt that the Aruwimi popula­ tion, and following their example, the ants of the entire world, breed in their subterranean dwellings small beetles, the hind-parts of which exude a fluid of agreeable sweetness which forms the favour­ ite nourishment of the entire Ant-World. These little milking-cows, of which they often keep whole herds, which they carefully tend and guard, and regularly drive to pasture, are the most valuable, most treasured possessions of the ants, and for their sakes they do not infrequently wage bloody wars. The second momentous progressive step has reference to agriculture, in which the methodical cultivat~on of grain became one of the principal occupat10ns of the ants. No one could to-day enlighten us regarding the name of the benefactor of the ant race who happened upon the idea of cultivating exclusively useful. plants around the 88 AGRICULTURE nests. The most ancient and ingenious pioneers of civilisation, the first great benefactors and dis­ coverers, always disappear in the mystical twilight of hoary history. There is, however, no doubt that in the beginning of the cultural development of the ants their whole agrarian activity consisted in the gathering of all the edible grains of seed, which they perchance found on their foraging expeditions and carried to their nests. But often their trampings were in vain and they were com­ pelled to return to their homes late in the evening with empty mouths. One fine day, however, an ingenious small-headed ant, whose name is not mentioned in the chronicles (which merely state that it belonged to the black-race) made the acute observation that seeds do not spring directly from the soil, but fall from above, from the tops of plants, and soon afterwards discovered that variety of plant from which the most palatable, appetising and nutritious seeds were wont to fall. Had not this discovery been made, the ant-people would still, probably, be accustomed to gather their food according to the primitive methods of the most ancient times. The plant in question is the rice plant, the seeds of which, thanks to this discovery of their value, became, next to the sweet milk of the cows, the chief nourishment of the ants. As generation followed generation the ants gradually gained much practice and skill in the science of agriculture. With the utmost thorough­ ness they weeded out the countless plants of no value for nourishment which grew in wild profusion everywhere, and suffered only the rice-plant to grow in peace. With wise caleulation the workers 89 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL left a part of the seeds lying on the ground in the neighbourhood of the nests, in order to allow the useful plant to grow unhindered and to promote the propagation to an ever greater extent. But the seeds which they needed for their nourishment during the rainy season they carried and rolled and pushed to their granaries in such quantities that they were always certain to have enough on hand, and more than enough, to keep body and soul together. Along with the care for their own alimentation the ants mastered the problem of feeding their milch-cows. If the inclement weather prevented the pasturing, they supplied them with the proper food in the subterranean stables in the interior of the nests, well aware that, unless regularly and properly fed, the precious creatures would neither give them sweet nectar nor live long. Such grasses with sweet roots as cows specially relished were also spared according to plan and were cultivated in the immediate neighbourhood of the nests. The roots of these grasses went down to the very subterranean stables, in which the cows crouched in neat array. The sight of these rows of well-fed domestic treasures doubtlessly filled the cattle-raising ant-farmer with the like justi­ fied pride as fills the two-legged landed proprietor when he struts pompously through his giant model-byres in which his sleek prize cattle, filled to satiety, calmly chew the cud before the odorous hay-ricks. Just as the cultivation of the soil, this other branch of agriculture, the breeding of domestic animals, also reached an ever greater development among the Aruwimi Ants. go AGRICULTURE The Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles were written exclu­ sively by Holy-Ants, who looked on the working Small-Heads with supreme contempt, and accord­ ingly seldom mentioned the deeds, and never mentioned the names, of even the most illustrious Slave-Ants. But- one great epoch-making event these unreasonably biassed historians could not pass over in silence, so that, although the name of the ingenious inventor is not handed down to us, the ancient records permit us at least to acquaint our readers with the particulars and collateral circumstances of another stupendous invention. One evening a small-headed slave-ant, belonging to the Bye-Nation, arrived at its home, the nest of the lord and master Bye-Lye, the Big-Head, in utter exhaustion. The unfortunate slave had vainly foraged for food all day long. His zeal had not been rewarded, he had not found a single seed, and late in the evening he was c9mpelled to return to his master with empty mouth. But woe to the miserable worker which at night-fall returned to the nest without the prescribed quantity of food ! The Big-Head, Lord Bye-Lye, ruled his slaves with relentless severity. Such undutiful servants were fortunate indeed when they were maltreated only, for their lord was wont to tear off their feelers or even bite off their heads. The very mildest punish­ ment meted out to them was that they were sent to bed without supper. " Into thy corner, thou sluggard," the hard­ hearted Bye-Lye roared with feelers slashing with fury, after he had beaten his slave so unmercifully that the poor fellow could scarcely move. "If thou returnest empty-mouthed on the morrow, I 91 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-0MMEL shall bite off thy empty head, don't you forget it ! " The poor sinner crawled trembling out of sight into the farthest corner, which served as jail for those slave-ants who had been wanting in obedience towards their master. He was so fearfully hungry that in his despair he began chewing the bare earth to still his hunger. But all his exertion~ were vain; no matter how violently he chewed and licked, the tasteless earth would not change in his mouth to a sweet fluid which a half-starved ant could swallow and digest. While the slave-ant thus exerted himself, his lips suddenly brushed against some soft substance, and when he began to lick it, and his saliva mixed with the mysterious matter, it dissolved in his mouth and tasted so wonderfully sweet that it seemed to him that he had never tasted anything so delicious in his life. The poor, down-:trodden slave had, by the merest chance, come across a colony of fungi in this out­ of-the-way chamber of the subterranean nest! When later, in dreamy satisfaction, he traced the reason of his astonishing fortune, he discovered that it was indeed a cluster of mushrooms, a plant to which no ant had ever paid the slightest attention before, to which he owed his Lucullan feast. Joy­ fully he rose next morning to start on his labours, but breathed no word concerning his discovery to his comrades, and every evening when he returned weary and worn he feasted royally on mushrooms. One evening, however, he discovered to his terror that the treasures in his secret pantry gradually ~ew scarce. Tortured by the fear that sometime m the near future he would have to return to his 92 AGRICULTURE state of semi-starvation, he instantly dopped his clandestine banquets, and exerted all the power of his active brain to find a way in which to increase his store of fungi by artificial means. For he had observed how on the surface of the earth the rice grew, how the roots of that plant were manured by the bolster of rotting leaves at the base, and the manner in which the humidity of the air and the warm rain, which falls from the lofty realm of the Giant-Ant, fomented the ·entire vegetation. The reflections and speculations of this humble slave-ant eventually gave rise to the horticulture and systematic mushroom-raising of the ants. For the discoverer began to collect leaves on the surface of the earth, on trees and bushes, carried them into the interior of the nest, and spread them out beside the cluster of fungi. Then he chewed them thor­ oughly, moistened them with his saliva and heaped them in profusion on the fungi which, fertilised and refreshed continually, throve and increased at a great. rate. Thus the ingenious slave-ant which, instead of being ignored by the high-caste chroniclers, really deserved a monument, became one of the greatest benefactors of the ant-world, so that at present the cultivation of mushrooms has reached a high state of development in numerous ant countries. Many trillions of ants are now supplied with this luscious and savoury delicacy, of which the ancient race of ants of the period of the great Mye-Mye knew nothing whatever. That blessing they owe wholly to this humble, meek and lowly creature, a poor, small­ headed Slave-Ant, tortured by hunger and threat­ ened with death. 93 CHAPTER X

THE LIVING HONEY-POTS N consequence of the defective style used by the Ant-Chroniclers we are unfortunately not in aI position to answer the question of the reader whether the ants invented the art of pottery, or to speak more correctly, the Industry of Living Honey­ Pots, before or after the inventions described in the preceding chapter. As we know already, the ants nourish themselves exclusively with liquid, sweet-tasting substances. Firmer particles of food are changed into sweet liquids first, by their saliva, before they are swal­ lowed. But if the ant finds honey, or another sort of sweet liquid material, this labour becomes unneces­ sary, and the latter is taken instead immediately. But the ant is not a bee, and does not possess the power of constructing honeycombs in which it can hoard the sweet nectar for the rainy day. Thus, to their great chagrin, during the rainy sea­ son the ants were unable to regale themselves with honey, fruit-juice, and similar sweet liquids, and were compelled to seek sustenance in seeds and milk of their cows. For many ant-generations the little creatures bowed to the inevitable, and were satisfied with their one-sided farn, until later a small-headed worker conceived the luminous idea that by thorough painstaking reflection they could accomplish anything and everything, even to pre­ serve the honey for winter. In other words, the wise slave, in the simplest, but most ingenious manner, invented a new industry-the honey­ pottery. 94 THE LIVING HONEY-POTS This particular bond-servant, whose name the ant-chroniclers, according to their undemocratic custom, passed over in silence, was exceedingly fond of honey and sweet juices of any sort, and accord­ ingly spent a considerable part of his time in thinking how he could secure these dainties in winter-time also. " How unfortunate," he said one mornip.g after a sultry night to one of his companions, who also was an inveterate gourmet, when the couple were crouching on a shrub pilfering the delicate juice of a berry; "how very unfortunate that the rainy season will soon begin. Soon we must lick with all our might at our seeds in the granaries below the earth to get a taste of something sweet ! How I must lick by the sweat of my brow until I succeed in dissolving the hard grains into an edible sweet substance ! " " There is no use whining about it ; keep on licking and you will be rewarded,'' his companion answered resignedly, with a calmness worthy of the best traditions of ant-wisdom. "We are but poor slaves, and must provide for ourselves. The milk of our cattle is for the grand folk; the seeds are for us to lick. Thus the Sacred Will of our All­ Mother decided.'' " But, old fellow, imagine how fine it would be, if we could preserve, and store up honey, as we do the seed-grains ! '' " Surely it would be fine," the other slave replied, "but how the dung-beetle could you possibly keep the honey ? The grain remains lying on the ground unchanged, if we only prevent the sprouting, but the honey is sucked in by Mother-Earth; for 95 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL she loves it as much as we do. There is no help for us, but to bow to unchangeable fate. The Sacred Will of the Giant-Ant decrees that we small­ headed creatures must strain every nerve to keep alive during the wet season-and what All-Mother says goes, willy, nilly." "My dear friend," the first Small-Head suddenly exclaimed, " I feel as if my brain were a sea of fire ! I fear we are much exposed to the burning rays of the radiant Fire-Globe." "Then we must forthwith climb down and seek a shady nook," his mate answered, greatly frightened, "else you will have a sunstroke and run madly around the nest like that saintly Fat-Belly who studied his own tracks in the sand." But the other ant ignored this solicitous ad­ VIce. " I am not struck by the Fire-Ball, old fellow; I am struck with a great idea," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, rubbing his antennre excitedly against those of his friend. "Say, would you like to eat honey all the year round ? " " Old Nick, the Lord of Dung-Beetles, take me, if I should object!" his companion shouted in anticipation, " but~-but it seems impossible ! The Sacred Giant-Ant--" " To hell with the Giant-Ant; may she vie with the dung-beetles in rooting for filth ! " the free­ thinker cursed. " You stupid ass, stop wasting your breath and my time! If you listen to me, you will obtain so much honey during the rainy season that you may burst!" "How could that be? " his comrade asked with open mouth. 96 THE LIVING HONEY-POTS " Very simple I " the other replied. " Do you want to be a honey-pot ? " The other slave sadly shook his head, thinking that his chum had become insane. "I-a honey-pot? " he asked bewildered. "What new kind of feeler-movement is that ? ' Pot '-' Pot '-what is it ? How could I grow into such a 'pot,' when I do not even know what a ' pot ' is ? Dear friend, let us quickly crawl down to Mother-Earth, before we grow completely dotty." "A pot is a thing hollow on the inside, in which honey may be kept even in the rainy season," the ingenious Small-Head replied, and, thoroughly con­ vinced of the correctness of his idea, he began to explain his scheme. But the other Small-Head was now firmly con­ vinced that the scorching rays of the heavenly globe had struck his comrade with madness. Well aware, however, that it was the safest course with the insane unconditionally to agree to whatever they chose to rave, he feelered his agreement and dragged his friend from the shrub . • "All right, old fellow, do not worry, I shall be a honey-pot or anything else you desire; only let us hurry on with our work. If we return home in the evening without seeds, we shall be beaten and must go to the lock-up without supper ! " "Nonsense," the other replied, "if you agree to my proposal, you will soon be in a position to snap your feelers at their bit of supper! " And now the. enterprising little fellow thoroughly explained to his friend all the particulars of his great plan. 97 G THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL " In the habitation of our lord there is an old deserted chamber, entirely empty, and not known to anyone; I discovered it only a few nights ago by the merest chance. It has but one exit, which also is known to me alone.'' " What about it ? " "This is the place where you must hide. I shall tell our lord that an immense beetle has swallowed you." " Why should we lie ? " the devout slave-ant asked, shocked by such flagrant transgression of the Sacred Will of the Giant-Ant. "Well, I don't care. If you are so finical, we won't lie. You simply disappear, see? Let the others think what they like. They will surmise that you came to grief somehow or other. No one cares what happens to a miserable slave. Mean­ while you will hide in the secret chamber, and change yourself to a pot." " To-a pot ? " " Surely, to a honey-pot ! You hang on to the ceiling of the chamber and I will spend my whole time cramming the honey I gather down your throat." "By the Sacred Fire-Globe, that won't do. I might burst, and surely I should get such a fat belly that even the Holy-Ants could not hold a candle to it." " Exactly what I want, my dear fellow ! You ~11 be filled with a lot more honey than you can ~hge~t. Your ~rop will swell up mightily : perhaps 1t will grow bigger than even the berries on this shrub. Your crop and belly will be chock full of honey ! When the rainy season sets in, you daily 98 THE LIVING-;:. HONEY-POTS pass a trifle of nectar into my mouth and lick back to your other stomach as much as you like. Don't you see that in this manner we can feast on honey all the year round ? But for the Giant-Ant's sake, do not breathe a word to anyone else ! " The other ant, realising that his friend was by no means crazy, finally agreed to second the latter's efforts. On the self-same day the two conspirators began to carry out their original scheme. One of them hid in the deserted chamber, the other supplied him incessantly with sweet nectar through the secret opening in the wall known to him alone. But the living pot grew in size continually. "My dear friend," the Pot said one day to his cramming friend,'' I feel as if I cannot bear it much longer. I feel that I shall soon burst. My belly has grown to such an awful size that the bellies of a hundred Holy-Ants added together are nothing in comparison. What if I fall sick and our attempt ends in my death? " The ingenious potter was almost scared out of his wits at the prospect of his pot breaking to pieces. For several days he omitted his foraging expeditions in quest of honey, and kept his friend on a starva­ tion diet. But as the expected doleful event did not happen, he regained courage and started again to cram his pot day after day, until the rainy season set in. By this time the honey-pot, in the shape of an ant, was as big as the eye-ball of a two-legged giant-filled to the point of overflowing! Thus he remained suspended from the rough ceiling of the mysterious chamber, when the deluge of rain drove all ants to the safe shelter of their subterranean habitations. The two conspirators 99 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL I!i now began to feast on the honey which the superior wisdom of the one had caused them to store up. The ant with the sweet contents passed every day a morsel of the superfluity to the ingenious friend, and drew a sufficient quantity back into its own digestive apparatus. As the days went on, the stomach lost more and more of the rotundity, and its shape became more and more graceful. At the close of the rainy season the entire supply of nectar was used up, and the former fat boy again whisked about in the beautiful sunshine on the surface of the earth, and drew the honey from berries and flowers as his soul listed. In this manner these two sacred allies lived for many years until their jealously guarded secret was discovered. The .highly ingenious inventor of the Living Honey-Pots died ages ago, his body became dust, his name was forgotten ; but his epoch-making invention, Natural Pottery, flourishes among the ants ~o this very day.

IOO CHAPTER XI

THE WEAVING INDUSTRY HE exact date of the introduction of the art T of weaving among the ants cannot be estab­ lished with chronological exactitude. An exhaus­ tive comparison of the various Ant-Chronicles, however, entitles us to maintain that this branch of industry could not have been invented until AFTER the introduction of the Dairy Industry. The ants wear no clothes, and therefore we might surmise that weaving would be a wholly useless, superfluous industry, for them. But the truth is that this branch of industry originated among the ants on account of a very different want. Most varieties of ant-cows live on shrubs and trees, and feed on the juices of the leaves. These leaves are not edible for the ants, while in the stomachs of their cows they are changed to a sweet milky substance which greatly delights the palates of their masters. But these cows were continually liable to the greatest danger in their exposed pastures. Not that the ants had cause to fear that their cattle would escape them or go astray-for whole herds of these useful creatures were perfectly satisfied to browse for weeks and months on a single leaf-but they were ever in danger of being attacked, scat­ tered and killed by savage beetles, or by stranger ants. It was a small-headed slave-ant, a lowly cowherd by trade, which discovered the. way in which the cows could be protected agamst all dwg~~ . " We must simply wrap up the leaves on which IOI THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL our herds feed," the bright Small-Head reflected. But when he mentioned this idea to his master, the latter laughed and jeered at him. "By the Sacred Shrub, in what would you wrap the pasture-leaves, you simpleton?" the valiant Big­ Head, Lord Dye-Szye from the Dye tribe of the Brown-Ants, asked him rebukingly. " You must guard our stock with greater care,-then the cows will be perfectly safe. If you ever again lose even a single one, I shall bite off your silly head. Act accordingly ! " The poor herdsman vainly tried his very best to fulfil his duty to the satisfaction of his master, but on the very next day a vicious beetle carried off his lord's favourite cow. His big-headed master began to curse and to rave, and bit off two joints of his left antenna ; he threatened to kill him and granted him pardon only after hours of lamentation. The unfortunate mutilated cowherd then slunk away disheartened and continued to live his mono­ tonous life in constant fear of death. "The leaves themselves ought to be protected against the trespassing of marauders by some device or other," he mused, "for I certainly shall never succeed in guarding four pasture leaves at the same time. While I keep my eyes on three of them, the unscrupulous thieves steal my cows from the fourth. If I only could draw threads from my mouth as the caterpillars do, I should then weave the edges of the leaves together in such a way that those unholy reprobate robbers could never afflict us again!" The poor fellow pondered and racked his brain in vain ; the threads would not come forth from I02 THE WEAVING INDUSTRY his mouth, wherewith he might have woven a shelter for his precious charges. One day, however, when h~ was off duty, he crawled down to the lowest chamber of the nest and observed with the greatest interest how the eggs were laid and how the nurses fed and tended the suckling ant-babies, the larvre, and with what painstaking zeal they laboured to ensure the health and excellence of the coming generation. Some of these slave-nurses stood alert close to their mistresses, and, as soon as one of these had laid an egg, took it instantly into their mouths and carried it carefully to the egg-nursery, where thousands of eggs were neatly stored, ready to be hatched and to be changed into larvre. Here the nurses busily ran to and fro, and again circled the eggs, continually licking and washing them to keep them in a healthy and viable condition. Their chief anxiety, however, was spent on those eggs which had lain the longest in the chamber. As soon as the tiny larvre crept forth from them, the egg-nurses instantly took the new-born babes into their mouths and carried them with the utmost caution and circumspection to the adjoining larvre­ nursery. Here they were turned over to the charge of the larvre-nurses, who carefully sorted the enor­ mous numbers of larvre into various groups, accord­ ing to the size and date of birth. But in spite of this orderly and methodical grouping, all larvre shared alike in sheer helplessness, for all, without exception, had to be fed by their nurses, or they would have starved to death. The larvre which lay in motionless slumber were satiated, but those which made themselves conspicuous by convulsive 103 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL movements were hungry and demanded nourish­ ment. The nurses, whose crops were always replete with some sort of sweet fluid, immediately rushed to feed them, and never for a moment were unmind­ ful of their duty of keeping the precious babies in perfect physical condition until they reached that most important moment of their lives when they were transformed into veritable ants. But this great point was not reached without much further trouble, solicitous care and anxiety; for the larvre had first to pass through the pupal stage. The nurses watched with special attention those larvre which had reached the highest_ point of development and were beginning to change into pupre. At exactly the right moment they grasped such of their charges-which by the way were considerably larger and heavier than themselves­ -and, with the utmost exertion of their strength, but still with the greatest caution, dragged them to the pupre-nursery. Our friend, the cowherd, whose training for the responsible position of herdsman had started at the very moment when he had crawled forth from his pupa a full-fledged ant, and in consequence saw these interesting ant-babies and their expert nurses for the first time in his life, followed the latter into the pupre-nursery, where he soon observed with the greatest astonishment and admiration that one of the larvre, about to assume the pupal state, emitted a long thread from the mouth. "How extraordinary!" he mused; "it seems that we ants too can draw a thread from our mouths, and can spin a ·cocoon like the caterpillars i How unfortunate that these baby-larvre are not yet ro4 THE WEAVING INDUSTRY endowed with lucid ant-reason, for then they could easily envelop the leaves on which our cows feed, with a perfectly safe armour! " From this time forth this idea coursed through our friend's brain like wild-fire, for he realised that, if the larvre's talent for weaving could in some way be joined to his own ant-intelligence, his days of anxiety and fear would be for ever past. At last he resolved to make a most hazardous experiment. One morning he crawled noiselessly into the larvre-nursery, and, at a moment when he knew himself unobserved by the slave-nurses, took a full-grown larva in his mouth with the same tender circumspection which he had seen the nurses use. With the utmost celerity he dashed through the almost empty galleries of the nest, gained the open, and carried his victim up the shrub on which his cows were grazing under the temporary guardian­ ship of other herdsmen. Then holding the larva in his mouth he squeezed it gently and began to envelop the leaf with the thread continuously issuing from the larva's mouth. His companions, though all did not realise the purpose of the strange proceeding, assisted him for the mere fun of the thing, and held the edges of the leaves together until the ingenious cowherd, with the living baby­ shuttle in his mouth, had wrapped the cows and pasture entirely in a web of silky thread. The daring experiment was a phenomenal success. The cows could feed and grow fat to their hearts' contenv-no robber knight in beetle-armour was able even to look at them with his greedy eyes! Their guardian had constructed a regular barn 105 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL around them, the inside walls of which were made of things to eat, like the houses in Lubberland, and there was but one single tiny opening, which was hidden away so cleverly that a beetle's intelligence was insufficient to discover it or even to suspect its very existence. The art of weaving, discovered in such a remark­ able manner, soon started on a triumphal march throughout the Aruwimi ant-world. A sufficient number of larvre in the initial stage of pupal develop­ ment were at any time at the disposal of the ants, who accordingly were able to weave byres for all their countless herds. It is probable that with the development of the weaving industry an immense number of pupre remained without cocoons, but this resulted in no great harm, for ant-pupre are very well able to exist without cocoons. This truth is conclusively proved by the fact that there are a great many ant-races, the larvre of which, although unable to produce threads, change into pupre even without cocoons, and ultimately grow into perfectly normal ants. Are we not entitled to say that the whole history of the two-legged giants cannot furnish record of a more inspired genius than that lowly Small­ Head who discovered the art of weaving, and spread it among the race of ants ?

106 CHAPTER XII

THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS T is deeply to be regretted that we are unable I to determine with exactitude how long this beautiful golden period of the history of our ingenious and dainty Lilliputian friends lasted. We only know that for untold ant-generations the many centillions of Small-Heads patiently endured the tyranny of a small minority, the superdominion of some few millions, who were divided into two distinct castes, and in whose name the kings ruled over them all. For as the lofty name of the wise Mye-Mye continued to glow in the memory of the toilers, though with a paler sheen, it was mere child's play for the Big-Heads and the Fat-Be11ies to lead the dilig~nt and patient small-headed multi­ tude by the nose, by reminding them ever and again emphatically that the great prophet himself, on the command of the Giant-Ant, had organised the ant-world in such. a perfect way that only the Small-Heads were obliged to work, while their sovereigns, their soldierly aristocracy and their self-denying priesthood were appointed to rule and to guard them, and to pray for their salvation from dung-beetledom after death. Accordingly the slaves lived for many hundreds of thousands or even millions of generations in the blind and implicit belief that they had become slaves of their big-headed and fat-bellied rulers only and alone at the command of the sacred Giant-Ant, throning far out of reach above the wide-spread canopy of the Sacred Mystical Tree. They were firmly convinced that this perfect world- 107 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL order with the super-arboreal, sanctified origin could not be shaken in the least to all eternity. Their lot grew sadder and sadder. While their task-masters ever increased their demands, the poor slaves received an ever smaller amount of the food which they themselves gathered by the sweat of their brow. Their general dissatisfaction might have led perhaps to serious disturbances, had their inordinate love of the juice of the Sacred Berry, graciously granted to them in time by their lords, not too greatly blunted their minds and debauched their spirits. Their masters naturally realised that through ·this affection for the sacred liquor their serfs became more and more obedient and servile, for experience taught · them that any ant imbibing this gift of the Giant-Ant ceased to worry about the misery and vileness of ant-existence, and was perfectly willing to put up with anything and everything, including the daily torture of slavery. Thus untold generations of working ants, dwarfed in body through the cruel labour demanded of them and debauched in mind by the Sacred-Berry-Juice, wasted away in suffering and adversity, and scarcely reached half the number of years of life of their lords and masters. While the normal life· of a Holy-Ant or a Lord-Ant lasted from ten to twelve, even fifteen years, the Workers of the Aruwimi Glade lived but five or six rainy periods, and their life-average decreased rapidly, especially after the discovery of the Sacred-Berry-Juice. It cannot be denied that a magnanimous, good­ hearted king, namely Tye-Mye, the Two Million One Hundred and Twenty Thousandth of that name, granted a remarkable boon to the down- rn8 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS trodden Slave-Ants; for he altered their name or title, if we may use this expression. He enforced a law against the united violent opposition of the Big-Heads and Fat-Bellies of his kingdom, accord­ ing to which the slaves were in the future no longer to be addressed by means of the friction of the third segment of the right antenna, but by the trilling of the eighth segment of the left antenna. This, translated from the feeler-language of the ants into the tongue-glib language of the two-legged monsters, means that the Small-Heads were no longer called " 5lave-Ants," but " Free-Ants." Accordingly, the Aruwimi Chroniclers characterised the former " Slave-Ants" from this time forth as "Workers," and even granted them sometimes the proud appellation of " Citizen-Ants." As this newly introduced antennary vibration did not oblige the ruling castes to make any material sacrifices whatever, this law of King Tye-Mye was soon adopted in the other ant-countries. Yea, Hye­ Mye, the One Million Six Hundred and Seventeen Thousand and Ninety-Eighth, the mighty Sovereign • of the Red-Ants, was so very magnanimous that, in concurrence with his big-headed aristocracy and his fat-bellied priesthood, he ordered that in future the working ants should no longer be compelled to dwell in the habitations of their masters, but might live wherever they pleased, as it beseems " free ants." But this social concession and unpre­ cedented condescension did not-as we must unfor­ tunately record-result in any real advantage to the newly made " freemen," for they were strictly held to the fulfilment of all the onerous duties of their former slavehood, were compelled as before to 109 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL hand over all the food they collected to their lords, and themselves received only just enough to keep their working muscles taut. Thus the passing of this law also conferred no bene­ fits upon the down-trodden centillions of workers. All their great expectations proved so utterly chimerical that their former hopeful frame of mind gave way to complete indifference and abject apathy. For on the whole their lot was even more miserable than before they had been "freed," because by consequence of the new law they lost their safe shelter at night in the habitations of their lords, where they had been fully protected against the multitude of their enemies, as well as against the rigours of the climate. Now they were com­ pelled to pass the night out of doors, or at the best in improvised shallow and damp nests, and the inevitable consequence was that they were fre­ quently taken ill, especially during the rainy period, and that countless numbers of them died of pneu­ monia and consumption. And still they were as happy as kings, because they were no longer trilled by their masters, rudely, at the third segment of the right antenna, but, gently, by the eighth segment of the left, and through this signal proof of their liberation had been rais~d to an incomparably higher rank in life .

. How was it possible that this unexampled, beau­ tiful world-order, in spite of its very numerous wonders. and perfections, could break up and finally disappear? For that it actually perished and faded a_way, almost without leaving a trace, is a fact which, unfortunately, we cannot gainsay. IIO THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS A famous English scientist, who devotes his whole life to the study of ants, penetrated recently to the inner recesses of the Aruwimi Forest. After having made exhaustive researches in the various open glades of that primeval wilderness, he published an article in the British Entomological Review, in which he severely criticised our own article, printed in the same learned Magazine, concerning '' The Habits and Customs of the Aruwimi Ants," which article at that time created a great sensation through­ out the scientific world. His argument was that the result of his thorough investigation at the place in question was that the Aruwimi Ants did not differ essentially from the ants found in other parts of that continent. He asserted that, although it was perfectly true that the ants of the Aruwimi Forest kept cows, planted rice, raised fungi, practised the art of weaving, had living honey-pots, waged war and made slaves, yet all these occupations were engaged in also by other varieties of tropical ants. His ire was especially aroused by our positive declaration that the Aruwimi Ants had a highly developed religious system, with priests, monas­ teries, and places of pilgrimage, that they wrote chronicles on leaves of trees, that they got drunk on the juices of a certain berry, that they were subjects to kings, and were enslaved by lazy Lord-Ants and Holy-Ants, etc., etc. This, our bona fide declaration, was pronounced either a stupid delusion or even a premeditated lie by our learned colleague, who assured his readers that, although he had studied most diligently and searched most thoroughly, he had been unable to find even the faintest proof of the truth of our assertions. III THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL "These ants," this scientific traveller wrote, " live a perfectly sensible life ; they quench their thirst, not with the fermenting juice of some berry or other, but with dew drops; they construct not small subterranean habitations, but gigantic over­ ground nests in which perhaps a thousand million ants live peacefully together. Not the slightest trace of. a religious life can be found among them ; and further, they do not put up with the laziness of any individuals whatsoever. It is not only frivolous, but vicious, to assert tp.at among them the diligent majority is so fearfully stupid as to permit itself-as Dr. Thiimmel had erroneously stated-to be plundered by an indolent minority. On the contrary all ants, without exception, work with unremitting diligence, gather their food with equal zeal, and live in the most perfect harmony imaginable." The scientist in question further accused us of having falsified the entire natural history of the ants when we asserted that the Aruwimi Ants had kings, and that the sexes caressed each other and practised connubialities in the manner of human beings. He made the point that the latter assertion was unscientific even for this one reason alone, that among the ants there were neither male nor female, but only sexless workers, who were neither physically able, nor in the least inclined, to waste their precious time on love-intrigues and amorous flirtations. Yes, he even asserted that we, Dr. Timothy Thiimmel, had invented all this tom­ fooler~ only f.?r the purpose of rendering our report more mterestmg, and that our "great discovery" was in reality the worst kind of erotic literature. II2 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS We must confess candidly that this offensive, launched against us by our learned colleague, Dr. Armstrong, at first made us feel most uncomfortable, especially because it was likely seriously to endanger our scientific reputation, gained after many years of most 1aborious macro- and microscopical study of the uppermost segment of the central foot of the green June-Bug (Melolontha viridissima novce­ guinece Thumm.) discovered by us in 1907, in British and German New-Guinea (see Trans. Ent. Soc. Edin. 1908. p. 647. ff.) On further reflection, however, we came to the conclusion that the ridiculous accusations so frivo­ lously launched against us by Professor Arm­ strong would be dashed to pieces on the rock of our world reputation, and therefore we should not waste our most valuable time in attempting to rebut the professor's testimony. Yes, we asserted, and again assert with the utmost boldness that, although we are only modest experts on tropical June-Bug legs, our remarkable discovery and deciphering of the Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles make us infinitely better judges of the life and habits of the race of ants than any conceited expert on ants, any bumptious myrmecologist. Accordingly we repeat emphatically that those hexapod multitudes, dwelling in the interior of the Aruwimi Forest, if not at present-namely, during our Christian era-certainly untold millions of years ago, at the period of which our article treated, DID have their-generalissimi and their royal sovereigns. It was not until much later, most probably just before the appearance of the human race on the earth, that the ants reached their highest state of II3 H THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL development-namely, their present perfection in social, political and economic respects-reached that unrestricted joint activity which may be considered the ideal of economic and social life. As far as that other criticism regarding the love­ affairs of the ants is concerned, we also take the full scientific responsibility. Our answer to this delicate question is, simply, that all these ancient, bespectacled scholars are least of all competent adequately and objectively to judge such tender emotions as those of love, even though only those of ants. In those primeval times, of which our story treats, the sexes were indeed not as greatly differentiated among the ants as nowadays, and the working individuals among them were not yet sexless, but partly male and partly female. It was at a much later date-as we assume-that the males lost their unreasonable, unjust predominance over the gentler sex, and that, as is the case to-day, they were driven from the nests, and even killed, as soon as their natural task, namely fecundation, was accom­ plished, while the normal functions of the community were taken over by the much more disinterested, self-forgetful, conscientious, and diligent females who, renouncing their normal sexual functions (although in case of necessity they can and do lay eggs eyen to-day) gradually became sexless beings. After this rebuttal of all the unproved biological and physical objections, we take the liberty of submitting to our critic, in his own interest, some ne~ a1;d ~alu~ble data concerning the political and social mshtut10ns among the Aruwimi Ants. In spite of the undoubtedly keen-witted and II4 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS subtle counter-argumentation of our adversary, we must declare solemnly, firmly and decisively, that the public life, the social culture and the civilisation of the Aruwimi Ants are described exactly in the same manner on the leaves preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Berne (which leaves undoubtedly are of African growth, the hiero­ glyphic signs on which in the shape of yellowish brown spots were first deciphered by us) as we had depicted them in the April Number of the year 1913 of the British Entomological Review, as well as in the previous chapters of the work in hand. We must acknowledge openly that for some time the great discordance between the results of our study of the Ant-Hieroglyphics on the leaves at the Berne Museum and the personal opinions advanced by Dr. Armstrong greatly puzzled us. We did not, however, feel justified in entertaining doubts regarding the African expedition under­ taken by our learned British colleague in the autumn of 1913, and his personal experiences there, for we ourselves had never enjoyed the great privilege of visiting the interesting region of the Congo river. When finally we had made up our mind to journey to Africa for the purpose of paying our respects to the ingenious ant-people of the Aruwimi Forest, and of settling the controversy once for all, the World War broke out and prevented the execution of our plan. In the end we consoled ourselves with the thought that, after all, the African journey was superfluous, because Professor Armstrong, the Direc­ tor of the Institute of Entomology at the University of Edinburgh, would certainly think twice before he uttered such falsehoods, merely from profes- II5 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL sional jealousy, for his world-wi~e fame, gained through his microscopic explorat10_n of the ant stomach, would thus be most senously shaken. On the other hand, we considered it entirely out of the question that our interpretation of the foot­ hieroglyphics of the African leaves at the Berne Museum was incorrect. We were wholly perplexed and could not make up our mind either one way or the other. Was it possible perhaps that the Seven Insoluble Enigmas of the Universe were thus augmented by an eighth riddle of even greater intricacy? Did the far-famous truth: "Ignorabi­ mus," pronounced by the great physicist Du Bois­ Reymond, really apply also to this problem? We had almost given up the hope of ever solving this utter enigma when-as it often happens in the scientific domain-a mere chance came to our rescue. We learned that it had been Professor Ixli, the famous Swiss African traveller and entomologist, who in the nineties of the past century had presented the Museum of Natural History at Berne with those momentous leaves and with other curiosa of natural history. After some trouble we succeeded in discovering that, although the great savant him­ self had died many years ago, one of his descendants was living still in the little village of Elm in the Canton of Glarus. Instantly we wrote a letter to this member of the family, in which we asked him whether he was in possession of any notes or manu­ scripts of the deceased, which had reference to the African journey of their celebrated kinsman. The answer was not long delayed. The savant's grandson sorrowfully inforrp.ed us that his sainted n6 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS grandfather had left him nothing whatever of value, not even his silk-hat, or "chimney-pot," as he jestingly called it always, but that he had bequeathed his modest savings entirely to scientific institutions. His money was used to endow scholarships. for entomological research (one among them'., five francs a year, for the best description of the dealings of ants, founded upon personal observation, for the pupils of the Cantonal College at Glarus),-while his collections, books and manuscripts were left to the Museum of Natural History at Berne. " Nothing else has remained in the possession of our family except a small handbag," the grandson of the deceased wrote, "·which all our kith and kin look upon as their most precious possession, as it had accompanied our celebrated relative on all his numerous journeys to South America, Australia, and Central Africa, or wherever he was able to study the life of exotic ants. The bag, a most dilapidated suit-case, still stands on the very spot where our sainted grandfather put it a few days before his demise. It is practically empty, for it contains but a number of laurel leaves which my thrifty housewife uses from time to time to add a taste to my favourite dish of lentil porridge." This was all the information the letter contained. What could we do but run eagerly to the railway station and leave Budapest, Kaiserbad-where at that time we were engaged in formulating our final answer to the specially caustic reply of the ·Scotch­ English professor, in order to remove this scientific polemic, the Thiimmel-Armstrong controversy, for ever from the world-by the first train to Switzer­ land ? On the way we were buoyed up by the n7 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL hope that the bereaved family, since the death of the professor, had most sparingly indulged in their favourite lentil porridge. For we were fully con­ vinced that those faded leaves were inscribed also with Aruwimi Ant-Hieroglyphics. We sur­ mised that it was pure forgetfulness on the part of the professor which caused those apparently insigni­ ficant leaves to be left in the bag, so that they had not been turned over to the Berne Museum. When eventually we arrived at Elm in Glarus, our joy knew no bounds, for the little bag really contained the missing parts of the Aruwimi Ant­ Chronicles ! Our joy grew into jubilation when we learned that lentil porridge was a horror to the entire family, and that the ladies of the family hated the very smell of it so intensely that even their deep affection for the head of the house could not induce them to cook this "stew fit for the devil" more than once a year. The very charming. housewife assured us, with beaming eyes, that of all the hundreds of laurel leaves scarcely a dozen or so were missing. Concerning them, however, nobody in the family could give the slightest clue and information, excepting what the grandson himself communicated to us later in confidence on one of our common excursions to the famous slate­ quarries of Elm, telling us how he, as a little boy, had often seen his sainted grandfather sitting in his study, examining leaves with his magnifying glass, and heard him murmuring many a time: " Curious ! How curious ! " Doubtless the old retired savant (who had conscientiously reported some years before to the scientific world, on some forgotten pages of some forgotten periodical, how II8 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS he had found a great number of dry leaves piled up in some derelict, tumbled down ant-nest near Stanley Falls, in the Aruwimi District of the Belgian Congo in Central Africa), already noticed the singular signs, yellowish spots on the leaves, and was struck by their regularity. He probably guessed something, but, as he was unable to find the key for deciphering, did not dare to utter a single word about his surmise to anybody. He kept his secret to himself, fearing it might send him, if uttered, to a-lunatic asylum ! In his cautiousness -if he really guessed the truth-he was perfectly right. Did we not suffer ourselves, some twenty odd years later, the loss of our personal liberty for several months in Lip6tmezo, the Hungarian Bed­ lam, when we first startled the world by our great discovery : that the ants can-write ! We hastened to report our extraordinary find to the scientific world. The general human and international interests of science naturally broke down the barriers which the Great War had erected between us and the scientists of the other nations, and so it was possible for us, without suspicion of high treason, instantly to inform the Department of Natural History of the British Museum, by a short wireless telegram to the National Museum at South Kensington, of our precious discovery. We then began with trembling hands to arrange and decipher the laurel leaves, and remained at Elm, in that beautiful spot surrounded by the lofty snow-capped Glarner peaks, until we had finished our labours. There, in that little oasis of peace, in the midst of universal bloodshed, wholly undisturbed and enjoying the beauties of Nature ng THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL_ and the modern comforts of the Kurhaus, we could proceed with an easy heart to unravel this most puzzling scientific problem of our age, the MYSTERY OF THE ARUWIMI ANTS. But how many blunders at the beginning, how many false tracks for months and months ! How often were we not tempted to give up our work in despair! How often have we looked with fixed gaze and aching eyes into the mysteries of a wonder reluctant to yield the secret to us! How often, thus engaged, have we believed ourselves to be on the brink of the solution of all these riddles, only in the end to be compelled to recognise that we were as far as ever from unravelling them. The hope, nevertheless, of knitting together once more, and perhaps for ever, the peaceful relations between the foremost nations of the world, torn asunder by the Great War, and of building up again, and on a much more solid and sounder basis, the civilisation broken in a thousand pieces by that greatest of all stupidities and crimes in human history, serving at the same time the universal interests of science-once awakened in our breast, could not be suppressed. We were convinced that; if we could solve the great problem of how the ants succeeded in attaining their present admir­ able and wonderful social order, our discovery would result in the total abandonment of the antiquated views and conceptions of thousands of years of human history, and in the complete overturn of their very foundations, making the recurrence of such a catastrophe impossible. Our labours day an~ night were crowned with success. Slowly and with hesitation, like a plant I20 THE DECIPHERED ANT-HIEROGLYPHICS opening out the virgin blossom, the secret of our costly treasure disclosed itself at last. It became ever clearer that, in spite of all that at first seemed incredible and incomprehensible details, a vast plan was worked out on the withered leaves of the Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles, which, taking ever new forms, seemed to have for its goal the triumph of pure sense among ants-their present marvellous social organisation.

The solution of the enigma is written down in the following pages. We are thoroughly.convinced that our great discovery, the results of our investi­ gations and ponderings in the Kurhaus of Elm, will cause a revolution in the domain of sociology as well as in that of zoology, and will lead to the complete collapse of that ancient prejudice according to which the conceptions "rational" and "two­ legged '' are accepted commonly as parallel and co-ordinated. As far as the six-footed beings, at least certain Hymenoptera, are concerned-if we base our investigation of the limits of pure ant-reason upon the Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles, but especially upon our latest discovery, the Elm Ant-Foot­ Hieroglyphics-there cannot be the slightest doubt that, if the expression "two-legged" is, eo ipso, parallel in meaning with "rational," the ants, by logical consequence, must be, at least, three times as wise as the stupid, God-forsaken two-legged proteges of Prometheu~. The proud title conferred by Linnreus on the foremost species of the zoological ordo " Primates " must be transferred-if there is a little bit of justice yet left among mankind-from I2I THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL MAN to the ANT ! ! For, if even these tiny crea­ tures, these Lilliputians of the animal kingdom, with their extremely diminutive brain, succeeded in reaching so high a degree of intellectual and social development as the Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics assure us, we two-legged monsters, with our gigantic stature and immense quantity of cerebral substance, have no reason at all to be proud of our alleged, much-praised, so-called "culture" and "civilisa­ tion." We have not the least right to plume our­ selves with the best-sounding name in Natural His­ tory and conceitedly claim for ourselves alone the finest title in the whole Nomenclature of Zoology. " Homo SAPIENS Linnrei ! "-Risum, o risum teneatis, Formiccc I

!22 SECONb PART MOTTO: "Incedis per ignes suppositos cineri doloso." HORATIUS OD. II. I. CHAPTER XIII THE BETRAYAL VEN though it seems almost unbelievable, it E is after all a fact that the most ancient founda­ tion of the wondrous organisation established by the saintly Kye-Kye and the valiant Pye-Pye once upon a time received a most violent shock. The Elm Ant-Hieroglyphics reveal that first it was the domination of the Holy-Ants, the Fat­ Bellies, which was staggered to the foundations. The suspicion arose that their prerogatives, or their ,sacred duties, as they themselves called them, were not based upon the sacred will of some "Giant­ Ant " supposed to be enthroned on the tops of trees, or upon Her celestial revelations, but only on the inordinate desire of the Holy-Ants themselves to live a life of luxury and ease, and that all this fat­ bellied system had been invented by the founder of this fraternity of drones, the artful and astute Kye-Kye, for the same selfish purpose. Our surprise is increased considerably when we learn that it was a veritable fat-bellied Holy-Ant who rebelled against the laws of the Sacred Nest, of which he was an inmate, and caused the ancient culture of many million of years, which seemed so firmly rooted in the sacred traditions, to be shaken to its very foundations. The insurrection started by this Holy-Ant and the revolution arising there­ from are described by the Elm Annals as follows :-

Once upon a time a Holy Ant, the godly Kye­ Pszye, completely absorbed in his theological meditations, climbed that lofty mystic tree on which 125 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL ages ago the wise Mye-Mye, the saintly Kye-Kye, and the militant Pye-Pye had received their revela­ tions of the Holy Will of their Six-Footed All­ Mother. Although the precepts of the Sacred Nest strictly prohibited the climbing of the mystic tree, in order that the heavenly peace of the All-Mother Giant-Ant should not be disturbed wantonly, the most reverend Kye-Pszye felt an irresistible desire to violate this law. He was in truth :::i. most devout, deeply religious Holy Fat-Belly, who longed with every fibre of his soul to see the Giant-Ant face to face and to hold sweet converse with his creator. When after a long and laborious journey the corpulent Giant-Ant-fearing devotee arrived at the top, he looked about in astonishment, for in no place could he see the least sign of a Giant-Ant. Seemingly it dwelt in still higher regions, far from the earthly insignificance of the Aruwimi Forest and its inhabitants. Kye-Pszye became thoroughly displeased and flushed with anger at his disap­ pointment, and it was either his disgust and vexation or the pitiless rays of the fierce Fire-Globe which made him feel very dizzy and caused his head to burn with an almost unbearable heat. "Halloo ! " he exclaimed furiously, rattling his feelers loudly, " dwells here no Giant-Ant at all? . . . . Then St. Kye-Kye could not have met Her here at all. . . . Woe betide us! . . . If the founder of our order ... I tremble at the thought ... if he was a liar, an impostor, then it is wholly impossible that we Fat-Bellies really were appointed Holy-Ants at the command of our All-Mother! ... T~en the diligent, patient Small-Heads, the heroic Big-Heads, are being bamboozled by us when we 126 THE BETRAYAL declare that our prayers alone can secure for them admission to the sacred kingdom of Tye-Vye-Nye, and that without our ghostly counsel they would be changed into dung-beetles after death! And still these sedulous workers support us with the sweat of their brow, and the stout-hearted Big­ Heads are ready at any time to sacrifice their precious blood in our defence, whenever a stranger­ ant presumes to revile or defame us, or dares to blaspheme the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant." Such, and similar, revolutionary thoughts con­ tinually filled the troubled soul of the honest Fat­ Belly. The suspicion that the Saint whose memory he had revered all his life had been a common cheat, perhaps an unscrupulous impostor, a con­ temptible humbug, made him feel dreadfully uncom­ fortable. After some time, however, he found relief from the thought that the Saintly Kye-Kye could not have been a common cheat, a charlatan, a blackguard ; because on his return from the top of the mystic tree he had floated down to earth from the fierce Fire-Globe in the most wonderful manner without the least injury to either leg or feeler, so that his celestial pilgrimage was, so to speak, verified by the miracle of his home-journey. "0 dear!" the pious Kye-Pszye murmured disconsolately, "one thing is sure: there is no Giant-Ant to be found in this place! Is life worth living as long as I do not know with absolute cer­ tainty, whether I, Kye-Pszye, am a saint or a swindler ? I shall not crawl down the trunk of this monster tree, but shall fall into this boundless empty space below my feet ... Death, sweet death, thou art welcome ! " 127 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Speaking thus, the desperate Fat-Belly let go his hold of the leaf to which he clung and dropped straight into the depth of the infinite void. Great was his astonishment when he arrived on the ground in a surprisingly short time-in the twinkling of an eye-for the terrible exertion necessary for his upward journey was still fresh in his mind. He fell on a mossy bank without spraining a leg or wrenching a feel er ! The mystery was solved to Kye-Pszye's complete satisfaction :- " St. Kye-Kye was a liar, twice a liar! He lied when he asserted that he had seen the Giant-Ant face to face on the lofty top of the Sacred Tree, and had received the holy laws from feeler to feeler ... he lied when he asserted that a celestial wonder had transported him from the resplendent Fire­ Globe to the earth. Any ant-I almost believe a dung-beetle-could do the trick at any time ! It is not even a trick, it is nothing but letting go, and ... being there. No magj_c in that!" From this time forth Kye-Pszye was a changed ant. The sweet-natured and meek Fat-Belly, whose feelers unceasingly waved adoration to Tye-Vye­ Nye into the air, whose thrice two legs continually crawled the Sacred Name on dry laurel leaves, was changed into a ferocious, intolerant, undisciplined subordinate. His surly behaviour soon attracted the attention not only of his superiors, but of all his holy brethren. One day he lost the last vestige of self-restraint. When the devout Small-Heads in dense columns returned from their foray, pushing, and rolling, and carrying the spoils of the day, he stationed 1:28 THE BETRAYAL himself at the entrance gate of the Sacred Nest and feelered his mind to the patient multitude, which bowed low to kiss his fore-feet. " Do not kiss my feet, oh diligent and devout ant-brothers! I am not worthy of such honour. Carry the stores of food which you gathered so industriously this day to your own humble habita­ tions and let them sweeten your own bitter lives. For know ye, my brothers," we Fat-Bellies have played fast and loose with you to this very day. That Kye-Kye, whom you revered as a saint, was a rascal, a liar. It is nought but pure fiction that he visited the Giant-Ant and held converse with Her. It is not true that She lives on the top of the Sacred Tree. She lives at an infinitely loftier height, in regions inaccessible and unexplored. We Fat­ Bellies be not Saints, we be not holier than ye patient multitude. Ye need not our mediatorial office; and if ye list, ye yourselves may adore the Holy Name of the thrice sacred TYE-VYE-NYE ! " Thus Kye-Pszye betrayed to the common ants, to the despised rabble, the great secret, jealously guarded by the fat-bellied keepers for untold millions of generations! Kye Pszye divulged the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant ! Henceforth every ant, when qualms of conscience caused it to fear future dung-beetledom, could approach its gigantic six­ footed creator personally, and pray for mercy! The magic power of the former mediators, the Fat­ Bellies, until then enveloped in a halo of sainthood, which had made them inviolable and sacred, was shattered for ever through the Reverend Kye­ Pszye's treasonable act! The Holy-Ants were dismayed. At first they 129 I THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-0-MMEL thought to kill the traitor. But Kye-Pszye, in precipitate flight, reached the neighbouring strong­ hold of the valiant Big-Heads in the nick of time. At the very moment when he was about to dash across the threshold, where the assembled Lord­ Ants were ready to receive him with open feet and friendly feelers, two of his former ecclesiastical pupils, Seminarists whom our learned friend had instructed in hermeneutics, the exposition of the holy traditions concerning the Giant-Ant and Her Superarboreal Kingdom, managed to get hold of his left hind-foot. These ingrates, unmindful of the moral lessons received from their former instructor, had outrun their older brethren easily in the pursuit of Kye­ Pszye. Although not as lank and lean as the Small-Heads, at least they had not yet reached that degree of ecclesiastical corpulency which made a rapid gait an impossibility or a torture. The army of puffing and blowing, of panting and gasping, of wheezing and heaving Fat-Bellies had almost reached their unfortunate victim, when suddenly out from the crowd of Big-Heads a gigantic warrior took an enormous leap-the Aruwimi Chroniclers calculate the length at fully two inches, although later commentators pronounce this an exaggeration, and are willing to allow but slightly over one inch and a quarter-butted one Fat-Belly in his paunch so that it burst, severed the other's head from his body with one vicious snap of his mandibles, took Kye-Pszye in his mouth and carried him in triumph through the door of the Lord-Ants' habitation. The swarm of Holy-Ants came to a dead stop, and seeing the sneers, taunts and insults feelered at them by 130 THE BETRAYAL the grinning crowd of Big-Heads, soon gave up their murderous attempt and hied themselves homewards. The Lord-Ants were hugely delighted at the dis­ comfiture of the Fat-Bellies, for they hoped that in the measure in which the influence of the Holy­ Ants upon the Small-Heads waned, their own power would increase, and that henceforth they would receive not only their own share of the food collected by the workers, but also that of the thoroughly compromised Fat-Bellies. When the Holy-Ants realised that their rebellious colleague, the faithless betrayer of the holy secret, the contemptible apostate suddenly had escaped the fate which he deserved, namely death by their own mandibles ; that, on the contrary, the powerful protection of the Big-Heads made bodily assaults wholly impossible, they started a well organised campaign of calumny against him with the purpose of undermining his good repute among the ant­ people. At first, they spread the report that he was insane: that when he had climbed the Mystic Tree in violation of the holy injunction of the Giant­ Ant, the All-Powerful One had punished his sacri­ legious audacity by depriving him of his sound ant-reason. According to another version Kye­ Pszye was tainted with hereditary uncleanness, was not a genuine ant at all, but a monstrosity, which had crawled forth from the slimy egg of a filthy dung-beetle. Yes, his slanderers asserted even that while in public he had called upon the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant, in secret he had practised foul ceremonies continuously in the worship of the Giant-Dung-Beetle! The entire ant-population of the Aruwimi Glade IJI THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL divided itself into two hostile camps :-one section followed the lead of the Holy-Ants, the other gathered round the standard of the great reformer Kye-Pszye. These two inimical parties murdered each other unmercifully, robbed each other's herds of cattle, ravaged rice-plantations, destroyed nests, robbed eggs and larvre, and practised all manner of cruelty. Their rage was of such passing intensity that a non-ant cannot imagine it. Such insane fury did never occur, luckily, among us two-legged monsters, in spite of our mental inferiority. Many trillions of ants lost their lives during these terrible wars, which lasted for nigh thirty thousand rain periods ! Finally the party championing the cause of the Fat-Bellies drew the shorter lot, and the power and authority of the sacred caste waned, and waned increasingly. From this time forth a much smaller quantity of food was carried through the doors of the Sacred Nests, and the stomachs of the Holy-Ants gradually grew almost normal in size. In truth they could no longer be called justly either " Fat-Bellies," or "Holy-Ants" ; for they had lost most -of their fat, and nearly all their holiness. Most of the ants, the Big-Heads as well as the small-headed mob, were in high spirits, for a great load was lifted off their minds. Whenever the journey of St. Kye-Kye on the Sacred Tree was mentioned in their presence, they chuckled with amusement, but when the Holy-Ants threatened them with future dung-beetledom unless they continued to supply the holy fraternity with the delicacies of the season, they simply roared with laughter, until tears came in their eyes. 132 THE BETRAYAL In this manner, through the sedition of the enlightened Holy-Ant, the pious Kye-Pszye, the fair world-order was unhinged in which the Holy­ Ants enjoyed a super-dominant position; because even the puissant kings trembled from fear of arousing their displeasure,-for at their anathema the All-Mother Giant-Ant would have doomed them to become veritable Dung-Beetle-Sovereigns. Gradually the sacred habitations of the Holy­ Ants were depopulated and fell into ruins. Most of the former Fat-Bellies were confronted soon by the alternative of either becoming slaves or of dying of starvation, but as ants of their clan are quite extraordinarily fond of the life terrestrial, the great majority of them chose slavery. They found shelter in the palatial nests of the Big-Heads, and were employed by the latter either as nurses, egg­ lappers, larvre-educators and pupre-perambulators, or as door-keepers and hall-porters, or were sent out to the pastures as meadow-keepers, to the ceme­ teries as professional mourners, funeral orators or undertakers. Most of them, however, were com­ pelled to earn their daily rice as ordinary six-legged beasts of burden. Comparatively the happiest lot fell to the share of those who secured the position of Honey-Pots in families of high rank, for which profession they were eminently well fitted by reason of the distended sinews of their stomachs. Thus the former saints were compelled to earn their living by the sweat of their brow, which was all the greater torture to them as formerly they were nourished by the Small-Heads, without having to move a single feeler. A small faithful or perhaps stubborn few of the ecclesiastical brotherhood 133 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL remained in the tumble-down Sacred Nests. But these poor fellows had a hard time of it, for although they preached most eloquently from morn till night begging-sermons in the back-yards of the affluent, they scarcely carried home sufficient hard­ seed to keep them from starving to death. How much better would it have been for them if they had earned an honest plenty of seeds by doing an honest day's work ! The authority and the might, the wealth and the opulence of the Big-Heads, however, grew by leaps and bounds in consequence of the Reverend Kye­ Pszye' s rebellion. Their granaries almost burst with the immense stores of delicacies they con­ tained, their fat kine populated the countless leaf­ pastures, and in their households a great auxiliary army of new slaves, recruited from the ranks of the unfrocked clergy, took all the cares of daily life off their shoulders.

134 CHAPTER XIV

THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS HE Country of the Aruwimi Ants consisted­ T as we have already learned (Chapter IV)-of several smaller states, the territories of the various nations of the Brown, the Black, and the Red Races. At the time of the events which we are going to describe in the following chapters, the conditions of public life, and the cultural situation, were nearly identical in all these countries. The most pronounced common characteristic was that everywhere the food was gathered and hoarded exclusively by the progeny of the former Slave-Ants, the Small-Heads. The similarity of the social conditions was shown also by the fact that everywhere the working Small­ Heads were no longer trilled on the third segment of the right feeler, but as "free" ants on the eighth segment of the left, which elevation in rank unfor­ tunately resulted only in the doubtful advantage of being free to choose either death by starvation, or the agonies of slavery under the cruel mandibles of a big-headed vampire. At that time the entire Glade was distributed among the Big-Heads, the great landed proprietors among the Ant-People, so that the ever working but destitute Small-Heads were suffered merely to lick the morsels which fell from the profusely supplied table of Mother-Nature, and only on the condition that as foragers, flunkies, and coolies of some Lord-Ant did they earn this most generous privilege. 135 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Neither did the few individuals who escaped to the labyrinth of rootlets and moss-clad twigs in the gloomy forest, preferring a free but precarious existence to serfdom under the protection of severe masters, escape their sad fate; for scarcely did their masters observe their desertion than they took possession of the woodland adjoining the Glade with their army of retainers, solemnly declared it subject to their sovereignty, and decreed that only those Small-Heads might gather edibles within the limit who were bona fide members of a Lord-Ant's household. Some rods to the east of the Great Aruwimi Glade, across the river, on the further s'ide of a dense jungle, there was another Glade of much smaller size upon which lived the Fye Nation, an offshoot of the race of Black-Ants. Large numbers of Small-Heads emigrated to this natural clearing in the forest, in order to escape the tyranny of their native Big-Heads. But unfortunately their hopes for greater liberty and fairer treatment were dis­ appointed sadly. They had indeed rid them­ selves of their former tormentors, but found the conditions of life in the Small Glade nowise an improvement ; for the Big-Heads of the Fye-Nation had not a whit more sympathy for their wants, and not an atom less callousness regarding their fate than their former masters. The only boon these aliens received was a somewhat greater por­ tion of food, which the ruling class of the Small Glade considered an excellent advertisement for their colony, certain to entice a great number of foreign Small-Heads to settle among them. As we have now arrived at a momentous turning- 136 THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY point of the History of the Aruwimi Commonwealth which led to a mighty concussion and disruption of the ancient social order, we deem ourselves obliged to assist the two-legged reader of our Chronicle to understand to some extent the subsequent world-shaking events. We shall therefore, with a few bold strokes, sketch the political, geographic, and ethnographic relations of the several ant nations dwelling in the great Aruwimi Glade and the neigh­ bouring parts of the forest.

A. Government Even though the· Aruwimi Ants were divided everywhere into fat-bellied (holy), big-headed (lord), and small-headed (working) ants, of which three classes the Holy-Ants, since the rebellion of the Reverend Kye-Pszye, had lost all their power in most of the countries and their nests were mercilessly secularised by the Big-Heads, while in some coun­ tries they still possessed a mite of prestige, and even owned a few well-endowed Sacred Nests~the various nations were subject to forms of government differing toto coelo. The rulers of the individual countries held various titles and were endowed with various degrees of power. In some of the nations Kings held the reins of government, while in others the Big-Heads became so insolent and overbearing that in the end they refused to recognise any royal authority above them. Such countries were content to elect national chiefs for a limited tenure of office, who were called Ant-Protectors, and were chosen from the number 137 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL of the Big-Heads. Their chief duty-like that of the Kings in the other countries-was to main­ tain public order, that is, to make the multitude of Small-Heads to work and to keep them in due subjection. The nations of the race of Red-Ants, for instance, were governed by Kings with absolute power, while the Black-Ants eschewed Kings and specialised in Ant-Protectors. Of the several nations of Brown­ Ants, however, some had Kings, others elected Protectors; but the Brown Kings were limited in power greatly, for the entire might of the state lay in the feelers of the Big-Headed counsellors, who ruled and steered the country according to their pleasure, and often against their sovereign's will. On the whole all these forms of goverments had much the same result, and the real purpose of government, under the Kings as well as under the Protectors, was exactly the same : the Small­ Heads had the duty to work, and the Big-Heads the right to eat. B. Ethnography Various ant-nations lived in the Great Glade and in the adjacent parts of the forest. (a) In the North and towards the West dwelt the various tribes of the BLACK ANTS, which formed extremely flourishing and most powerful nations. The most prominent ones among them were the Pye, the Bye, the Vye, and the Gye Nations. Each one of these states claimed great stretches of the forest, in which it exterminated the wild ants with great cruelty; for the highest ambition of all these 138 THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY enlightened nations was to win the savages for the far-famed Aruwimi Ant-Civilisation. The wild ants issuing from the eggs and larvre which survived the wholesale slaughter, were made into slaves. But as the civilised ants of the Glade feared that by reason of the unexampled fecundity of the savage females, their wild subjects would multiply to dan­ gerous numbers, they granted them the privilege of drinking the " Dung-Beetle in Solution," namely, the juice of the Sacred Berry, until the aboriginal races became thoroughly demoralised, and degener­ ated so rapidly that their extinction was a mere question of time. In later times these " civilised " wild ants too were granted the boon of being trilled on the eighth segment of the left feeler, and therewith received the title and character of "free ants," but on the condition of course that their zeal and diligence, their devotion and fidelity, in the service of the big-headed rulers continued unabated, yes, was even greater than when as miserable slaves they received the rasping stridulous vibrations of their master's antennre on the third segment of the right feeler. (b) Towards the East were situated the territories of the BROWN ANTS, the countries of the Tye, Dye, Rye and Lye Nations. The Brown-Ants,-especially the Tye Nation, repeatedly mentioned in our story -were inordinately proud of the fact that the Mystic Tree, sacred to all the Ant-People of the Aruwimi Glade, grew in their national soil, and that in consequence they were the real founders of the Ant-Civilisation. The Brown-Ants too possessed forest-territory inhabited by savage ants, but their 139 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL colonial holdings were insignificant compared with those of the black nations. (c) In the centre ·of the Glade-a few yards to the South-completely surrounded by races of other colour, was the country of the RED ANTS. This race was of warlike disposition, but incomparably more diligent than the other ant-races, and blindly submissive to their Kings. Among them the Hye­ Nation was the most powerful, and the sovereign of this nation by reason of his predominance over the kinglets and chiefs who ruled over the numerous other red clans, bore the proud title of "Great­ King" or "King of Kings." Beside the Hye­ Nation, the Jye, Cye, Szye and Zye nations were famous for the excellent national discipline of their citizens. Although the Red-Ants dwelt in a most fruitful country, in the middle of the Glade, they were at a great disadvantage, for they possessed no wood­ territory whatever. It was impossible for them to forage in the forest, for the borders of their realm did not touch at any point the extreme edge of the Glade. It was this fatal disadvantage which gave rise to that terrible, furiously waged great war between them and the brown and black ants, which we undertake to depict in the following chapters. The Red-Ants, whose females were blessed with an astounding fecundity, were no longer able to guarantee alimentation to their multitudes at home, and were thus compelled to seek a corridor to the forest in order to lay their surplus of eggs in the sparsely populated country which could guarantee them unhindered propagation. (d) In the Small Glade across the river and 140 THE ARUWIMI ANT-COUNTRY beyond the jungle dwelt a tribe of black ants, the so-called Fye-Nation, an offshoot of the Pye-Ants of the Great Glade, which latter a long time ago, when their territory became overpopulated and a famine was imminent, transported the surplus of their eggs to the Small Glade, and thus founded a new Fatherland for the race of Black-Ants. (e) The parts of the forest adjacent to the borders of the Aruwimi Glade were subject to the dominion of the neighbouring civilised Black and Brown Nations, but beyond these woodland districts, in the jungles and thickets of the primeval wilderness, dwelt free savage barbarians of dirty yellow and sickly green colour, of which the Krkye Tribe, often mentioned by the Chroniclers on account of the abominable odour and barbarous customs, was the most bloodthirsty and ferocious. These aboriginal ants of the forest did not live in well-constructed edifices, but in extremely shallow nests, or in the fissure of rocks, or beneath the bark of moss-festooned trees. They kept cows and gathered seeds, 'tis true, but knew naught of systematic farming, had not the faintest idea of either mushroom-horticulture or rice-planting, were not blessed with living honey-pots, and were wholly ignorant of the art of weaving. It is not surprising that such civilised acquisitions as the science of Foot-Hieroglyphics and the practice of sacred intoxication were entirely beyond their capabilities. Their social and political institutions too were most primitive, for they did not enjoy even the advantage of being tenderly cared for, of being protected and guided, by fat-bellied saints and big-headed lords. There were no sluggards among them, for they all 141 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL worked with the same diligence and zeal, and all shared alike in the quantity of food gathered. This barbarous equality naturally disgusted all civilised ants and caused the fat-bellied divines of both Glades to hold the perfectly unanimous view that these detestable savages would be changed to dung-beetles before their last breath had left their odorous bodies. C. Geography Unwilling to waste words, we draw the reader's attention to this map, duly authenticated by a Notary-Public. It illustrates the state of affairs better than any elaborate geography essay. After having thus enlightened the two-legged reader thoroughly, to the best of our ability, con­ cerning the geography of the Aruwimi Glade, the political organisation of the inhabitants, and their racial peculiarities, we may proceed with an easy mind to describe the origin and the course of the Great Ant-World-War, and will attempt boldly to depict the history of the overthrow and total destruction of the super-dominion of the Big­ Heads. By means of our painstaking and elaborate elucidation the two-legged reader, if he exerts his comparatively limited mental faculties to the utmost, may hope in some small measure to realise the gran­ deur of this, the greatest of all epochs in the history of the Aruwimi Ant-People. We shall follow the Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics strictly. True, these precious documents, in conse­ quence of the inadvertence, perhaps the negligence of their latest owners, are by no means complete ; because some of the laurel leaves, instead of being 142

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144 CHAPTER XV

WARLIKE PREPARATIONS YE-MYE, the Six Million Nine Hundred Fifty­ H Three Thousandth, called the '' Great King'' or the" King of Kings," was at that time sovereign of the Red-Ants. Like every Big-Headed Lord­ Ant, he too counted robber-ants his ancestors, who by brutal conquest, by rapine and spoliation, by looting and sacking, by robbery and extortion, had obtained dominion gradually over the whole realm, which the present incumbent of the Throne ruled with an iron hand. The right to brigandage and rapine really seems to have been hereditary in the family of Hye-Mye, for the members raked together as much territory as they possibly could, and indeed not only from their own blood relatives, but also from the neighbouring Black and Brown Ants. The various lesser nations of Red-Ants were in time one and all compelled to bend beneath the sceptre of the Powerful Sovereigns of the Hye­ Nation. In times of peace they were forced to pay them tribute in mushrooms, cattle and honey­ pots ; in times of war they were constrained to furnish auxiliary forces for their predatory raids. Some dozen rainy seasons before the period of our story they successfully carried out such a raid and boldly despoiled a neighbouring Brown Nation of a most fruitful rice-shrub, standing on the border­ line between the two countries, wherefore the Brown-Ants naturally waited for a favourable opportunity to take vengeance and reconquer their lost possession. The red Hye-Mye, the King of Kings, was an 145 K THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-0MMEL extraordinarily proud, haughty, and warlike ant­ monarch. His antenna: always stood bolt upright, like two menacing arrows, and their tips pointed unflinchingly to the lofty tops of the gigantic grass blades. Never were they seen drooping in dejection! His arrogance was so superlative that he addressed the imperative demand to his people that they render the same worship to his person as to the Sacred Giant-Ant, which dwells in unattainable heights far beyond the crown of the giant primevals of the forest. When he issued his commands, he always wove the Sacred Name into his well-chosen verbiage, and whenever he expressed a special wish he added the admonition :-" Obey my command, for such is the Sacred Will of our All-Mother." On such occasions there was not a single red ant which would not have obeyed blindly, without a second's hesitation; for they were trained to render homage to him and to obey his commands from the very moment when as tiny larva: they crawled from their eggs. This imperious Hye-Mye, the Six Million Nine Hundred Fifty-three Thousandth, was the first sovereign of the Hye-Nation who conceived the most unfortunate idea that he should not be satis­ fied with his own realm, and with the wonderful rice-shrub stolen from the Brown-Ants during the reign of his great-grandfather, Hye-Mye the Six Million Nine Hundred Fifty-two Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-seventh, but that in addition he must acquire a forest-territory for his people. It may be that his claim to the appellation" King of Kings," which he was wont to emphasise by most energetic feeler-movements, gradually gained an 146 WARLIKE PREPARATIONS excessive and most fatal influence upon his plans, or that as an undoubted descendant of Robber Ants he was afflicted with hereditary rapaciousness, or that he simply wished to emulate his more immediate ancestors in their own peculiar characteristics. Be that as it may, he believed himself, doubtless, to be Giant-Ant-called to conquer the entire forest for his people, in order that the extremely prolific females of his race might, in serene comfort, lay their surplus of eggs in regions of virginal purity. The certainty that such territorial aggrandisement could not be carried through successfully without robbery and spoliation did not interfere with his plans greatly, for his ancestors too had ruled at all times with arbitrary power, had considered never in the least the rights of the other races, the Brown and Black Ants, and had even treated the nations of their own race, the Red-Ants, with contumely and disregard. Had not his great-grandfather forced a war upon his Brown neighbours to secure possession of an exceedingly fruitful rice-shrub, and thus sown the seed from which sprang unquenchable racial hatred? But relying upon the various red clans, which in the course of recent generations had become tribu­ tary to him, and whose aid he could count upon in any predatory wars he might undertake, he believed he might run the risk of starting on the execution of his bold plan without consideration for the sacred rights of others. Only in one essential point could he not see clearly; through whose territory should he force his way to the towering giants of the forest in order to reach his aim the soonest? 147 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Some of his enemies even accused him of casting greedy eyes on the far distant forest-girded Small Glade in which the Black-Ants lived in serene peace and well deserved prosperity, for they had already endowed it with the blessings of civilisation, after having exterminated the aboriginal yellow inhabitants. It was rumoured abroad that King Hye-Mye contemplated the conquest of this Glade, and the extermination of its inhabitants in order to colonise it with his own subjects. If he really aspired to this, a single glance at the Aruwimi Map, with the intricacies of which he of all ant­ people ought to have been thoroughly familiar, would have convinced him that only two possibilities were open to him :-either to march through the country of the Brown Tye-Nation, or through the territory of the Pye-Nation of the Black-Ant race. These black ants he hated for definite reasons, with even greater intensity than the ancient deadly enemies of his race, the Brown-Ants,-which, since the abduction of the enchanting princess Tye-Nye, had remained irreconcilable,-because the Black­ Ants possessed gigantic stretches of the forest spreading far and wide around the Aruwimi Glade. It was above all against the black Pye-Ants that his envy and malevolence became so passing great at times that the splendid red of his otherwise very healthy body took on a horrible nasty green hue whenever they were mentioned in his presence. We repeat :-the Red-Ants were the most war­ like nation of all the Aruwimi Ant-People. Their Big-Heads trained themselves continually in the art of war, so that in consequence of the daily jousts and sham-battles their heads grew to such an 148 WARLIKE PREPARATIONS enormous size and steely hardness that the rest of their bodies seemed puny and podgy in comparison. The terror of a brown or black ant, whenever it encountered a red Big-Head, was past all descrip­ tion, and not even the strongest big-headed cham­ pion of those nations dared to risk a battle single­ handed with a Red warrior. The red Lord-Ants, being well aware of this fact, and fully conscious of their strength and extremely proud of their formid­ able gigantic heads and sharp mandibles, grew ever more arrogant and imperious. Their military efficiency became so great that, after being forced into shape by unceasing drill, they acquired the power of stiffening their legs to rods of iron, so that, standing rooted to the ground, they could not be moved the millionth part of an inch even by the combined exertions of a hundred of their enemies. They would die rather than retreat, and their watchword was: "Victory or Death! The Red Great-King, Hye-Mye, systematically inflamed the warlike spirit of his people by reminding them continually of the martial virtues and the victorious campaigns of the Red-Ants of the past; again and again he declared emphatically that with the gracious help of the Giant-All-Mother and under his own leadership, the Red-Race was bound to succeed in exterminating not merely the black and brown nations, but whatever ants there were in the Aruwimi Forest, so that eventually the Red­ Ants would fulfil their destiny and enter upon their inheritance-namely, the absolute dominion over, the exclusive mastery of, the Whole Glade, and the adjoining Forest. His reckless and indiscreet, his hasty and infatu- 149 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL ated, his conceited and arrogant feeler-movements aroused the greatest apprehension among the brown and black nations of the neighbouring countries. For a time the general opinion prevailed that the fickle and vacillating attitude of the Red-King served merely as accessory to his insignificant, meaningless prattle when, under the influence of the Sacred-Berry-Juice, he sought to make his people share his tipsy enthusiasm. But after a while the rival nations could not but realise that the intentions of the Red Monarch were born of his insatiable ambition, and signified a most serious danger for their liberty and peace. For, while up to that time only the big-headed Lord-Ants had marched to war, and the working Small­ Heads had remained at home, quietly continuing their diligent labours, Hye-Mye, realising at last that even his strategical genius could not conquer the united Black and Brown Ants with the help of his Big-Heads alone, one day conceived the most brilliant idea of compelling the multitudes of his Small-Heads to share the military training of their betters! In this way he felt utterly convinced of being able to overcome and to subjugate all the neighbouring peoples and to secure possession of the enviable forest territories, even though his enemies defended their countries with the utmost valour and devotion. Thus the Red Small-Heads spent less time than formerly at their daily labours, but instead were nearly always found drilling on the sandy plains of the royal parade grounds, under the supervision and instruction of Hye-Mye's valiant Big-Heads. The ambitious plan of the mighty sovereign was 150 WARLIKE PREPARATIONS based on the following fundamental principle of co-operation between the Small-Heads and their big-headed Commanders: In the heat of battle eight or ten Small-Heads were to attack an enemy Big-Head simultaneously, and, grasping his legs and feelers, were to hold on to him tenaciously, until a red big-headed hero could leap on his back, and with one snap of his powerful mandibles bite off the head of his antagonist. After a short period of training the intelligent and docile Small-Heads of King Hye-Mye could execute this exceedingly chivalrous and valiant feat of strength and agility not merely in collabora­ tion with Big-Heads, but quite alone. And such was the innate military talent of the Red Small­ Heads that soon they exceeded their big-headed instructors in the art of tactics. It was by no means a Lord-Ant, but a lowly small-headed recruit, a simple uneducated " non-com," who invented the famous " All-Small-Heads " mode of attack, which we shall illustrate for the edification and instruction of the reader. Soon they reached such a proficiency in the execution of this manreuvre that, when it was carried out before the sharp eyes of the puissant Monarch for the first time, his heart palpitated with exceeding joy, and his head swelled with a mighty pride at the thought that his people were almost worthy of being the subjects of such a great and blessed King. The conquest of the entire World, together with all the surrounding forest territories, depended only on his will and his convenience! When the Big-Heads of the neighbouring nations learned of the remarkable military events which r5r I Ltustration t;f the )

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p .5 bnulta.neoue, '/Ju5Ji of Tceler-Nipper.j: X Sm cz.tl- 'Fle«d WARLIKE PREPARATIONS happened in the realm of the Red-King, they were at first seized with abject terror. But, as they were neither cowards nor imbeciles, they too hastened to train their Small-Heads in various stratagems of war so that the latter were also able very soon, by twos and threes, to bite clean through the neck of a big-headed enemy which had been chained to the ground by ten or twelve of their fellows. The consequence was that among these nations too the fondness for honest work gradually dis­ appeared, and their bellicosity reached such an extreme degree that finally the entire Aruwimi Ant­ World was imbued with a marvellous enthusiasm for the coming Great War. Every nation was convinced that the fearful struggle could not be postponed indefinitely, but that war would break out sooner or later between the red people of King Hye-Mye and the rest of the Aruwimi Ant-Nations.

153 CHAPTER XVI

COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE HAT was the immediate cause of the break­ W ing-out of the Great Aruwimi Ant-World­ War ? This question we are able to answer because of the following credible data, which we succeeded in collecting in spite of the fragmentary character of certain important parts of the Aruwimi re­ cords. On a most sultry day in mid-summer, Szye-Mye, the King of the Red Szye-Nation, a vassal of the Red Hye-Mye, the Lord of Lords, took a stroll along a moss-carpeted lane in the grass-forest which stretched out parallel to the frontier of the Brown­ Ant country. It was not his custom to leave the pleasant coolness of the innermost chamber of his royal nest in the heat of the day; but an over­ seer had reported a case of insubordination among the small-headed seed-cleaners in that exposed border territory, and so he considered it his duty to forgo his accustomed afternoon nap, and to restore order in person. The heat was so intense that it seemed almost unbearable to the king­ reared Big-Head. His mandibles were parched, his royal crop was as a sandy waste, there was nothing in the world which seemed so sweet to his memory as a dewdrop on a tender leaf. But he could not see ought wherewith to quench his thirst. As thus he meandered about in quest of a refresh­ ing draught, suddenly he espied on the other side of the frontier, under a blade of grass, a little milch­ cow, guarded by two small-headed brown herds­ men, as it grazed serenely on the roots of a grass- J54 COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE blade laid bare by the two keepers. The herdsmen, however, were at this very moment busy with the dead body of an enormous humble-bee, at which they tugged and hauled with such fierce enthusiasm that they completely forgot their duty of watching their precious charge. But as the carcase of the humble-bee was much too heavy for them, they made a dash for home in order to secure the assis­ tance of half a dozen of their mates to roll the valuable find to their master's nest. This neglect of duty left the little cow, the tiny, helpless root­ louse, wholly unprotected for a short space of time. King Szye-Mye' s tongue clove to the roof of his mouth-he could have swallowed a thousand dewdrops ! When he observed that the cow was unprotected, the rapaciousness of his big-headed robber-ancestors was reawakened in his civilised soul ; no longer did he care that the little beastie was not his property, but belonged to a member of another nation, and browsed on a foreign pasture. Boldly he dashed across the frontier, drove the tiny animal into the grass-jungle of his own country, and took his first drink of her sweet milk. Later the two herdsmen succeeded in drumming up eight or ten comrades to drag home this moun­ tain of a humble-bee. But, how great was their dismay, when, as they arrived at the grass-root pasture, they observed, that that their cow, dainty little Be-Cye-Nye, had disappeared! Quickly they informed their fellows of their great loss, and soon the whole little band spread out in all directions to look for their master's domestic treasure. As they were thus ransacking about, suddenly 155 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL they heard-faint in the distance-a tearful voice make a moan of despair. The two herdsmen, instantly recognising the voice of their master's pet, hurried to the rescue, but alas !-it was too late ! They came to a dead stop at the border-line of their country, which they dared not cross. Far in the distance, at the further end of an avenue of grass-blades, they saw the Red-King drive their cow before him into the interior of his country, cruelly butting the poor little creature with his cast-iron royal head whenever she crawled too slowly for him. The two herdsmen, although simple, uneducated, small-headed workers, instantly realised that a gross violation of the Ant-Law-of-Nations had been committed thus. Quickly resolved-their patriotism being of the true kind-with their indifferent strength they proceeded to avenge this affront flung at the moral order of the Aruwimi World. Leaping the frontier-line they dashed after the milk-drunken Szye-Mye and attacked him at the very moment when, ready for his second drink, his feelers executed trills on the hind-quarters of the little cow to coax it to speed him another blessed drop. The Red-King, taken unawares, was quickly rendered harmless, for the two herds­ men and their comrades, executing the manceuvre which they had learned from their big-headed military instructors, pinned his feet to the ground and held fast to his feelers. Thereupon two Small-Heads jumped on his back, two others on his giant pate, and with united forces sawed and sawed until the monstrous head rolled to the ground. When their mighty enemy had been disposed of thus, they 156 COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE calmly drove their cow homewards as if nothing had happened.

The news of this heinous crime, this incomparably infamous deed, the assassination of a King, of a vassal of Hye-Mye, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, by the brown ants, spread with lightning rapidity throughout the whole World ! The wild yellow-ants in the neighbouring woodlands too spoke of little else but this evil-portending event; even the savage green-ants, the heathen worshippers of the Giant-Dung-Beetle, in their jungle mud­ nests, devoted their uncouth feeler-movements for a time to the discussion of this spilling of royal blood. No occurrence ever was recorded by the historic documents of the ants which could be compared in the least to this murder, except the abduction and rape of the beauteous princess Tye­ Nye, which, having happened untold millions of generations ago, long had been considered a myth by the Ant-People. Each party naturally asserted that the right was on its side. And, indeed, the whole Aruwimi Glade possessed no single authority in the domain of the Inter-Insectional Law, not a single expert of the Ant-Law-of-Nations-although quite a number of such learned authorities were found among the Big­ Heads of every nation at the time-who could have answered with absolute correctness the delicate question-which party was really in the right ? The red Great-King, Hye-Mye, however, was not in the least interested in the legal aspect of the question. Delighted at having found a pretext for picking a quarrel with the Brown-Ants, he immedi- 157 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL ately sent a courier to King Tye-Mye, the Nine Million Seven Hundred and Ninety Thousandth, whose subjects had committed the murder, which official laid an ultimatum between the Brown Sovereign's own royal feelers. Herein the Red Lord of Lords summarily demanded the instant extradition of the assassins, whereas, if his demand was not complied with forthwith, he would take up the red hatchet, lead his well-disciplined hosts against the wanton brown people, and would not rest day or night until the entire brown country was totally destroyed to the very last grass-blade, the last pupa, the last egg. The poor King Tye-Mye was in a dung-beetle of a fix! No matter how he wriggled and twisted, he could not make up his mind what to do. He was terribly afraid of the Red-Ants, and would greatly have preferred to maintain peace with them. But the leading Big-Heads of his Kingdom, especially the members of his immediate military entourage, urged him to resist the presumptuous demand of the red tyrant to the utmost. If he gave in ever so little, if he climbed down the trillionth part of a grass-blade-thus his big-headed Ministers and Generals declared-he could reckon with the cer­ tainty that his compliance would make the Red­ Ants still more cocky and presumptuous, so that finally their insatiable military party would demand the unconditional surrender of all the Living Honey­ Pots of the Brown Kingdom ! " But they are vastly superior to us in might and numbers," replied the pious and upright king, who, loving his people intensely, feared his downfall and the loss of his throne. COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE "Don't worry, Most August Majesty," answered the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye, the biggest-headed ant of the realm and the Monarch's chief counsellor, "you may be perfectly sure that you will not have to fight alone against this royal miscreant. Not only your own people will rise like one ant, but all the brown ants of the entire world, yea, I verily believe, even the Black-Ants will rush to your rescue. Forget not, 0 great King, that all these nations fear the might of these red dung-beetles in ant form, that they hate them fiercely and know that, if the red Hye-Mye vanquishes us, their own last hour has arrived also." '' But if our brown kinsmen and our black friends leave us in the lurch, what then? " expostulated the timid sovereign. " I am very much inclined to think that the only safe course is to surrender the assassins to my Red Cousin." Thereupon the Brown Big-Heads slashed the air with their indignant vibrations and stridula­ tions, which exhibition of fury frightened the King nearly out of his wits ; for at that time the hereditary monarchs of the Aruwimi Ant-Nations, with the exception of the red kings, possessed but little real power. When the cunning Tye-Lye­ Zye observed that his lord was about to give in, he f eelered the following solemn and stirring war­ oration :- "Sire! The Giant-Ant throned in the immeasur­ able heights of the blue ether has laid the destiny not only of thine own nation, but that of the entire race of Brown-Ants in thy Royal Feelers. Thou of all the Brown Rulers art chosen to speak the redeem­ ing word. Thou, Tye-Mye, hast been appointed 159 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL executioner of yon red curse of the Aruwimi World, art destined to carry out the superarboreal will of our Sacred All-Mother. Not only we and all our brown brothers, but also all the black nations, are imbued with unquenchable hatred for the red people.-May the Giant-Ant curse them to centillion eternities of dung-beetledom !-With the help of our kinsmen and our friends we shall regain our unforgetable, incomparable rice-shrub which these red despoilers once upon a time stole from our forebears. If we vanquish the red host-and victory will unquestionably be ours !-we shall again be able to call this sacred shrub our own treasure, that shrub which alone affords sustenance to a hundred million ants ! The incalculable war booty, the enormous stores of edible delicacies which we shall find in the Red Country, above all the countless number of larvre which we shall capture and make our slaves, will augment thy own puissance and the wealth of thy Big-Heads, the faithful pillars of thy throne. It is even possible that the blessing of the Giant-Ant will enable thee to exterminate the red race to the very last egg, so that never again will they be able to threaten our peace. This, 0 Our Beloved Sovereign, is thy Giant-Ant-appointed destiny ! It is not we, thy faithful subjects alone, it is the Super-Arboreal All-Mother which calls you to action ! '' The irresolute Tye-Mye could not resist so many ambitions, hopes, so many enticing prospects. Accordingly he, haughtily and stubbornly, refused the extradition of the regicides, and, to give proof of his valiant frame of mind, and to conform to ancient usage, bit asunder the neck of the Red r6o COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE Messenger with his own royal mandibles, while the most aristocratic and biggest-headed magnates of his court, with dignified and ceremonial mien, pinned the legs and feelers of the unfortunate courier of the Red King to the smooth floor of the royal council-chamber. According to the Interna­ tional Law of the Ants, which had been valid for millions of generations, this solemn ceremony was identical with the act of breaking off the diplomatic relations, and signified the official declaration of war between the Brown and Red Nations. Immediately after the discharge of this formal duty according to the ancient international diplo­ matic laws-which aroused the joyful satisfaction of the red King of Kings, Hye-Mye, much more than the surrender of the murderers would have done-the hostilities began. The red Great-King, who, by the way, was thoroughly prepared for the alliance and mutual assistance of the brown nations, was optimistic enough to believe that the nations of the black race would this time too, remain neutral as at that far-distant period when the abduction of the fair Tye-Nye had caused a bloody war between the Red-Ants and the Brown-Ants. Very soon, however, he was undeceived. It seems that the Black-Ants had been waiting with the greatest longing for the favourable moment when, by the gracious permission of the Giant­ Ant, they could sharpen their mandibles and destroy the Red race root and branch. When the super-crafty Pye-Lye-Gye, the Protector of the black Pye-Nation-the black ants eschewed kings­ learned that the Red Hye-Mye had declared war r6I L THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL against the King of the Brown-Ants, he dispatched his most long-legged and feeler-expressive messen­ ger to Hye-M ye, warning him against attacking the Brown-Ants, else he would have to consider the Pye-Nation too his mortal enemies. At first Hye-Mye, the Lord of Lords, was greatly astonished at this hostile attitude of the Pye­ Nation., but after due reflection he made up his mind that he was strong enough to cope with the whole hostile aggregation. Accordingly he bit off the head of the Black-Ant-Protector's messenger and thus declared war against the Pye-Nation. The Great'Ant-World-War broke out! Before the resplendent Fire-Globe had sought the subarboreal sleeping chamber the third time after the robbery of the milch-cow and the murder of Szye-Mye, the red vassal-king, all the ants of the entire Glade were belligerents. And the valiant red sovereign had indeed no cause to reckon with this possibility-for all the other black-ant nations made common cause with the Pye-Nation when they heard that the arrogant Red-King had declared war on the most distinguished nation of their race in so defiant and insulting a manner. Hye-Mye now realised into what a perilous position his ambition had placed him ; his realm was sur­ rounded on all sides by enemy nations! Even though they could not be compared to his own people in might and valour, and in addition were provided with much smaller heads, still they surpassed his warriors a thousandfold in number. But it was too late to retreat; the die was cast, the severed heads could not be joined again to the corpses of the foreign messengers. 162 COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE Soon the terrible struggle for life or death began between the many billions of ants of the Great Aruwimi Glade and the neighbouring parts of the forest.

0 Muse-thou who art throned on the virgin heights of the holy Kilimandjaro, whose snow­ covered summit, suffused with the effulgent glory of the Sacred Globe of Fire, send the limpid sweetness of the luminous rays through the clear ocean of air to the pure verdant crown of the Sacred Tree of Aruwimi, aid us unworthy chroniclers of that greatest of all times !-Vouchsafe our feeble pen the vigour of thy sublime spirit, that with masterly truth it may interpret every line of that loftiest of all Songs, which in a language never before under­ stood by two-legged mortals, accords with the most horrible and pitiless, the most unmerciful and atrocious slaughter of all times, which even the murderous skill of the soft-witted but heartless monster-bipeds could never emulate! Tell us, 0 truth-tongued Muse, how many mil­ lions of ants died as heroes on the very first day of the Great War l Twelve millions ! Yea, even during the strategical concentration of the armies, and in the first embittered battles fought in the shadow of the venerable tree sacred to all Aruwimi people, many millions of valiant warriors died a heroic death for the country of their larvahood. The red ants, which had finished their strategical concentration the first, fought with wonderful gallantry. They defeated the enemy armies everywhere and invaded their countries. r63 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL From the very beginning of the campaign they were masters of the situation, until the hot season of summer waned and the first deluge of the rain period rendered all further attacks and counter­ attacks temporarily impossible. When the period of rains had fully set in the belligerent hosts sought the shelter of their nests, where they spent the months unsuitable for the combat. More than one billion ants had fallen on the field of battle even during this first period of drought since the beginning of the war, but none of the parties lost courage ; on the contrary, their great commanders brooded over new plans of war by means of which they could mark the final -victory by their standards. Tell us, 0 Muse, dwelling on the lofty heights of Kilimandjaro, tell us the names of the great com­ manders of the Brown, of the Black, of the Red Ants! The Brown-Ants were led by the crafty Tye-Lye­ Zye, the foremost, biggest-headed counsellor of the King Tye-Mye, who had not his equal in genius amongst the fraternity of the Brown Big-Heads. The Field-Marshal of the Black-Ants was the tricky Pye-Lye-Gye, the Lord-Protector of the Pye-Country, likewise an exceedingly big-headed Lord-Ant, in whose mighty brainpan were stewing the most extraordinary plans and warlike strata­ gems. But the bulky heads of both these military leaders together could not hold a candle to the mammoth coco-nut, the colossal noddle of the Generalissimo of the Giant-Ant-Inspired red King of Kings, the monster cavities of which were almost choked up 164 COW-THEFT AND REGICIDE with the most prodigious martial ideas, the most fearful strategic plans, the most phenomenal tac­ tical schemes ! In him alone, the Giant-Headed Hye-Dye-Bye, were united that adamantine. puis­ sance and hyper-myrmecean wisdom to which the Red-King owed the fortune that his hosts were not utterly defeated at the very outset of the war. The Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics describe with the most painstaking accuracy and the greatest minuteness the marvellous plan of war which brought it about that Hye-Mye, the Lord of Lords, dominated the situation at the conclusion of the first stage of the war in spite of the gigantic numeri­ cal superiority of his enemies. CHAPTER XVII

THE BRIDGE HE Aruwimi Glade was crossed by a stream T which for us two-legged giants was a tiny rivulet, but for the ants a gigantic Mississippi, which the inhabitants of the Glade could traverse dry-shod only in two or three places on the little stones appearing here and there above the surface of the waters. The Commanders-in-Chief of the allied Brown and Black hosts, the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye and the tricky Pye-Lye-Gye, realised from the very beginning of the war the great strategic importance of these fords, which must not fall into the hands of the enemy. Therefore they took possession of them with a force comprising the greater part of their available troops. The occupation of these fords was carried out just in time, for the hosts of the Red-King fiercely attacked one of the fords on the self-same day. But the little stone-islets teemed with many millions of brown warriors, so that the Red-Ants, in spite of their utmost valour and their superior military skill, were unable to reach the farther shore, and their attacks cost them fearful losses without resulting in the least advantage. The giant-headed red Hye-Dye-Bye soon realised that not even with the sacrifice of ever so many valuable ant-lives could he ever succeed in crossing the river by those stony islets. What was to be done ? To deceive the enemy, Hye-Dye-Bye apparently continued the investment of the various fords, coolly sacrificing a few millions of red ants for the sake of 166 THE BRIDGE his stratagem, and concentrated his forces at another part of the river-bank. But these operations, the regrouping of the red army, by no means escaped the attention of the Commander-in-Chief of the Brown-Ants, Tye-Lye­ Zye, who daily crawled a tour of inspection along the bank of the river where a lofty aloe shrub cast a shadow on the grassy carpet of a small promontory. From the very top, an enormous leaf, grown from the stem in a perfectly horizontal position, the General, employing his greatly magnifying prismatic eyes to the best advantage, could see plainly that the red ants, without apparent reason and far from their real bases of investment, the fords, were encamped on the banks of the river. Although he did not in the least understand the purpose of this action, his caution and strategical judgment caused him to imitate whatever the enemy undertook. Thus he too pitched his camp on the river-bank, and indeed exactly opposite to that of the red host, so that now the two armies stood facing ·each other. To bring this about was the very purpose of the giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye. Even we bipeds, with our enormous but relatively feeble brain, can divine that the red Generalissimo purposed to cross the river at another place and in some other sort of way. And this was really the case. That concentration of the total forces of the red army at that point of the river-bank was naught but a wily manceuvre of the highly gifted ant-strategist. After he had observed to his great satisfaction that the Brown Commander had fallen into his trap, he withdrew his whole army, suddenly and absolutely 167 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL unobserved by the enemy, from the position on the river front when in the dusk of evening the gloomy shadow of the gigantic screen of the forest already had cast its enveloping veil over the open Glade­ land. When on the following morning, soft-tinted Dawn, the blessed Fire-Globe's herald, overspread the Eastern skies with her army of raylets, Tye-Lye­ Zye, the Brown General, could not see aught of the enemy; his multitudinous hosts had disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them! At first the great leader was startled and dismayed. But soon he consoled himself with the reflection that the giant­ headed Hye-Dye-Bye surely had rushed to the relief of his sovereign, the valiant red Hye-Mye, who fought against the Black-Ants in the Eastern parts of the Glade. But this was not at all the case. The red Great­ King was well able to cope with the black hosts of the sly Pye-Lye-Gye without needing the aid of his giant-headed Paladin. The latter had, on the contrary, moved his army to a far distant part of the river-bank, and-had crossed the river in the gloom of the night unobserved by the enemy ! The Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics, which we searched with the greatest diligence on this point, and subjected to the sharpest kind of scientific criticism, do not admit of the slightest doubt that the Red Generalissimo, after craftily baffling the vigilance of the artful Brown Commander, was the genius which invented a method by which the ants could cross even a broad river without the least danger of losing their lives in the rushing floods.-What was this method ? When we two-legged monsters desire to reach the 168 THE BRIDGE opposite bank of such a rivulet, we either jump across with one leap, or, if we cannot trust sufficiently to the suppleness of our giant muscles, cross it on the trunk of a tree or on rocks placed at convenient distances by our powerful hands. But such summary physical self-help being an utter impossibility for our Lilliputian friends, the ants, the providential care of their All-Mother granted them the boon of a loftier reason than is vouchsafed to us soft-brained chimpanzees. How did the giant-headed Commander-in-Chief of the Red-Ants help himself? Ha ! Thou feeble­ minded monster-biped, thy intelligence knows no answer to this riddle ; it cannot guess even faintly the wondrous expedient of this tiny six-footed hero! What DID he do to lead his armies across the river dry-shod? He built------a BRIDGE ! ! ! ! ! Yea, a bridge ! But not in the clumsy and primi­ tive manner of super-strong, but super-imbecile humanity ! No-as you value your life ! Even with the help of all the ants of the world the giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye could not have uprooted a tree and laid it across this tiny stream. Such action demands only strength,-but the idea emana­ ting from the ingenious ant-brain demanded:­ REASON ! ! When the Red Generalissimo had observed that every ford of the river was in the possession of the enemy, and that in consequence his army could not cross the river in the usual way, he chose a number of biggest-headed warriors, commissioned officers of His Majesty's regiment "Sacred Berry Shrub," 169 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL with whose assistance he could first test his scheme on dry ground. He made them stand in a row, one behind the other, and trained them with the utmost patience to grasp one another firmly and to form a long living chain. When his soldiers could execute this fundamental manceuvre with such perfection that even their severe Commander was pleased to commend their proficiency, Hye-Dye-Bye took his battalion of picked pioneers to a remote point of the river, which on account of the fringe of bushes could not be observed from the opposite bank, and repeated the manceuvre over the surface of the water. There the suspension bridge was built precisely according to the plan originally conceived by the giant-headed Hye-Dye­ Bye :-One file of royal guardsmen squatted on the ground on the very edge of the river, one close beside the other so that their flanks touched, and each one firmly grasped a blade of grass with his powerful mandibles. As soon as this mother-chain was formed, a second file of Big-Heads seized the waists of the soldiers in the front rank, a third grasped the bodies of the ants in the second, a fourth those in the third, a fifth those in the fourth, and so on exactly as they had practised on dry ground. At last the whole living structure, composed of a dozen parallel ant­ chains, floated in the air above the surface of the water and gradually extended as a rigid bridge across the dangerous flood to the opposite bank of the river. The safe passage of several billions of ants was now possible without further difficulty. The experiment was a brilliant success. The Living Suspension-Bridge was, beyond the shadow of a doubt, as ingenious an invention in the 170 THE BRIDGE domain of the science of war as, many ant-genera­ tions before that time, the invention of the Living Honey-Pots in the domain of national economy. On the selfsame day on which the red Giant-Head, together with his whole army, suddenly disappeared from the vision of the unsuspecting Brown Com­ mander, in spite of the latter's indefatigable watchful­ ness from his outlying post on the aloe-bush, he crossed the river at that distant spot in the manner described, swept down upon the enemy suddenly from the rear, cut up his army and drove it into the river. The Aruwimi-Ant-Chronicles, unfortunately, do not give us particulars regarding this fearful defeat and wholesale slaughter, but if we read between the hieroglyphic lines, we gain the convic­ tion that, even had the Brown Army been ten times as numerous as the Red Host, its fate would have been sealed and the fearful doom inevitable. All the brown warriors who did not die heroes on the field of battle lost their lives by drowning in the floods of the river ! Strange to say, the only survivor of this massacre was Tye-Lye-Zye, the Commander-in-Chief of the Brown-Ants. When the unfortunate Generalissimo realised that the battle was hopelessly lost, he swiftly climbed to the top of a flowering shrub, crawled into the open calyx of one of the snow-white blossoms, and thus saved at least his naked life. In vain did the poor flower, wishing to guard her neutrality strictly in the raging battle beneath, offer brave resistance and seek to close her virginal bosom to the brutal assailant. The rough big-headed warrior, instead of seeking the blossom's sympathy and favour by chivalrous conduct, by gentle, affec- 171 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL tionate feeler-caresses, by cautious and kindly move­ ments in the manner of a courtly bee, forcibly pushed and elbowed his uncouth body into the unwilling embrace of the delicate petals and, wounding their fragile tissues with his rough and war-hardened mandibles, did not cease his rude and unkind advance until he had found a safe shelter and a downy couch between the flower's delicate filaments. Yea, he applied the immoral and nefarious maxim "Might goes before right," to such an unreasonable extent that, summarily confiscating the blossom's total store of delicate honey, .he not only satisfied fos inordinate martial appetite therewith, but gorged himself to satiety, and in a surprisingly short time used up all the flower's provisions. Thus he dwelt in the safe and luxurious shelter of the flower's calyx until the din of the battle was hushed and the giant­ headed Hye-Dye-Bye had left the field of battle with his victory-flushed red troops to parts unknown. If this episode had happened a thousand rain periods before, and the wily Tye-Lye-Zye had been a mere Fat-Belly, there is no doubt that the luxurious­ ness of his quarters would have tempted him to postpone his departure indefinitely; but Tye-Lye­ Zye was no ease-loving effeminate voluptuary, but a grisly statesman and stern warrior, imbued with fierce enthusiasm for the sacred cause of his country, and fully conscious of the great responsibility resting on his big head as the only hope for his people to weather the storm of this bloody war. Thus the great Commander, though still heavy-limbed from his over-indulgence in virginal nectar, rose from his aromatic couch of filaments and crawled from the innermost bosom of the flower, fully resolved to 172 THE BRIDGE return to home and kindred with all possible dis­ patch. But he had reckoned without his host. When he arrived at the top of the white, and alas I the sorely wounded calyx of the flower, and was about to take a quick turn round the serrated edge, the enraged virgin blossom, resolved to avenge the insult to her honour, closed her petals and caught the left hind foot of our military friend! However, administering to the flower a final butt with his head and kick with his gaster, he succeeded in extricating himself and quickly climbed down the stem, cursing his inhos­ pitable saviour with all the rasping stridulations he could think of. But the honest soldier fell out of the frying-pan into the fire. Scarcely had he reached terra firma, and had already crawled a few inches in the direction of his own country, when he heard a loud buzzing, almost overhead, and was nearly startled into a fit by seeing a living aeroplane, an enormous bee, making directly for him with all the appearance of implacable hostility and intense fury, and hurling fierce maledictory stridulations at him. Now, our two-legged reader must pardon us when we plead almost total ignorance on the question whether our Lilliputian friends, the Ants, and our sweet, but choleric acquaintances, the Bees, actually understand each other's language. We freely acknowledge that we have so far been unable to adduce proof in this matter, and we frankly state our belief that a satisfactory proof of such communi­ cation will never be found by the two-legged, but, alas, very soft-brained human philologists. Let it suffice to say that the Aruwimi Ant-Chronicles, while not expressly and definitively. claiming such 173 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TffOMMEL vibratory communication between Ant and Bee, simply record certain strong words which passed between our above-mentioned friends-as if no doubt whatever of at least SUCH a communication could be entertained. But let us make long matters short, and literally translate the ancient ant-chronicler's account of this episode:- " Ha ! Miscreant, ant-devil, wanton ravisher of unsullied virginity! Have I caught thee, rascal? " the bee shrieked angrily, keeping her machine buzz­ ing immediately above the brown warrior's head. "Fool-Buzzer, stop your infernal noise! A battle was fought· and lost. Billions of ants died a hero's death. I, the only survivor, sought safe shelter within the calyx of yon flower. What harm in that ? " loftily vibrated the ant. "Harm, you vile worshipper of a Dung-Beetle! Harm! Look at her drooping petals, see the cruel scratches on her tender body,-1 sting thee to death, foul ant! " answered the enraged bee, startling the enemy with a sudden great buzz of the powerful propeller, as, after a few dips and loop-the-loops, it made a sharp tum to starboard and dashed straight at the unfortunate Tye-Lye-Zye. "Avaunt r-Thou swarming lunatic !-Leave me alone, thou low hiveling, thou stupid wax-figure.­ I'll bite thy silly head off !-Thou son of a rotten brood !-Thou--" Bzzzz--zzzzsss--Bang ! ! The bee struck the steely hardness of the ant-warrior's skull as, curving his body in a semicircle beneath his gigantic head, he awaited the attack. Before we shall be willing to satisfy the two-legged reader's curiosity regarding the end of the fight, 174 THE BRIDGE which he, doubtless, expects to have been long and furious, we ourselves feel obliged to disappoint him in advance by remarking that the Aruwimi Chroni­ clers, by the very laconic character of their account, evidently desired to convey to posterity the ant's utter contempt for the bee. Thus the Chronicles do not by one hieroglyphic describe the combat, but, after delineating the attack as translated above, merely conclude: " The valiant Big-Head, Tye-Lye-Zye, swiftly re­ turned to his habitation and kindred without -honouring his decapitated enemy with a single glance.''--

Nothing could furnish a better testimony of the remarkable character and greatness of soul of this ingenious Generalissimo than the fact that he did not lose heart in spite of the terrible defeat of his army. He did not despair of the future fate of the race of Brown-Ants, but, on the contrary, exerted all his strength and energy to reconstruct his sorely stricken, but all the more beloved, fatherland, as soon as he had reached home. Organising a new and still more powerful army, from the youngest generation of Brown-Ants, just come forth from their cocoons, he concocted the most audacious plans of retaliation and revenge against the giant-headed Red Chieftain during the entire period of tropical rain.

175 CHAPTER XVIII

THE TUNNEL OTH belligerent parties spent the days and Bweeks of the wet season in numerous delibera­ tions and conferences on the subject of the military operations for the coming summer, but were also greatly worried by harassing cares and fearfully tormented by various calamities. During the hot season all Small-Heads, with the exception of the Egg-Lappers and Larvre-Educators, had taken part in the conflict with the inevitable and immediate consequences that in all countries insufficient quantities of food had been collected for the time of the rain. The realm of Hye-Mye, the King of Kings, especially was in the grasp of the greatest want and utmost need. The plague broke out in the nests of the red ants, and, in conjunction with the terrible famine, decimated the population. The stores of edible seeds were soon used up, the honey­ pots had been emptied to the very dregs before the close of the first half of the wet period, and the crop of mushrooms too was not as generous as in former seasons, because the stress of war had prevented sufficient fertilisation of the subterranean fungi­ orchards. The milk of the dairy cattle scarcely sufficed to nourish the baby larvre out at nurse ! Thus it is not to be wondered at that immense numbers of red six-footers, especially of Small­ Heads (the big-headed Lord-Ants were plentifully nourished even during this awful time) lost flesh, fell away to mere skeletons, and literally starved to death. The same vicissitudes and terrible misfortunes 176 THE TUNNEL would have fallen to the lot of the Brown and Black Nations, if their countries had not been blessed with a more favourable geographical situation. As their territories were surrounded on all sides by forest, they could tide over the rainy period in a much better fashion than the geographically isolated Red­ Ants. Their blood-relations, living in the sur­ rounding woodland as colonists, gladly provided them with a generous share of their own super­ abundant stores, so that they were able to withstand the rigours of the inclement season with comparative ease and comfort. As soon as the rainy season was past, the struggle began anew. The whole Aruwimi Glade was again changed into one immense theatre of war. The greater part of the population of the smaller nations of the Black and Brown Races fell victims to the furious onslaught of the red enemy, while the survivors fled into the countries of the Pye and Tye Nations situated across the river. There the brown and black ants managed to raise a gigantic armed force which surpassed the red army a thousandfold. While the lesser nations of the brown and black ants were defeated by the puissant red King Hye­ Mye himself, his giant-headed Field-Marshal, Hye­ Dye-Bye, although not personally taking part in the hostilities, pondered day and night, and elaborated a thoroughly new and unheard-of plan of war. The great task confronting him was the same as in the first lap of that great race for victory :-to cross the river, and to strike the enemy in his own country. This time he intended to give a knock-out-blow to the black ants. If he succeeded-so he thought -in annihilating the Blacks, he could easily over- 177 M THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL come the Browns, who had been weakened terribly by the reverses suffered by them during the preceding campaign. While the great strategist meditated on the various ways of realising his object he found that the enemy's side of the river could be reached in three different ways. The first one, by way of the various fords, on the stone-islets reaching above the surface of the water, had been proved already impossible during the first stage of the war. This summer the fords were in the possession of the red-ants; but in spite of this favourable position the valiant soldiers of the Giant-Headed Hye-Dye-Bye were unable to gain the least advantage over their enemies ; for the various gaps in the dense underbush on the edge of the other bank of the river, the only possible ways of passage to the enemy country, where the bulk of the great allied army which it was necessary to destroy was encamped, were defended by such immense forces that the attacks launGhed against them by the Red Commander were bound to fail in spite of the utmost valour and suicidal bravery of his faithful warriors. Column after column, each comprising thousands of red soldiers, scaled the steep incline of the river-bank, but one after the other, with startling regularity and precision, was repulsed by the multitudinous brown and black warriors, flung into the river and drowned. The second method, the great engineering feat, the living ant-bridge, was by this time an open secret and could be frustrated easily by a com­ paratively small force of enemy soldiers occupying the points of bridge anchorage on the other shore. The Pioneer-battalions of the Red-Ants were unsuc- 178 THE TUNNEL cessful in spanning the river with such living sus­ pension bridges, for the Brown and Black Ants, profiting by the bloody lesson received by the former the year before, were on their guard, and foiled every attempt in this direction. The whole length of the left bank was invested by strong detachments of black and brown warriors, who frustrated every attempt at fixing such bridges on their side of the stream. The third, and untried possibility, was through the air: he might send his soldiers on the wing to a suitable rendezvous in the enemy's country. But, unfortunately, the only air-ships at his disposal were the females of his race, and, as ill-luck would have it, only the virgins among them, who kept their wings until the marriage-flight had fulfilled the principal purpose of life for them. Thus the giant­ headed Hye-Dye-Bye was forced to abandon the idea as impracticable ; for in the first place the number of virgin ants was not great enough, and secondly, they were too tender-hearted for such bloody business as war, though extremely clever fencers with the foils of love. But the mighty brain of the giant-headed Hye­ Dye-Bye was busy, and most seriously!, Clearly he realised that, if he desired to obtain the final victory, he would have to transport the bulk of his army to the enemy's shore in some manner or other, and his gigantic cocoa-head at last developed a new and wonderful idea ! a fourth possibility ! It came upon him so suddenly that in his joy and enthusiasm he leapt almost half a grass-blade high into the air. What was the expedient-this most remarkable invention of the entire ant-civilisation, which the 1 79 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL great six-footed, big-headed genius, with his un­ exampled gift of combination devised and hatched out? One day he assembled his General Staff, of which the most eminent of his bridge-building officers were members, and harangued them as follows :- " Heroic sons of our Six-Footed All-Mother! Pay the closest attention to the movements of my feelers ! Believe me : the grace of the Sacred Giant-Queen­ Ant surely will vouchsafe to us the destruction of our black enemies.'' The great leader's faithful staff-officers, who were rather cynical regarding the assistance of the Giant­ Ant, or at the most assumed that their All-Mother according to Her eternal custom would vouchsafe Her divine assistance only to the strongest battalions, smiled in good-natured amusement and, taking good care that their stern chief could not observe them, ironically nudged one another with their antennre, which, according to the beau ideal of their Liege-Lord, they usually wore with military precision, pointing arrow-like to the lofty tops of the grass-blades. The giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye himself was by no means a firm believer in the aid of the Giant-Ant, but considering it his duty to follow the example of his royal lord and master in all points whatsoever, gradually formed the habit of calling on the Sacred Name at every favourable opportunity. Thu~ he continued his harangue as follows:- " May the Sacred Six-Foot who guides the des­ tinies of the red people strike the black evil-doers with Her fulminant curse, and change them into dung-beetles ! Let the Sacred Giant-Ant punish Blackland ! This is the pnrole which our beloved 180 THE TUNNEL sovereign, the King of Kings, sent to his faithful warriors upon this holy crusade against the black miscreants who, although the affair was no concern of theirs, treacherously declared war against our peaceful people, thus disobeying the Giant-Ant's sacred injunction not to interfere when we, the chosen nation, exterminated our perfidious and malignant brown enemies to the last pupa. The Pye-Nation, and the other black commonwealths, accordingly committed an unpardonable sin not only against us, but also towards our Sacred All-Mother, and therefore the hour of filthy dung-beetledom for them is at hand. Not one larva of theirs shall be spared: larvre, eggs, pupre, full-grown warriors­ even their winged virgins-shall be subject to our vengeance and shall be devoured by the red avengers ! '' "But-Your Giant-Headed Honour !-how can we possibly cross the river? " a big-headed red staff­ officer objected. " Heroic Big-Heads, observe the undulations of my feelers and listen to my novel plan :-We shall pass-beneath the river! " And now Hye-Dye-Bye acquainted his staff of experts with all particulars of his original project, which soon filled them with the greatest admiration for the incomparable genius of their chief. His great plan consisted in the construction of a big tunnel of immense width beneath the bottom of the river through which his pugnacious warriors could, in a single night, get at the enemy! Of course even the giant-head of Hye-Dye-Bye was unable to judge at a prismatic glance the probable depth of the river. But, after all, this r8r THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL question was of secondary importance. The solu­ tion of the problem depended on a very different matter. Carefully inspecting the course of the river for a considerable distance, he observed that in some places sandy flats rose above the surface of the river. "The water," he told his faithful Pioneers, "can­ not be very deep around such large patches of dry land; certainly not deeper than the lowest chambers and galleries of my habitation. And even a greater depth could not baffle us, for we should simply dig below it." The stratagem of the great Generalissimo was indeed as ingenious as it was simple, and was thus characteristic of the peculiar genius of the ant-race. Even the most uncivilised among them, the yellow and the green savages of the jungle, are without special training able to construct most complicated subterranean passages whenever they desire to build a new system of dwelling-rooms, egg-hatcheries, larvre-nurseries, pupre-seminaries, and granaries. Their wonderful engineering talent is baffled by no difficulty : give them the necessary amount of time and they will construct a labyrinth of sub­ terranean avenues and alley-ways which surpass the world-famous catacombs of Rome, and the justly celebrated sewers of Paris, a thousand-fold. The great military leader and his matchless staff lost no time, but started forthwith to carry out their bold plan. While the bloody struggle continued unabated on the surface of the earth, while the Red Commander for the purpose of deceiving the enemy did not cease to sacrifice many millions of red soldiers in the vain attempt at forcing the passage of the river by way of the fords or living ant-bridges, 182 THE TUNNEL just as many millions of the Royal Engineers were hard at work in the bowels of Mother Earth. Digging day and night indefatigably, and carrying the earth in big heaps outside, they constructed a tunnel of such immense width that many billions of ants were able to cross safely to the opposite bank of the river during the limited hours of one single night. When this unprecedented feat, this most brilliant performance of myrmecean engineering genius, was finished, the hot season was nearing the close. Giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye's stratagem proved a great success. In the dark hours of night when the enemy hosts were slumbering peacefully, with mandibles at rest and drooping antennre, he led the mass of his army to the foreign shore through the military tunnel beneath the waters of the river, and at high noon of the following day suddenly attacked the encampment of the enemy from the rear at the very moment when, under the command of their Lord-Protector, the crafty Pye-Lye-Gye, the black multitude were about to seek the protection of their cool underground camp-nests against the scorching rays of the afternoon sun. Who could describe adequately the surprise and abject terror of the black warriors? Not one of them could surmise in the least from what direction this enormous multitude of red ants, which rushed upon their enemy from all sides, had appeared with such startling suddenness. For in strict obedience to the plan of the giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye, countless red assaulting battalions rushed upon the battlefield like an irresistible tidal wave, at the very moment when in the rear the appearance of the tun­ nel-army threw the black host into utter confusion. 183 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL The great numerical superiority of the black ants availed them nothing; the most heroic attempts at defence proved in vain. Countless multitudes were driven into the river and were drowned, while those fighting on the battlefield farther inland were butchered without mercy. (See map.) Only the great black Ant-Protector, the astute Pye-Lye-Gye, succeeded in saving his own life, and that of a paltry few millions of black soldiers, by cutting his way through the thickest of the fray to the adjacent forest. But their nests with all their precious stores of savoury food, their extensive subterranean gardens of delicious mushrooms, their multitudinous herds of prize cattle, above all their living honey-pots, replete with the nectar so indis­ pensable to ant-happiness-all these treasures fell into the mandibles of the red marauders. Only one precious possession, indeed the most precious of all possessions, was saved: the future of the Black Ant-Race; and it was the lofty spirit of sacrifice imbuing the corps of larvre-nurses, who had remained at home to guard their helpless charges, which warded off this utter calamity. Many larvre, it is true, were lost in the way, for the flight to reach the haven of safety among their black relations on the Small Glade was so very precipitous that a great number of babies dropped from the enervated mandibles of their exhausted, gasping nurses. But, after all, the number of the surviving larvre was great enough to prevent the total extinction of the race. Unfortunately there was no time to save the millions of eggs from the crunching mandibles of the victorious enemy, whose cannibal appetite was not appeased before the last egg had disappeared 184 ,,--\ C) \)i) Cle> aX a D ~ ~ tf~1~r~~;{%~oJ\_,,.-'"' O .t;::J \ /?' .L Q,::J ~ ~ (:::3 5D_yc-£Je·C'je \ (\ \ 0/ /ri11C \r"\V,.dJ&.~ (\ (\ ./- :-;:--..__ '\ ~ \> \/"" °)V ~~~~~ (\\) \) <><>,,'i~-~~~\) "\J o c::>Va-o-~ t::::i~ () /0 ~~~~~~~v 00~~~~~--- '\':I (~~~~~~~~~\)\\ D<)~~~~~~~\\\ \~~~~~~1'~DD f~~:;~_t~\ G \\~~~~~0~ 'DD'0~ -;,,,,_ . : " D \ .- .. ~~.-\)v 1'' 11 'o

After this remarkable success on the field of battle the Red-Ants did not doubt for a moment that the final victory would fall to their lot, and that they would succeed in exterminating completely their hated enemies in the course of the next hot season. Their king Hye-Mye who, thanks to the genius of his giant-headed Paladin and Generalis­ simo, stood on the pinnacle of his glory and power, proved his gratitude and esteem by granting to him the superlative boon of executing twelve con­ secutive royal trills on the twelfth segment of that grisly warrior's right antenna, a great honour usually vouchsafed only to the princes of the royal blood. The triumphant elation of the King of Kings knew no bounds. His rapture was so intense that 186 THE TUNNEL in spirit he saw himself the Padishah of all the ants of the world, even the sovereign of those aboriginal tribes of the jungle whose savagery and barbarism predestined them to be changed, after death, to filthy, loathsome dung-beetles. CHAPTER XIX

THE SAVAGES HE Brown-Ants were horrified when they T learned the sad news of the great defeat of their Black Allies. They had strictly confined themselves to defensive measures during the whole course of the hot season, hoping thus to wear out the offensive spirit of the Reds, and intended to launch a con­ certed attack on their enemies as soon as these were exhausted sufficiently, or at least lulled into security. Before their plan matured they received the news of the calamitous defeat of their allies, which destroyed their fair prospects with one blow. The mournful tidings at first affected the usually indomitable spirit of their Commander-in-Chief, the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye. Unceasingly he crawled to and fro in the lowest corridors of his subterranean mansion, moaning as if in great physical pain, or feelering violent imprecations at his Red enemies. Gradually, however, the buoyant spirit of his race gained the upper hand in his brown soul, dispelled the gloomy shadows of the past, and conjured up before his mind's eye a rosy future. Soon the brain­ tissues in his enormous head performed extremely daring evolutions which, gradually taking shape, suddenly changed into a beacon of hope, illuminat­ ing the future of the Brown Ant-People with a radiance of endless glory. By means of this gushing verbiage the Ant-Chronicler of course only desires to record the fact that Tye-Lye-Zye . hit upon a brilliant idea, from the execution of which he looked for the triumph of his own people and the utter 188 THE SAVAGES discomfiture, even extermination, of his Red an­ tagonists. As soon as the ingenious strategist had digested his new plan fully, he left his nest, and insisted upon an audience with his Sovereign, the august Tye-Mye. "What is the latest news, dear friend? " the anxious monarch asked, misinterpreting the nervous feeler-undulations of his faithful chief servant. '' Bringest thou me further tidings of evil portent? '' " Most Illustrious Majesty," Tye-Lye-Zye replied, "dark clouds may hide for a time the radiance of the Sacred Globe of Fire, but the luminous spirit of our Six-Footed All-Mother can penetrate the deepest gloom at will. A fulminant arrow from Her divine quiver, sent from Her all-powerful bow by Her unerring Right Forefoot, has struck my soul, has pierced my brain. Sire, I have found a way out of the difficulty, I have hit upon a stratagem which will defeat the intentions of those red dung­ beetles, will shatter their hopes, and will destroy the disgusting race root and branch ! '' King Tye-Mye rubbed his antennre with impetuous enthusiasm against those of his wise counsellor­ the sign of rapturous joy among the ants-and turned the prismatic radiance of his eyes full upon him. " Speak up, old comrade-let us hear what thy Giant-Ant-Inspired brain has evolved! It must indeed be a wondrous stratagem, for all thy thousand eyes are radiant with joy." The inspired Tye-Lye-Zye now developed his singular plan before his sovereign and the assembly of big-headed court dignitaries, but the extreme boldness of the idea aroused the suspicion among his 189 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL audience that their great leader had lost his reason. "My August Liege-Lord, and ye Big-Headed sons of a prolific mother," the great ant said, "our fore­ most task is to gain-allies ! '' "Allies? We have allies! Are not our Black Cousins fighting, bleeding and dying for our cause? '' answered the king. "Yea, verily-but it sufficeth not," replied the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye; " our old allies have been put to the rout, and are bemoaning the loss of many billions of eggs. Even though their dutiful females be Giant-Ant-Inspired, they will not succeed in laying such a superabundance of eggs that the Black Race will recover, in a conceivable time, from the terrible defeat. Moreover, they have lost a most considerable number of their most precious larvre during the flight. I have given up all hope of the possibility of assistance from the Black Nations. We must look about for new allies ; otherwise we are lost without hope of salvation." "What nations are there from which we could receive succour ? " the king asked with doubly­ curved antennre. "The wild ants of the forest, the savages of the jungle, the Krkye tribe of the arboreal wilderness!" The whole assembly was speechless with astonish­ ment. The cannibals of the forest ! The filthy sons of a dung-beetle-mother ! Tye-Lye-Zye surely was mad! King and courtiers turned up their feelers; the countless facets of their eyes scintillated with disgust, their mandibles opened the caverns of their throats, they gasped for breath, their livers turned at the very idea of associating with such unwashed, greasy riff-raff ! Phew-what a rotten r90 THE SAVAGES idea! Tye-Lye-Zye had grown weak-brained­ muddy-headed ! "The Krkye Tribe,-the green ants!" gasped the horrified king; "dost thou not know that these savages carry ugly Lilliputian heads on their filthy bodies, that they are extremely ill-mannered and exude such a stench that we gentle ants could not possibly breathe the same air with them for any considerable length of time? You have chosen fine allies for your comrades-at-arms, indeed!" The veteran leader had listened calmly to this unanimous outburst against his scheme. With marked composure he answered his sovereign's expostulations with dispassionate flourishes of his feelers. "Just because the Krkye people are untutored cruel savages, just because their stench cries to heaven, an offence against the purity of the Giant­ Ant, just because their presence strikes gentle ant­ hood with abject terror-just for this reason we must induce them to be our allies," he answered quietly. " In case of victory we shall relinquish the entire war-booty to them, all the savoury food which we shall find in the strongholds of the Red­ Country, above all the billions of eggs, a delicacy the expectation of which will drive this brood of the Giant-Dung-Beetle to commit deeds of savage valour and fiendish cruelty. If we succeed in gaining their assistance, we shall unleash them and send them against our Red enemies. The very fetidness of their bodies will strike terror into the hearts of the Red troops and will make them seek safety in flight." "Your Excellency is too optimistic, I fear," an 191 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-0MMEL unusually big-headed Lord-Ant remarked. "The Reds are such hardy soldiers, and subject to such severe and impersonal discipline that the mere stench of an antagonist will not terrify them to such an extent." " He is right, my friend," the king chimed in. "This frightful malodour would certainly unnerve us cultured Brown-Ants, but would hardly tickle the nostrils of those Red barbarians. Besides, is our famous Brown-Ant-Civilisation to owe its salva­ tion to those Green Savages? No, no, Tye-Lye­ Zye, the idea is impracticable, I cannot give my consent." But the wise Generalissimo could not be deflected so easily from a course which he had recognised clearly as the right one. He was resolved fully that the plan should be carried out, for he realised that the very existence of his race depended upon it. " If we are confronted by the choice of either destruction of our cultural system by the Red-Ants, or its salvation by the savage green myrmeceans of the jungle, we must decide of a necessity upon the latter course," he said quietly. The truth of this statement neither King nor Lord-Ants could deny. They accordingly signified their assent ; but, to make a concession to their wounded dignity as civilised ants, remarked that, after all, their hereditary enemies, the Red-Ants, were scarcely more than semi-savage barbarians. The shrewd Generalissimo, observing the waver­ ing attitude of the assembly, continued :- " One of your members was pleased to express the doubt that the Red armies could be routed by a mere disagreeable odour. Perchance he is right. I92 THE SAVAGES But, my dear comrades, the Krkye-Ants have at their disposal still another means of battle, which not a single Big-Head among you has included in his calculations." The thousands of shining prisms were turned expectantly towards him. " This means of battle," the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye continued, exultantly rubbing his antennre against those of his Royal Lord, '' this terrible weapon consists in formic-acid batteries, which perhaps the Giant-Dung-Beetle, the real All-Mother of these excrements of anthood, has planted in their vile bodies! When roused to fury they fire this stench­ ing fluid upon their enemies with the force of a million ant-power, and to the almost unbelievable distance of nine inches ! The effect of this fiery charge is that their opponents become benumbed immediately and sink to earth with their vital tissues beyond hope of recovery. Thus billions of Red­ Ants can be scorched to death easily by a few millions of green savages. Now-ye valiant Big­ Heads-ye are convinced surely that I, Tye-Lye­ Zye, am as little sense-bereft as yourselves? " The whole assembly bowed low before the genius of the great leader. The Big-Heads swarmed around him with enthusiastic feeler-protestations of their admiration and soldierly loyalty, and the thousand eyes of the mighty king beamed with pleasure, and shone with the light of a new hope. Tye-Lye-Zye's stratagem seemed to them the most wonderful military idea ever conceived. Their own semi­ savage yellow colonial subjects in the border-dis­ tricts of the forest, of course, were also endowed with a natural weapon of formidable character in r93 N THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL formic oil, with which they bespattered their antagon­ ists whenever their barbarous rage burst through the veneer of civilisation which had been forced upon them, but this oil, though almost unbearable to ants of refinement and culture, proved ineffective on the hardened, war-trained soldiers of the Red King of Kings. On the other hand, the unadulter­ ated 99% formic acid of the green aborigines ot the jungle was irresistible, deadly! Have we not, even nowadays, occasionally heard of the fearful effect of such a fusillade upon hapless expeditions of African explorers who had penetrated far into the labyrinth of the jungle in quest of scientific data or for the purpose of conquest, and though superior in strength and numbers, frequently had been attacked and killed by a few jungle ants? Tye­ Lye-Zye' s idea seemed to promise certain success­ final victory ! Unanimously they voted for the alliance with the savage Krkye tribesmen, and immediately dispatched plenipotentiary envoys to urge them to make common cause with the Brown Nations and their Black Allies against the Red barbarians. These special ambassadors arrived in the bush­ territory of the wild Krkye-tribe after experiencing untold dangers and blood-curdling adventures. Among others, a huge monster, which they encoun­ tered in the darkest of the jungle-probably the ancestor of our ant-bear-had suddenly rushed upon them and, with an energetic movement of his clammy tongue, swept away and swallowed up the whole diplomatic suite which consisted of several thousands of valiant, big-headed Lord-Ants and their retainers, owing to the providence of the great 194 THE SAVAGES Tye-Lye-Zye, who had wisely foreseen the possibility of some catastrophe. Only a few hundreds of the Brown Ambassadors arrived safely, unscathed in Krkye-land. The few survivors of the unfortunate expedition, however, succeeded in carrying their mission to a brilliant end. The alliance with the Krkye tribesmen was soon concluded, although the loathsome savages laid down the most monstrous conditions, and demanded among other things that their male individuals should be permitted to fecundate the Brown queens, which the savages considered the most rapturous delight imaginable! The unscrupulous soldier, Tye-Lye-Zye, agreed even to this defilement and desecration of the Brown Race, which until then had enjoyed the reputation of being the most unblemished, noble ant-race of the Aruwimi-world, only to insure the total de­ struction of his hated Red enemies. Alas! For many generations a considerable percentage of the Brown nurselings were monster conceptions, of an odour so fearfully pungent and foul that their own mothers felt no love but only disgust for them, and the faithful Brown nurses more than once threatened to quit their tasks. But the great leader and states­ man Tye-Lye-Zye did not care; the destruction of the hateful Red enemy and rival justified even the prostitution of his queens and the defilement of his race!

1 95 CHAPTER XX

BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE HILE the great leader of the Brown-Ants W thus secured the assent of his sovereign and the grandees of his nation to the alliance with the aboriginal green ants of the primeval forest, on the plea that after the fearful defeat of their civilised Black Allies only the formic-acid cannon of the uncivilised savages could save the ancient Aruwimi culture from destruction, and insure the utter down­ fall of the red disturbers of the peace, the mighty brain of the Black Ant-Protector, the artful Pye­ Lye-Gye, was also restlessly at work. The remnants of the routed black armies, as we have recorded already, had fled to the country of their blood-rela­ tions in the Lesser Glade, which haven of refuge they had gained after many vicissitudes and dangers experienced oh their precipitate flight through the intervening forest country. Their original expecta­ tion, namely that their cousins, the Fye people, would receive them instantly with open feelers, and lavish the benefits of their hospitality upon them, unfortunately was not fulfilled. The Fye-Nation was, doubtless, the most ego­ tistical, self-centred ant-people of the entire Aruwimi World. Their " warm feelers and cold hearts'' were proverbial, and the Aruwimi Chronicles never mentioned them without pointing out their heartless, mercenary and covetous nature, and their utter lack of that finely-superarboreal, high-souled disposition which characterised the ants of the Greater· Glade. The historical development of the Fye-Ants, and 196 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE the cultural conditions prevalent among them, were sufficient alone to call forth the severe censure of the ant-critic of later times. While throughout the Great Glade the barbarian and antiquated custom of humiliating the Small-Heads, by addressing them with rasping stridulations on the third segment of their right feelers, had been abolished long before, the horrible institution of slavery still flourished among the black colonials. Only after the big­ headed gentry of the Small Glade realised that the "enfranchisement" of the small-headed rabble in no wise prejudiced the predominant position of the gentry, was slavery abolished finally, and the Small­ Heads were addressed urbanely by means of gentle trills on the eighth segment of their left feelers. The Small Glade was much more fertile and richer in natural treasures than the Great Aruwimi .Glade, and this circumstance led to a boundless accumula­ tion of wealth by the native Big-Heads. There were Crcesuses among them, for whose sole benefit millions of Small-Heads foraged and slaved day and night without ceasing, for the purpose of filling the granaries of their masters. As it was impossible naturally to consume these immense quantities of delicacies during the months intervening between two Fire-Globe seasons, some of these great landed proprietors were supplied superabundantly for untold future rain periods, not only for themselves and their immediate families, but also for their descendants to the hundredth or even thousandth degree. This immeasurable wealth and power of the Big­ Heads of the Lesser Glade brought it about that, notwithstanding their incapacity to achieve great things for ant-civilisation, in a mental and spiritual 197 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL respect, they succeeded in enriching the ideal world of the ants with a perfectly new, most curious con­ ception. We can find scarcely a word in the tongue­ glib language of the great bipeds which interprets exactly the meaning of the hieroglyphic represent­ ing this conception:-$. The best we can do is to translate it by the term : " business." The fact is that the ants of the Fye-Nation are the inventors of buying and selling, of trading and trafficking, of bargaining and dealing, of trucking and bartering, and higgling and haggling-in short, of all these various methods of commercial inter­ course which we two-legged giants express by that fair and melodious word: "business." For the instruction and gratification of our readers we shall interpret literally what the Elm Ant-Foot-Hiero­ glyphics report concerning this most interesting subject:- " The Big-Heads of the Great Glade had discovered long ago that, in case of necessity, the various articles of food could be exchanged one for the other (hieroglyphic ~), e.g. :-honey for rice, rice for cow, cow for grain, grain for mushroom, etc., etc. But no single nation of the Greater Glade succeeded in developing this art to such a perfection as the Lord-Ants of the Small Glade, one of whose number, dowered with unusual shrewdness, and even without an inspiring ascent to the top of the Mystic Tree, one day made the momentous discovery that, even without the compulsion of absolute necessity, the most diversified objects of value could be exchanged advantageously ! Experience soon taught these enlightened children of the Giant-Ant that after repeated exchange, cleverly conducted, the store of 198 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE provisions of an ant could be improved a thousand­ fold, without any exhausting labour whatever ! This most surprising, almost unbelievable discovery changed the whole manner of thought and life of the inhabitants of the Small Glade within the space of a dozen or less of the hot seasons, and soon the last traces of the good old customs and social laws of Mye-M ye disappeared for ever from among them. The Small-Heads received, it is true, a slightly greater amount of food, but-especially after the ingenious invention of the glow-worm illumination, the domestication of a curious little insect, the famous Lampyris N octiluca, and its employment for night-work within the nests as well as in the open­ the poor small-headed creatures had to drudge and slave more than ever ; for in this curious epoch the articles of food were gathered and stored, not as formerly for the practical purpose of being consumed during . the inclement season, but in the main to furnish the big-headed magnates with suitable objects to barter. The whole ambition of these vampires was to find ever new methods according to which they could cram their store-houses with still more precious delicacies, and all their ingenuity was engaged in the task of trading some possession for some more valuable property of their fellow­ ants." This spirit: ($), which found expression in the thought of " giving little and gaining much," dominated the entire public and private life of the Black Fye-Ants. It poisoned even the simple minds of their lowly Small-Heads until later they too, following the example of their masters, strove with this sole aim-namely of bartering their valueless 199 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL possessions for priceless treasures. The whole cul­ tural life of the ants of the Small Glade consisted in continuous roaming about, in rummaging here and there and everywhere, in sniffling to the right, to the left, before and behind, and in haggling every minute of the day. All real enjoyment of life, leisure and recreation, spiritual peace and mental satisfaction, were unknown among these unfortu­ nate wealth-seekers. Their life was no longer a comfortable dignified crawl, but a feverish un-ant­ like rush. Many of them succeeded thus in amass­ ing immense wealth, but countless numbers were wrecked and ruined, broke down in body and spirit, and perished in this unflagging, indefatigable quest for unnecessary opulence. Not a few lost even their minds; like thunderbolts hurled by the right forefoot of the Giant-Ant they dashed excitedly around their nests until they sank dead to the ground. During the first innings of the war the Black­ Ants of the Small Glade paid little attention to the terrible struggle raging on the open spaces of the ancient territory of the Myrmecean Race. Gradu­ ally, however, it became evident that their safe isolation was apparent only, and that, whether they would or not, they would soon be compelled to adapt their economic and political calculations to the fluctuating issues of the bloody encounter taking place at such a great distance. For, from an early date of the war, their black cousins of the Greater Glade, forced by their extremity to curb their wonted inordinate pride, had to beseech them for food. The Big-Heads of the Small Glade now realised that the distress of their relations offered 200 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE them a most favourable opportunity for $ (business), and, accordingly, received their begging Black brothers with oily feeler-movements, well­ hidden greediness in their eye-prisms. "We are willing to supply you with food," they answered to the mendicant deputies," but what will you give us in exchange ? '' " Alas, dear cousins, we have naught to give," the Black Messengers replied, dejected and sad. '' Nonsense ! You still possess larvre and eggs ! '' " True, fair friends. But these we must train as soldiers against the red demons ! " "He who has nothing shall get nothing, our Father Mye-Mye justly said," the lords of the Lesser Glade severely replied; "we be honest, Giant-Ant­ fearing six-footers, and would not dream of despoil..: ing our own larvre and pupre of their just inherit­ ance.'' "Then," the messengers said with despairing downward strokes of their feelers, " then our entire people will starve to death ! " " This is a terrible misfortune indeed," the affluent colonials replied with drooping feelers, but steely prisms; "we are inconsolable, our hearts are bleeding for you, but-well, you see, you should not wage war, if you have no-brass. Your stupid­ ity got you into this dung-beetle of a fix; we decline to burn our feelers for your sakes." But the situation of the Black Nations of the Greater Glade was so precarious that their envoys could not afford to give up all hope and proudly retire from the presence of their heartless blood­ relations. So they implored and supplicated with ever-increasing intensity and pathos, appealing 20I THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL above all to the sameness of colour and descent of the two black nations, and pointing out the impera­ tive necessity of permanent friendship between them. Alas! Mere fair feeler-flourishes could not soften the adamantine hearts of the ants of the Small Glade. If notwithstanding it happened that they sud­ denly changed their sentiments and attitude towards their, at first, scornfully rejected cousins from across the jungle, and supplied them after all with food until the following hot season of the war, the reason therefore is so remarkable that, as conscientious historians, we dare not withhold it from our readers. At one of the sessions held during the period of the negotiations with their "poor relations," whose heart-rending plea had been rejected well-nigh a dozen times, an old, extremely sharp-witted colonial Big-Head, reputed to be the boss-haggler of the nation, whom the ancient Chroniclers call " Fye­ Lye-Szye, with the Sparkling Feelers," or some­ times simply : "Uncle Szye," suddenly expressed, first somewhat timidly, the uncommon, most sur­ prising, wholly new idea : that a thing could, per­ haps, be exchanged, not only for another thing which existed already, but also for a thing which could be expected to realise only in the future! ! At first his suggestion was waived aside by thou­ sands of feelers, and one of the most influential Lord-Ants, amid the laughter of his fellows, sarcas­ tically remarked:- " Dost thou desire to exchange SOMETHING for NOTHING ? For what does not exist is : nothing! This truth was established by St. Kye­ Mye, the most learned of all Fat-Bellies, the instruc- 202 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE tor of the princess-abductor Hye-Hye, in primeval times, and was proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, by his celebrated egg-theory. To-day every Small-Head even knows it by heart as soon as he crawls from his pupa-case. My dear friend and most respected colleague, clever and cunning as thou art usually, this time thou hast feelered­ rubbish ! " Deeply offended, Fye-Lye-Szye slashed the air with his sparkling antennre in defence of his idea, and employed all his eloquence and brilliancy of mind to prove that he, Uncle Szye, was right and yon ancient saint who had declared the two con­ ceptions " non-existent " and " nothing " identi­ cal, entirely wrong. "Art thou demented? " his commercial brothers asked uneasily ; " St. Kye-Mye's dictum is an eternal truth ! " " There is no such thing as ' eternal ' truths ! " he of the sparkling feelers answered, with increased daring and stubbornness. " Whatever the saintly Kye-Mye established as truth in those primeval days may have been true at that time, but now-it is no longer real ! '' "On the morrow, at the latest, he will begin whirling around his nest," some of the Big-Heads feelered secretly, who took Fye-Lye-Szye's strange, and seemingly confused antennary motions to be the undeniable sign of incipient insanity. The great captain of industry, however, calmly continued with his refutation of St. Kye-Mye's ancient theory:- " In the time of our sainted benefactor evidently no ant knew aught of mushrooms, else the wise 203 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Kye-Mye could not have proclaimed the untruth :­ , what does not exist is nothing.' In my mush­ room-orchard there may be spots in which to-day no trace of fungus-growth can be found, but which to-morrow may be covered with that delicious vegetable-the pride of the orchard's owner ! Fer­ tilisation by tender leaves brings about this sudden birth of what existed not before. What exists not to-day, may come to being on the morrow ; though it exists not, it is more than mere nothing-it is SOMETHING! And a something can be exchanged for another something.'' Fortunately the Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics have most conscientiously handed down to posterity every one of these very ingenious ideas of Fye-Lye­ Szye, of the Sparkling Feelers, and doubtless for the reason that they were of the highest importance, yes, were of decisive influence upon the final issue of the Great War and the fate of the entire Ant-Race. Uncle Szye's irrefutable argumentation slowly but surely gained the sympathy of his comrades for his views. They could not but realise that their relations, now so unfortunate, after they had con­ quered their Red enemies once, and again forced the immense multitudes of their Small-Heads to forage and work for them, would regain their pros­ perity and affluence soon, and could then repay whatever they were granted now in the time of need. On one great point all were unanimous, and needed no persuasive flourishes of the sparkling feelers of Uncle Szye : the supplicants must pledge themselves sometime to return much more than they now received. 204 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE Accordingly, when the deputies again appeared before them, and with abject feeler-movements con­ tinued their complainings and supplications, they addressed them as follows:- " Be it so-we are willing to grant your request! We shall advance the necessary food, which will save you from starvation until the following season of plenty. But our condition is that you take a solemn oath, by the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant, that you agree to be changed into filthy dung­ beetles unless, after your victory over your Red enemies, you repay us with ten grains of rice for every single grain, ten honey-pots for every living nectar-depository, and ten milch-cows for every cow which we now supply ! " The envoys of the Black-Ants, though with very heavy hearts, agreed to these grievously hard con­ ditions, for there was no other way to escape death by starvation. As ants they were much too honest to speculate on their possible inability to keep this promise, or never to be in the position to repay ten times the value of the borrowed necessities of life ;­ nay, they were even stirred by deep gratitude to­ wards their cousins across the jungle who were merciful and kind-hearted enough to save them from starving to death. But when at the close of the subsequent hot season the Black-Ants, after their terrible defeat, which we have already recited, fled to the country of their more fortunate black brothers in the Small Glade, and suddenly arrived with all their larvre and fecundated females, the consternation, not to say horror, of the colonial Big-Heads was unbounded. Not that they feared physical injury or violence 205 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL from them - for these unfortunate six - legged veterans were broken-hearted, weak in body and wholly harmless-but they realised with startling suddenness that the great economic advantages upon which they had counted firmly could never be won ! In spite of our thorough knowledge of the science of ant-foot-hieroglyphics, we poor two-legged inter­ preters are unable adequately to depict the great confusion, the absurd tearing about on all Sixes which seized the entire population of the Small Glade when the news arrived that the Black-Ants of the Great Glade had lost the war. Above all, those who had advanced greater quantities of precious food-stuffs to their starving kinsmen behaved like madmen, whipped feeler-curses into the air, struck their steely stomachs against the hard floors of their subterranean chambers, so that the dreadful noise disturbed the serene peace of the larvre-nurseries in the lowest depth of the nests ; they took inventories of their stores of food well­ nigh a dozen times a day, beat their poor, faithful retainers without cause or reason, and kept their entire household in a state of abject fear and tremb­ ling. "We be completely ruined," so they cried, "we be beggared, we shall starve to death. Those tramps across the jungle have robbed us, they be no bona fide black ants, they be dung-beetles in dis­ guise ! " But in reality their store-houses were replete with such a superabundance of food that even their descendants to the thousandth degree would have had enough to lead a life of luxury and ease without moving leg or feeler. The lucid brain of Pye-Lye-Gye, the Ant-Protec­ tor of the homeless Black Nations of the Greater 206 BUSINESS ANb l3ROTHERtY LOVE Glade, taking in the entire situation at one pris­ matic glance, had by no means arrived at the end of his inventive power. The catastrophe of his people had sharpened even the great leader's wits and stimulated his inventive genius. The following reflections coursed through his brain:- '' Our dear black cousins by no means bemoan and bewail our defeat and distressful circumstances. They are furious because our failure in war robs them of the immense economic advantage which in case of our victory they hoped to gain through repayment of ten times the quantity of the borrowed articles of food. Their disappointment and rage, their fear that they might lose the whole of their investment, will induce them to grant us anything and everything, but not to be deprived of their profits. Just as there is no limit to their anxiety, so there is no limit to their desire to protect them­ selves : they would be willing to sacrifice even their suckling babes, their larvre, the hope of their future! What a selfish, grasping and mercenary people ! But-no matter ! Their very selfishness will save us from destruction." Now the Ant-Protector, the chosen leader of the Black Fye-Nation populating the Lesser Glade, was at that rain-season the celebrated Fye-Lye-Szye, called" He of the Sparkling Feelers." This euphon­ ious name he owed to his quite wondrously beauti­ ful, lithesome antennre, the smooth surfaces of which glistened like polished gold. He was unceasingly engaged in bartering, haggled all day long, and the greater part of the night, and his commercial deals were very large, brilliant, and elaborated to 207 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the minutest detail. But his supreme talent­ that which made him greater than his fellows, and the most dangerous rival-was his unexampled cleverness in hiding his splendid plans from his com­ petitors and victims, behind the undulating move­ ments of his magnificent, beautifully shining and glistening feelers. His skill in veiling his true inten­ tion, and hiding his real opinion, could be compared only to the adroitness displayed by the Holy Fat­ Bellies of the good old time when they strove to guard the precious secret of their caste : the Sacred Name of the Giant-Ant. When, for instance, he desired to conclude a specially profitable deal, he never rubbed his sparkling feelers against those of his customer, as if to say : "this deal will result in great profit to both of us,"-but, turning his countenance in the direction of the Mystic Tree, he humbly lowered his antenn~, gently waved them to and fro before the very mandibles of his victim, and turned the thousand of prisms of his shrewd eyes, as if in an ecstasy of humility, towards Mother Earth, and said :-" I am more than willing to barter with thee, my dear brother and myrmecean friend, for I am inordinately fond of thee," or :-" Friend of my heart ! I gladly trade with thee, but thou canst not demand of good old Uncle Szye that he should consider his own interest in a deal with thee, whom he loves ! Let me therefore make thee a proposi­ tion, which only follows the dictates of my brotherly affection ! '' Such was the character and the disposition of Fye-Lye-Szye, of the Sparkling Feelers, the crafty Ant-Protector of the Black Fye-Nation of the Lesser Glade, whom the leader of the Black Pye-Nation of 208 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE the Greater Glade, the astute Pye-Lye-Gye, sought to gain as willing, if unconscious, help in his plans. "My Beloved Black Brother," so Fye-Lye-Szye, of the Sparkling Feelers, began his defensive manreuvre, before his young colleague had opened the attack with as much as an introductory anten­ nary remark, "my people are greatly disturbed by the fear that you will never be able to return the immense quantities of quite unexcelled food which were turned over so generously to your nation." "No more than natural, Most Respected Uncle and Colleague," the astute Aruwimi Big-Head replied; "your dear, selfless people are quite right: if we lose the war, we shall never be able to return the equivalent of your most generous gift, not to speak of the interest, which in your kindness of heart you fixed at the ridiculous figure of r,ooo per cent. But, dear Uncle, think of our great asset ; the War is not yet lost! Every ant of us, from the Biggest to the Smallest Head, trusts implicitly in the divine grace of our Six-Footed Sacred Mother. She, the Luminous One, will turn the wheel of fate ! " "By the Berry-Juice that delighteth the soul of ants," Fye-Lye-Szye replied in consternation, "dost thou in truth still believe in the Giant-Ant's assistance ? '' " Personally, my Sparkling Friend, I certainly have dropped all illusions concerning Her who lives in unattainable heights above the Tree of Trees, but, as you well know, countless Small-Heads still illumine their colourless lives with the ray of hope in this Mythical Being, and we Big-Heads are con­ strained to fashion our mode of speech according to 209 0 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-0-MMEL· this superstition, which, after all, is quite harmless.'' "But why, by the spirit of business and enter­ prise,-why sayest thou to me, thy poor old friend, that your hopes are founded on this-superstition? " "My Beloved Colleague," Pye-Lye-Gye answered impressively, "the Giant-Ant is not an absolute myth to me. I do believe in it; I believe in a real giant ant, in a black ant with six legs no longer and with mandibles no more powerful than mine, but with antennre of a far greater eloquence, and with a brain so gigantic and filled with such inexhaustible stores of wisdom and sagacity that even the biggest heads among us poor six-footed myrmeceans should bow in humility and sing psalms of praise that such a GIANT-ANT was vouchsafed to our Black people ! Into thine own sparkling feelers, into the keeping of thy mighty intellect, 0 thou real giant-ant, is placed the fate of our entire Black Race! If thou help us, the cursed race of Red dung-beetles is doomed to destruction, and then, thou wise father of thy people, thou greatest of all chiefs, then your nation will not only regain what it has given to us and ten times the value, but will return to the jungle-girded home loaded down with all the wealth of Red-Land, with all the countless treasures stored in the granaries of Hye-Mye, the King of Kings ! " The powerful leader of the Fye-Ants, though greatly flattered by this eulogy and the glorious mission thrust upon him, was, however, neither a stupid Small-Head, nor an inexperienced big-headed youth. He was well a ware that the Reds too were on the verge of starvation, and that their opponents, in case they really secured the final victory, would find little more than a trifle in their store-houses. 2IO BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE He could thus afford to waive this claim of future booty with a show of lofty magnanimity:- " Our ambitions are not at all directed towards obtaining spoils,'' he replied pharisaically; '' our minds are centred on things lofty and great, our hearts palpitate for things noble and good."­ " But," he continued, flourishing his sparkling feelers with rapture, "we shall give you signal proof of our noble disposition, our commiserating hearts, our selfless nature, our-idealism! We shall support you in your fearful struggle and crawl side by side with you, our well-beloved cousins, against yon arch-enemy of ant-culture, and will not close either the facets of our eyes in sleep, or the shears of our mandibles in peace, until that evil race has disappeared for ever from the face of Aruwimi ! " But, my treasured friend," he continued after a most eloquent pause, caressing the feelers of Pye­ Lye-Gye with gentle taps of inexpressible tactile sweetness, "it is not expected booty, not any miser­ able r,ooo or ro,ooo per cent. of interest, no profit or advantage or selfish motive whatever, which prompts us to support your cause, it is solely because of our dis­ interested, self-forgetful love for you, and our burning desire to save the people whose prolific queens have laid the eggs of our forebears in times of yore. "And," he concluded with passionate emphasis, " the Red miscreants are not real ants, but bar­ barian six-footers with the souls of dung-beetles, against which it is our moral duty to protect our Black Brothers. We must help you to exterminate those demons to the last pupa, the last larva, the last egg!'' 2H THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL When the Big-Heads of the Fye-Nation received the command of their Chief, according to which they should prepare instantly for war, call a general levy including all able-bodied Small-Heads, from the humblest coolie to the trusted overseer and agri­ cultural foreman, and train them with all possible dispatch for the battle with the Red warriors, their delight and enthusiasm was unbounded. Their secret desire was about to be fulfilled; against such a great superiority in numbers the Red battalions would surely be unable to prevail, the Brown and Black allies would secure the final victory and­ their investment would result in immense profit! What did it matter that a few billions of Small­ Heads would lose their lives in the struggle ! Were not the Black queens the most prolific females under the Fire-Globe? Would they not rise to the occasion and lay eggs more numerous than grains of sand on the bottom of the river ? So they mused and jubilated. And-strange to say-the warlike fire, the rap­ ture of their betters communicated itself to the stupid and artless Sip.all-Heads, although they had lost nothing and therefore could not hope for material advantage from this struggle, and they listened with opened mandibles and trembling feelers to the rousing speech of Uncle Szye, to the trumpet-call to arms sounded by the sparkling antennre of their Demosthenic leader. And when Uncle Szye appealed to their patriotism, their sense of duty and feeling of kinship, and pointed out to them that the Black inhabitants of the Lesser Glade, of "New Aruwimia," were bound to crawl to the rescue of their ant-brothers across the jungle, 2I2 BUSINESS AND BROTHERLY LOVE for the more than sufficient reason that, should the Red tyrant-king prevail, his barbarian hordes would, like an irresistible deluge, inundate also their fair, prosperous sanctuary, would exterminate or enslave the enlightened population, would de­ bauch their queens, and murder their larvre-babes and their pupre-youths-the small-headed multi­ tudes rose like one ant and went to war with stiffened mandibles, with waving feelers and with ecstasy in their great unanimous heart.

213 CHAPTER XXI

THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS HUS the rainy period passed in mighty war­ T like preparations. The hot season had scarcely set in when the armed forces of both belligerent parties, reinforced by the new allies-Tye-Lye­ Zye had gained even the yellow Grgye-Ants­ advanced against each other with renewed strength and intensified fury. The Red-Ants still had the odds in their favour, for they were in possession of the tunnel, built according to the plan and direction of the giant­ headed Hye-Dye-Bye, the three sally-ports of which had been carefully plastered over with earth after the victorious battle of the year before, so that the enemy had been unable to discover the termini. In consequence of this great advantage the Red Generals were again able to force the enemy to permit the military operations to take place in his own territory. This signal superiority at the very beginning of the campaign caused the red nation to be utterly convinced that this time they must secure the final victory before the close of the hot season. As the giant-headed Hye-Dye-Bye had passed his twelfth rainy period, in other words, had reached the age when a victor in countless battles might be expected to rest on his laurels till he departed this life, the Supreme Command was entrusted to a younger leader, whose head was a trifle less capa­ cious, to the round-headed Hye-Lye-Dye. The new Commander's old chief, Hye-Dye-Bye, remained, it is true, at his side and favoured him with his wise counsels, but the actual guidance of the affairs, the 214 THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS actual decision, the responsibility lay entirely m the feelers of the younger General. "Thinkest thou that we shall overcome, with the help of the Sacred Giant-Ant, our enemies, and win this war ? '' his Sovereign H ye-M ye asked him somewhat anxiously at the very beginning of the hot season when the Red King of Kings was occupied with inspecting his billion battalions in the river plateau of Black-Country, of which more than one half was occupied by the Red troops. "Most August Majesty," the round-headed Hye­ Lye-Dye replied, "just as certain as the shining Ball of Fire does not tarry all day long in its socket above the tree-tops of Aruwimi, but seeks the subterranean couch as soon as the twilight shadows rise from the forest, so certain is it that neither black nor brown ant will exist in this vast, unbounded world when the first drops of rain herald the time of the heavenly deluge." Transported with joy, intoxicated by this wel­ come prophecy, the Red-King's royal antennre stiffened like rods of steel, his thousand eye-prisms flashed fire and his warlike mandibles snapped viciously in anticipation of his triumph. And indeed the prediction of his counsellor would have come true, had the crafty leaders of the Black and Brown.Ants not combined the reasoning and schem­ ing energies of their enormous brains, and had not evolved plans the execution of which was bound to spell destruction and death to the hope and ambition of the Red Monarch ! When the great military pageant in the very country of the enemy was over and the indomitable troops had filed past their puissant lord-at their 215 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL head the celebrated band of gaster-drummers and stridulary raspers, immediately followed by " His Majesty's Own," the regiment "Sacred Berry Shrub "-when millions of armour-clad bodies had reflected the brilliancy of the Sacred Fire-Globe, when billions of right feelers had given the right­ angled royal salute and trillions of legs had swung in unison-when the day of splendour had waned­ the day of reckoning was at hand! King Hye-Mye, with the troops under his immedi­ ate command, marched against the Brown Army, and Hye-Lye-Dye, the "Round-Head," turned his battalions against the other enemy, the Black Host. This impetuous, comparatively young Commander experienced his first disagreeable surprise when the Enemy met him with a number of warriors which was far greater than expected. And the Black Bat­ talions which opposed his first offensive movement were by no means composed of youthful, weakly and untrained six-footers, just past the age of puparty, but of magnificently developed, fully grown, stalwart warriors. The Red Generals could not in the least imagine whence these myriads of swarthy soldiers had come, and were of course not naive enough to think that the females of the Black-Race had succeeded during the past rainy period in augmenting their ovarian capabilities to such a large extent that they were able to produce as many eggs as Black Soldiers had been killed in the terrible battles of the preceding season. It was not until much later that they extracted the secret from a Black Small-Head who had been taken prisoner of war, namely, that the multitude of 216 THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS black warriors were Uncle Szye' s soldiers of the distant Fye-Country, who had crawled across the jungle to the rescue of their Black brothers of the Greater Glade for the sole reason that in case of victory the latter could return ten times the quan­ tities of food lent to them. It is reasonable that the Red-Ants, notwithstand­ ing their valour and military training, found it impossible to gain ground against the innumerable new billions of Blacks, but, on the contrary, were forced to retreat towards the river in their rear. Now in this dangerous situation the round­ headed Hye-Lye-Dye conceived the idea of repeating the former strategical operations of his giant­ headed predecessor. His plan was to shift the mass of his army to the home-shore of the river by way of the secret tunnel, and to wait until the Black Troops were scattered along the river-front in their own country. He then intended to move his batta­ lions stealthily back through the tunnel, break suddenly forth from its various sally-ports in the rear of the enemy's scattered forces, surround them on three sides and drive them again into the river. The former Generalissimo, the giant-headed Hye­ Dye-Bye, whose senility had greatly advanced since the responsibility for his entire nation had been taken from between his antennre,· agreed to whatever the energetic and somewhat rough­ feelered new Commander-in-Chief proposed, and even felt inordinately flattered that the plan which he himself had conceived and which had turned out to be such an unprecedented success was to be adopted again. There is no doubt that the enterprising Round- 217 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Head would have succeeded in reaching his aim, if at the most inopportune moment, namely, during the subterranean retreat, the terrible news had not been received that their War-Lord, King Hye-Mye, had been routed by the Brown-Ants, and that only the Sovereign himself and an insignificant few millions of his soldiers had managed to escape death or capture. Unfortunately, the Aruwimi Chronicles are silent regarding this most important battle. At least we were unable to discover any trace whatever on the dry laurel leaves in our possession, so that with a heavy heart we are constrained to surmise that it was the history of this very struggle which it pleased the ladies of the Elm household to use as seasoning for their abominable lentil-porridge. If as faith­ ful historians, usually so sober, dryasdust chroni­ clers, we thus find ourselves in the embarrassing position of supplying this missing link of the historic chain only with the help of our imagination, we desire to make ·the solemn declaration in advance that we refuse once for all to assume a historian's responsibility for this our own effusion, and are willing to receive any authenticated historic data from any ant or any two-legged giant whatsoever which tend to rectify possible inaccuracies on our part, and fully to consider them in the following editions of our work. We acknowledge that we are unable to believe that the heroic King of Kings, Hye-Mye, was vanquished in consequence of the valour or numeri­ cal superiority of the Brown-Ants. It was due alone, we surmise, to the unpermissible savage weapon, so wholly contrary to the laws of civilised 218 THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS ant-warfare, used by the entirely uncivilised green ants of the jungle, which can have decided the battle against the Red Army. We do not doubt for a moment that the Red veterans, though most probably surprised, and at first even startled by the perfectly new, extremely disagreeable odour of their new antagonists, would not have lost their effectiveness as fighting troops, if these malodorous rowdies had not suddenly, in the midst of the battle, according to a concerted plan, squirted from their hind-quarters immense quantities of formic acid upon the enemy. This sudden acidi­ ferous bombardment caused untold billions of Red warriors to sink unconscious to the ground on the gory field of battle, so that it was child's play for the ant-savages to dispatch them one by one in spite of their own numerical inferiority. To be perfectly conscientious historians and to prevent our readers from losing their firm faith in the trustworthiness of our other records, we feel moved to repeat our statement that our account of the causes leading to the defeat of the Red King of Kings is not based upon facts which can be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt by well­ authenticated documents. They rest on mere sur­ mises, or rather on an argument logically deduced from the connection of events or on a scientific his­ toric hypothesis which we were forced to assume and advance in lieu of other indubitable historic data and unquestionable assumptions. All particulars concerning the escape of the heroic Monarch together with a few millions of his militant people are veiled in profound mystery. The records express but one historic certainty:- 219 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL from this time forth the fortune of war turned against the Red troops, which suffered one reverse after another. The tunnel under the bed of the river, the sally-ports of which the Black Hosts had never been able to discover, was soon located by a com­ pany of savage ant-scouts sent to them for this purpose by their Brown Allies, and served as an ideal passage for the corps detailed for the pursuit of the flying enemy. At the same time the Brown­ Ants and their savage auxiliaries succeeded in constructing bridges in several places across the river and in shifting the seat of war into the country of the enemy. Thus the wily calculations of the crafty Tye-Lye­ Zye and the cunning Pye-Lye-Gye proved them­ selves more than justified: their diplomatic sagacity and subtlety of judgment had overwhelmed the brutal might, rude, military superiority of the Red-Ants ! Their alliance with the savage aborigines of the jungle and the highly-civilised Black Fye-Nation of the Lesser Glade decided the war in their favour at a period when the military situation seemed utterly hopeless. But the final battle between the united Armies of the Allied and Associated Brown, Black, Yellow and Green Ants against the exhausted Red Veterans of the valiant King of Kings was the most terrible encounter of them all. The faithful Aruwimi Ant­ Chroniclers report that before this butchery began the strategic concentration of the troops took fully nine days and the battle itself seemed to be inter­ minable. Never before did ants fight against one another with greater fury and more intense hatred in their 220 THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS myrmecean hearts than during this awful struggle, which Ant-Chroniclers justly call " the battle of battles." As the bloody days passed, the number of Red warriors gradually dwindled, while the Black and Brown enemy received new reinforce­ ments every day. Although the Red-Ants clearly realised that their situation was hopeless and the final outcome of the battle was bound to be utter defeat, there was no individual among them, neither King, nor Big-Head, nor lowly Small-Head who turned his back upon the multitude of enemies. Planting his six feet firmly upon the ground, each Red Hero, preferring a soldier's death to a coward's safety in flight, fought with the courage of despair, ever faithful to the military reputation of his proud, noble race. Thus Hye-Mye too, the most puissant monarch of his generation, the most heroic soldier amongst the heroes of that greatest of all ages, died on the field of battle. Had he turned a willing ear to the wise counsel of his military advisers, who sought to save the life of their glorious Lord and Master at any price, had he bathed his royal body-as their spies were wont to do-first ~n the juice of a black berry, then in the gore of a few of his dead Black enemies, he would undoubtedly have succeeded in escaping to the fastnesses of the primeval forest and in finding safe shelter in the wigwam of some neutral tribe of savage ants, for in both colour and odour he would have been taken for a bona fide black ant. But no matter how agonisingly the feelers of his faithful retainers besought him, the Red War­ Lord held fast to his most aristocratic royal opinion that rolling his anointed body in the blood of a 221 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL foreign ant, and bathing it in the juice of an inky­ black berry, was unworthy of a Great-King, the "King of Kings," and insisted on dying a glorious death on the field of honour. Plunging into the thickest of the fight he wrestled and scuffled and bit like a demon until his very breath gave out, and was not overpowered even by the million-fold odds before he had decapitated many thousands of Black and Brown Ants. After his devoted body­ guard, finally his hoary Paladin also, the giant­ headed Hye-Dye-Bye, and the Commander-in­ Chief, the round-headed Hye-Lye-Dye, had fallen as prey to the mandibles of the implacable enemies, hundreds of Black and Brown warriors, after many unsuccessful attempts, succeeded in pinning the Great King's six feet to the ground so that the unfortunate victim of numerical superiority could not budge the fraction of an inch. Thereupon a file of savage gunmen turned their hinder parts upon the helpless victim, and fired a noisome charge from their formic-acid cannon into his regal coun­ tenance so that the dastard stench benumbed his royal spirit. As soon as the absolute impotence of this most feared of all enemies could no longer be doubted, the Commanders-in-Chief of the Allied Ant-Armies, the crafty Tye-Lye-Zye, the wily Pye-Lye-Gye and good old Uncle Szye, proceeded to give him the coup de grace. Leaping upon the head and shoulders of their helpless arch-enemy, they hacked the war-sharpened shears of their powerful mandibles into his helpless neck and pulled and tore and sawed until the gigantic head rolled into the dust. A few convulsive movements of the royal body, a few pitiful twitches, and the Red 222 THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS King of Kings was no more. But his lofty, ambi­ tious soul took instant flight to the radiant, gor­ geously luminous kingdom of the All-Mother of all Myrmeceans, the Giant-Ant, the praises of which he, Hye-Mye, had sung so fervently all his life. Thus died King Hye-Mye, the Six Million Nine Hundred and Fifty-Three Thousandth of his name, the most powerful, but also the unwisest and most infatuated of all the sovereigns who ever ruled over the ancient realm of the Red-Ants. If he too had been in the possession of the wondrously exact map, representing the entire World, and authenti­ cated by an Ant-Notary-Public, which we were able to submit to our two-legged readers, he might perhaps have refrained from bringing down upon the world of the ants this terrible, abominable war which proved the utter downfall of his people and the loss of his life and throne. For one glance at this admirable map would have convinced him surely that, by reason of the most unfavourable geographic situation of his country, and in conse­ quence of the gigantic multitude of hostile nations surrounding it on all sides, he was bound to lose the war sooner or later in spite of all the magnificent warlike qualities of himself and his people. Unfor­ tunately, the science of geography had received until then a most stepmotherly treatment in the nurseries of the Aruwimi Ants, so that the fact of King Hye-Mye's miscalculations, based as it was solely on his ignorance of the entire state of affairs, should not lead us to doubt the great King's general intelligence and the superior character of his royal mentality. This circumstance doubtless contributes much to the exculpation of the unfortunate King 223 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL of Kings, and permits us to veil his frivolous, evil­ bearing behaviour with the cloak of Christian charity.

The death of the heroic Hye-Mye finally decided the Great War. Every one naturally expected that the victors, according to pristine ant-usage, would butcher their Red enemies without mercy, and exterminate the entire hated race to the last egg. We do not doubt that this process of extirpation would have proceeded according to programme, had not a most surprising, wonderful event happened, the possibility of which no one could have surmised or included within his calcula­ tions. This event not only saved the Red Race from total destruction, but for ever changed the entire political and social life of the Aruwimi Ants. Our two concluding chapters are entrusted with the honourable task of reporting concerning this most memorable event and its permanent effect upon the civilisation of the six-footed people of the Aruwimi World·.

224 CHAPTER XXII

THE SUPER-ANT HORTLY before the breaking-out of the Great SWar the following extraordinary event took place in the country of the Pye-Nation of the Black­ Ants. On a beautiful summer day a big-headed Lord­ Ant of that enlightened race, unconsciously wander­ ing farther along the interminable avenue of the primeval forest to the north of his colonial home, suddenly realised that he had lost his way. Desiring to take his bearings, he proceeded to climb to the top of an enormous tree without being in the least aware of having chosen that very mystic monarch of the forest upon whose lofty pinnacle the wise Mye-Mye, the saintly Kye-Kye, the valiant Pye-Pye, and finally the celebrated Rev. Kye-Pszye, that most courageous fat-bellied Holy-Ant, had received their super-arboreal revelations. No sooner had our friend arrived at the top than he, too, felt the celestial fire course through his veins and world­ stirring ideas take root in the receptive tissues of his brain. " Since the memorable tree-climbing of my great ancestor, the valiant Pye-Pye," the youthful Black Big-Head, Pye-Kszye, mused, suddenly realis­ ing the sacredness of the place, " no other Lord­ Ant has climbed to this lofty height so near to the refulgence of the Giant-Ant. Perhaps not even a Holy-Ant has visited this holiest of tree-tops since the day when that courageous and devout Reverend Kye-Pszye discovered here the sacred fraud of the primogenitor of his own caste and, after his won~ 225 p THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL derful flight to the bosom of Mother Earth, made known the Sacred Name of our Six-Footed All­ Mother to all antkind. Since that time the enor-· mous bellies of the Holy-Ants lost their enormity, and the holy nimbus of their presence all its halo until, forced to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, they became as lean as any Small-Head. We Lord-Ants, we privileged Big-Heads alone do not work. The very enormity of our pates lifts us high above all other antkind. We do not work, but we-fight ! Our powerful, warlike mandibles are our instruments of life. We be the rulers, the masters of all the small-headed rabble. We be the chosen--. " A flash of red-hot lightning, a ray from the ful­ minant Globe of Fire suddenly pierced the seething brain of the noble Pye-Kszye. His head glowed like the sacred Fire-Globe when about to seek its subar boreal sleeping-chamber. " Oh, by the shade of my ancestor Pye-Pye ! " he exclaimed, transported with -a feeling new and strange, " what hyper-myrmecean light is dawning in my soul ! How perfectly unfair it seemeth that yon poor Small-Heads must slave and drudge, not for their own sustenance, but for us selfish big­ headed drones! Have we Big-Heads not refrained from work for the sole reason of protecting the Small-Heads against evil-minded stranger ants and vicious beetles whose murderous appetites ever threatened their lives and the liberty of our larvre ? We Big-Heads did not work-we fought; but, the Small-Heads never fought, but always worked. This was, perhaps, quite proper and fair under the old order of things. But the times have changed 226 THE SUPER-ANT sadly: the Great-King of the Reds is threatening to exterminate our race and we are forced to imitate his example of training the Small-Heads for war. The poor creatures must now fight as well as work while we eschew work as heretofore, and devote our lives solely to battle and bloodshed! Is such an arrangement not unfair and nonsensical? - I think the best course will be to consult one of these mendicant Holy-Ants. Their acquaintance with the Holy Foot-Tracings is so intimate that they will be able to find for me that crawled passage which will shed light on this obscure mystery, and will dispel the gloom of torturing doubt." Wholly engrossed by such extraordinary and dangerous thoughts the big-headed Pye-Kszye slowly crawled down from the lofty pinnacle of the Sacred Tree into the labyrinth of moss-clad rootlets of the forest. His mind was now as clear as the melted virgin snow of the sacred Kilimand­ j aro. Straight as a die he whisked off towards his home and, just at the moment when he crossed the borderland of his country, he happened upon an itinerant Holy-Ant who for the entire contents of a living pot of honey gladly obliged the big-headed Crresus, whose immense wealth was proverbial throughout the Aruwimi country. Taking him next day to his near-by hermitage, situated in the ruins of a Sacred Nest, the Reverend Six-Footer, eager to please his powerful client, zealously ran­ sacked the gigantic piles of dusty laurel leaves with the precious pelmatograms which no ant-prism had beheld for ever so many Fire-Globe seasons until he found those very documents which treated of the miraculous tree-climbing and the heroic 227 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL deeds of the celebrated valiant Pye-Pye. How his feelers would have dropped in sadness if he had foreseen the terrible consequences of his deed ! How his body would have writhed in agony, if he had known what effect this knowledge of the true history of the "great" Pye-Pye would have upon the descendant in the millionth degree of that unscrupulous six-foot pad! The aristocratic Pye-Kszye, at first feeling most uncomfortable in the mud-plastered and unsavoury cell of the honest ci-devant "Fat-Belly," soon . forgot the meanness of his surroundings when he observed the diligence with which the recluse drew one precious leaf-document after another to the light of day from the innermost recesses of the ruinous sacred edifice. Soon the sacred records pertaining to the period of his ancestor Pye-Pye were neatly piled up at his feet, and the Holy-Ant proceeded to feeler their purport with unction and impressive pathos. The reading proved of such surpassing interest that Pye-Kszye lost all track of time and dwelt in the miserable habitation during an entire rainy season, in serene companion­ ship with the outcast Holy-Ant, until all the par­ ticulars of his ancestor's history were deeply engrafted in his mind. Two immense honey-pots were · emptied, the emaciated Holy-Ant himself became an enormous Honey-Pot, a Fat-Belly of the ancient pattern, and the lordly Pye-Kszye became emaciated before the reader of the Chronicle feelered the last hieroglyphic on the life and charac­ ter of the " great " Pye-Pye. When the venerable calybite had finished his reading of the Sacred Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics the 228 THE SUPER-ANT indignation of the big-headed Pye-Kszye knew no bounds. He rose to his full height, stood erect on his hind legs, and his antennre, dropping their cultured reserve, lashed the air with the following bitter accusation and arraignment :- " By the filth of the thrice cursed Giant-Dung­ Beetle, the Aruwimi World shaketh at the very foundations! My renowned, illustrious ancestor, the great Pye-Pye, was no hero, no epoch-making champion of civilisation, but a champion liar, a mean brigand, a base bandit, a low blackguard, an abominable scoundrel, a vile wretch ! We miserable Big-Heads, we so-called Lord-Ants, have robbed and plundered, have enslaved our small-headed brothers since the day of yon precious Pye-Pye! We callous Big-Heads have applied the torture to these simple-minded, devout, and faithful Workers, have thrown dust into the artless prisms of their eyes, and have benumbed their narrow intellect by granting them the meaningless boon of trilling the eighth segment of their left instead as of yore the third segment of their right feelers! We have given them liberty only in name, but we have enslaved them more than ever! Appalling injustice, atrocious outrage! How could our Six­ Footed Creator, how could the dazzling feelers of the Sacred Tye-Vye-Nye, our Giant-Mother, keep silent in the face of such a dastardly deed? Or, is it possible that She too, the All-Mother, throned in the immeasurable heights of the resplendent ether, that She too is a clever invention, a myth, a lie? Does the beautiful belief in Her holy promise too only hide some infamy ? " The high-minded indignation of the big-headed 229 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Pye-Kszye was unbounded. When the holy Six­ Footer, though extremely short of breath by reason of his plenitude of sweet nectar, sought to appease the fury of his patron by means of a few well-turned, unctuous phrases, as:-" Such is the Sacred Will of the Holy Giant-Queen," the enraged Big-Head took him by the neck and hurled him against the corner-stone of the cell with such terrific force that the poor sweet-flavoured ecclesiastic burst into a thousand fragments, and the precious honey bespat­ tered the rocky wall with a million of meaningless hieroglyphics ! The explosion of the Reverend Honey-Pot did not sting the great Pye-Kszye with remorse. Fate had entrusted him with too important a mission, so that the fragments of a burst ant-glutton could not interest him, nor the sweetness of the spilled honey tempt him. As fast as his six legs could carry him he ran to the field where his hundreds of thousands of small-headed labourers worked the veneer off their mandibles gathering edible seeds for their lord and master, drew them up in a gigantic semicircle, and feelered them the following masterly oration:- " 0 ye upright Workers, my honest, diligent small-headed Friends and Brothers! The terrible news has just been imparted to me that not by the sacred will of the Giant-Ant did I become your master, a Big-Head, but only through the deception of my great ancestor, the so-called valiant Pye-Pye, who was an impostor, a bandit, a miscreant. Seek­ ing a life of luxury and ease, this unscrupulous black­ leg and his wanton confederates assaulted your diligent straightforward forebears, robbed them of 230 THE SUPER-ANT the food which they had gathered with the sweat of their brows, and led them into slavery. Not being satisfied with this spoil, they afterwards ldd­ napped their innocent babes, the sweet larvre, and trained them as their bondservants. I, the mighty Lord-Ant, am a descendant of those lazy bandits; you, however, my beloved brethren, you down­ trodden workers, are sprung from that ancient race of small-headed unfortunates. The sacred leaf-records further revealed to me that in times of yore all ants of the world were dowered with heads of equal size. The heads of us, lazy Lord-Ants, grew to such enormous proportions not by the sacred will of the Giant-Ant, but through our own insufferable indolence and self-conceit, while your heads in consequence of your terrible privations and your ceaseless hard labours became more and more stunted until they dwarfed to mere poppy­ seeds. This rascality of my ancestor and the unjust consequences make me utterly sad, and I am honestly ashamed of sharing the blood of that rascal Pye-Pye. Therefore I solemnly declare that in future I shall not follow in the footsteps of my ancestors. I shall be an honest, fair-minded ant and shall do my myrmecean best to make good the evil Pye-Pye has perpetrated and his descend­ ants have continued to this day. Know ye there­ fore, my dearly beloved, new-found Brothers, that this giant meadow and all the immense treasures of precious seeds and nectar-bearing blossoms no longer call me owner, but belong to you. Hence­ forth I shall labour in your midst with honest zeal and unremitting diligence, for a mendicant Holy­ Ant, a devout and learned friar,-now, alas, defunct ! 231 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL -has taught me that the great Mye-Mye, the holy law-giver of all the ants of the world, in ancient times brought down the eternal law of our Six­ Footed All-Mother from the top of the Tree of Mystery, according to which all Myrmeceans what­ soever must work by the sweat of their brow, and only the queens are exempt by reason of their great service to the race." The small-headed audience, blunted as it was in mind and body through thousands of reons of slavery and over-indulgence in Sacred-Berry-Juice, could not fathom in the least the meaning of their generous master's words. But, when they observed that he went to work with a right good will and lent zealous mandibles to the harvesting of an enormous fruit­ seed, their Lilliputian brains interpreted this unpre­ cedented action as demonstrating-their lord's insanity ! The extraordinary case could not be explained in any other way ! A Big-Head, a great Lord-Ant, with sound ant-reason-so they reasoned -could never dream of forgetting his dignity so far as to join the field-labour of humble Small­ Heads ! Least of all for the reason that he feels ashamed of his robber-ancestors, for whose actions, after all, he could not be made responsible! The news regarding the strange action of the big-headed Pye-Kszye soon spread throughout the whole Glade. All ants discussed it as an unexplain­ able, marvellous thing, that a Lord-Ant in the country of the Pye-Nation had lost his reason in an unusual, unheard of, new way: "he has a big head and still wants to work! " This great wonder, this problematical event, so wholly inexplicable from the standpoint of natural 232 THE SUPER-ANT history and empiric ant-psychology, was investi­ gated and befeelered by the thousands of nose­ poking ant-scholars without the least vestige of success; the only fact which remained was that in the country of the Pye-Nation, of the race of Black-Ants, a Big-Head had made up his mind to forget his big head, and actually worked in the midst of his Small-Heads, and tried to outdo them in sweating for the daily bread, only and solely for the reason that his ancestors, ages and ages ago, had robbed the larvre of the stranger-ants. At first the big-headed ants considered the affair merely a source of merriment. They guffawed about it the livelong day, and feelered and trilled such vigorous jokes that numbers of them were obliged to carry their tired antennre in a grass-sling for days at a time, else they would have lost the power of speech for good. Gradually, however, they could not but realise that the whim of their big-headed brother was followed by consequences which were by no means a joking matter: "Pye-Kszye may have got maggots in his brain, but-by the Sacred Tree !-these maggots beget veritable dung-beetles in the poppy­ seed-heads of the small-headed rabble!" For the working ants grew unsettled indeed, and fidgety, and showed signs of turbulent agitation. Every­ where one could see them putting their tiny heads together and excitedly feeler their difference of opinion on the question whether the Big-Head Pye­ Kszye was actually insane, or whether this inter­ pretation of his original action was but the inven­ tion of his slanderers. Neither could they agree on the important question whether it corresponded 233 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL to justice and equity that an ant, endowed with two feelers and six legs like any other ant, but cursed with a small head, should slave for other ants only because, by the merest chance, the latter had crawled from their cocoons with a larger head. There were some workers, however, whose heads through their continuous over-indulgence in the juice of the Sacred-Berry shrivelled up to almost microscopic diminutiveness, so that their reason was completely obscured, who asserted that this "big-head-small-head" social system was the very essence of justice, and that it would be sacrilege to oppose it in any way. "The fields belong to the Big-Heads," they exclaimed, "consequently whatever grows on them is their property ! '' Other small-headed ants, however, began to debate on this question : "Why, by the Giant-Dung­ Beetle, should the fields belong to them? " they asked. " What has the size of the head to do with the size of one's property anyway? " "Because-because," the degenerate yokels an­ swered, "the All-Mother Herself gave them the land when She created us Six-Footers after Her own likeness ! " " The All-Mother ? " the more enlightened Small­ Heads exclaimed. "Were any of you shrivel­ heads present when She shaped our bodies, when She gave us all six legs, b.ut some of us small heads and others large pates, some of us dull feelers and others shining antennre,-when She made most of us slaves and a few of us masters? The Giant-Ant ! Has any of you muddy myrmeceans ever actually seen Her? Has any six-footed being ever seen Her? " 234 THE SUPER-ANT " Surely," the others promptly replied ; " the wise Mye-Mye, the holy Kye-Kye, and many others." Thus the agitated Small-Heads throughout the entire Aruwimi Country debated and quarrelled when they learned that the Big-Head Pye-Kszye worked with his small-headed labourers in the fields and distributed all his wealth of cows, honey-pots, grains and mushrooms among them. Soon the big-headed Lord-Ants were terror­ smitten when they observed that their multitudes of Small-Heads dropped their former humility, and that the cases of insubordination grew more and more numerous every day. Here and there the insignificant rabble even proceeded to open rebellion, refused to work and insolently demanded of their masters that they should minutely follow Pye­ Kszye's example, bow their own proud necks to the yoke of daily labour and distribute the treasures of their store-houses among their people. Many of the turbulent elements did not wait for their lords' acquiescence, but summarily helped them­ selves and drew the daily harvests to their own humble shallow nests. The Lord-Ants made short work with such rebels. They simply called gangs of savage rowdies, native yellow six-footers from their forest-colonies, to the rescue, and ordered them to turn their hinder-guns upon the groups of seditious Small-Heads. Wherever the latter refused to disperse and go to work, the savage artillerists crouched low and let fly at the vulgar herd. The stinking formic acid soon brought them to reason ! Thus the optimism of the Big-Heads again gained the ascendancy and led them to believe that, if only that dotty Pye-Kszye, the originator of all 235 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL this insanity, were removed from the world, peace and order would ensue automatically. Conse­ quently, they sought to catch him unawares and wring his neck. · But no matter what devilish devices they invented and applied, they could not catch their hated big-headed brother. Hired assas­ sins, robust, giant-headed, iron-mandibled bravoes, savage acid-squirters, professional head-snappers and feeler-nippers lay in wait for the luckless Pye­ Kszye, behind rocklets, on grass-blades, in the gloomy defiles between the tufts of moss,-or even feigned mortal wounds, or death; but the disturber of the peace, Pye-Kszye, could not be sent to the Kingdom of the Giant-Queen ! The small-headed workers loved their former master and protected him with the utmost zeal and devotion, and it was only to their continuous effort that Pye-Kszye finally succeeded in escaping from his home and country when the machinations of his enemies became unbearable and the pitfalls set for him all too dangerous. The just-minded Big-Head knew very well that to whatever country of the Aruwimi Glade he might tum, he would be unable to find safe refuge in any of them, for the big-headed Lord-Ants of all these civilised nations hated him and sought his death. Thus he turned the points of his man­ dibles towards the great. primeval forest, hoping to find a sanctuary behind the multifold curtain of its foliage. After a tortuous journey through the interminable labyrinth of rootlets, over grass­ blade bridges spanning dark-watered pools many inches in width, climbing many slippery pebble­ mountains of gigantic height, escaping only through 236 THE SUPER-ANT the gracious guidance of the Giant-Ant the countless dangers of the wilderness, the sudden attack of emerald scarabs, of coleopteral monsters with falchion-curved mandibles, the ponderous rush of the voracious ant-bear, or the vicious snap of the tamandua, after almost losing hope a dozen times a day, with feelers drooping low in dejection, with legs aching with excruciating pain and eye-prisms suffused with tears-he suddenly happened upon a tiny clearing dotted here and there with mud-nests of aboriginal blue ants. The evil-smelling savages received the thoroughly exhausted Big-Head with the greatest kindness. As all of them had heads equal in size, and had never in their lives beheld a Six-Footer with such a mountain of a head, they squinted their thousand prisms at Pye-Kszye from all directions and struck the ground with their stomachs with such intensity of delight that the poor refugee began to doubt whether, after all, death was not to be preferred. This exhibition of hilarious amusement was, however, the only act of discourtesy against the stranger, and scarcely could mar the exemplary hospitality of the blue myrmeceans of the jungle towards their civilised cousin. Pye-Kszye was safe. But notwithstanding the kindness showered upon him by his wild hosts, an unutterable sadness grasped his soul. Trembling lest his indefatigable enemies should discover his hiding-place, and mourning over the failure of his Giant-Ant-inspired mission, namely, the reforma­ tion of the social system of Aruwimi, he spent his days crawling aimlessly about the moss-hillocks of his new home. 237 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL After the big-headed ants of the Aruwimi Country had got rid of Pye-Kszye, order and obedience were soon re-established among the Small-Heads. But it was only an apparent calm-the lava of unrest and dissatisfaction would not grow cold, and below this seemingly safe covering the volcano of open mutiny and organised rebellion gathered the smoul­ dering heat for the coming eruption! The Big­ Heads of all the Aruwimi Nations organised a great propaganda of enlightenment among their small-headed subjects. They sought to convince them that the Lord-Ant Pye-Kszye was hopelessly insane, and indeed with a new kind of insanity, far more dangerous and absolutely incurable, which, not satisfied with the ordinary nest-circling monomania, drove the patient to commit the crime of working, although a Big-Head, and of continually feelering nonsensical fairy-tales. "The valiant Pye-Pye, whose memory yon miscreant Big-Head besmirched,"-so the Lord­ Ants assured their Small-Heads-" was anything but a cheat and a robber; he was the most glorious hero and the most valiant Big-Head of all times! Every Big-Head should bow low, every Small­ Head ought to tremble with an ecstasy of admira­ tion and gratitude at the mere mention of his illustrious name ! " Other Lord-Ants even went to the length of assuring their simple-minded dependents that Pye­ Kszye himself had premeditated murder and robbery, that he had feigned insanity for the purpose of throwing dust in the prisms of his fellow Big­ Heads, whom he desired to deprive of their ancestral estates and finally to exterminate throughout the 238 THE SUPER-ANT entire Glade. "This arch-fiend," so they said, "aspired to be the only Big-Head of the whole world and to fling the myriads of Small-Heads for his own sole benefit into such abject slavery that they would again be addressed by the insulting trills on the third segment of their right feelers! '' But in vain were all wiles and artifices of the Big-Heads; the multitude of small-headed workers tore the veil of ignorance, the pall of fear, from their quintillion of eye-prisms. In the innermost sanc­ tuary of their souls the spirit of unrest, of rebellion, of liberation fanned the smouldering fire into an ever-growing flame. They thought all the live­ long day of the great injustice, the horrible crime, committed against their forebears from times immemorable. They judged truly that the big­ headed Pye-Kszye had discovered the great secret by mere chance, and from the goodness of his heart desired to restore the only true and just law of the wise Mye-Mye, which bid all ants to work by the sweat of their brow until their myrmecean souls were transplanted into the scintillating glory of the realm of the Giant-Ant. But alas ! The brains of the Small-Heads were tiny, and their courage was still more tiny! The terrible mandibles of the Big-Heads, the cold, haughty stare from their thousand eye-prisms, their enormous pates, the imperious flourish of their feelers and, above all, the formic-acid guns of the savage ruffians in their pay, frightened them into submission. Only at night, when the light from the Sacred Fire-Globe could not reveal their seditious feeler-movements and the gleam of hope in their eyes, they collected at secret places and softly 239 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL trilled their rebellious thoughts to one another. Those few unfortunate Small-Heads whose longing for an improvement of their situation got the better of their cowardice so that they overtly attempted acts of rebellion, were soon disposed of by their unscrupulous masters. As a special warning to the whole rabble of Small-Heads the lordly henchmen bit off the heads of the offenders with their own aristocratic mandibles. No wonder that the number of Small-Heads who took part in dangerous street-demonstrations, attended seditious meetings, or lent a feeler at revolutionary propa­ ganda was not very large ; and those of them who dared to approach their masters with the insolent demand of the re-establishment of the social order of the great Mye-Mye could be counted on the segments of a single ant-leg. It was about this time that the Great War broke out.

240 CHAPTER XXIII

OVERTHROW AND RECONSTRUCTION HE great Ant-World-War was ended, and T the victors set out to exterminate the hated enemy throughout the Aruwimi Glade, and to devour the conquered, helpless enemy to the last egg. There was not a Six-Footer who was not convinced that the Brown and Black Nations would succeed in carrying out their design without great trouble; for with the death of the heroic King of Kings, Hye-Mye, the entire realm of the Red­ Ants fell into the mandibles of the victors. The horrible wholesale butchery had begun already, when the Black Ant-Protector, Pye-Lye­ Gye, received a most unwelcome news from home. The countless Small-Heads who had not been sent to war, but were detailed for home-duty of various kinds, had risen in rebellion against their masters, had overturned the government, and were murdering mercilessly the Big-Heads wherever they could find them ! The terrible spirit of the Giant-Dung-Beetle had entered their souls ! . The smouldering fire had started into a mighty flame and had burst the bonds of injustice and slavery! Let the expressive hieroglyphics of the Elm Ant­ Chronicles describe this greatest of all events:- One day Pye-Kszye, the Black Lord-Ant, who had been driven from his country, crouched dis­ consolate at the edge of a gloomy pool in the wilder­ ness of the virgin-forest. Gazing sadly at the reflection of his emaciated body in the water, he 241 Q THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL rehearsed in his mind the events of the past, his attempt at re-establishing justice, his terrible failure, his flight, and the fearful tortures of his journey through the jungle. Hearing a rustling among the dead leaves behind him, he instantly turned his head, but only with weary indifference, for life had lost all charms and he would have welcomed sudden

"Hail Ar'wimia, happy land, Firm in faithful Small-Heads' hand! Big-Heads roll' d into the dust, 4"nd their pow'r fore'er is burst! We be lords and we be masters, Joyfully we strike our gasters On the sacred fertile soil, Rid forever of our toil ! Wave your feelers, Small-Heads all, Lords of your ancestral hall ! ''

In order that the two-legged reader may not draw the erroneous conclusion that this stirring song represents the very pinnacle of poetical genius ever climbed by ant-minstrel, we take the liberty of reminding him again that it was merely a child of the momentary enthusiasm of an imperfectly educated non-com, who could not be expected to give birth to verses of perfect form and epoch­ making purport. Instead of attacking the army of small-headed rebels under the command of the big-headed Libera­ tor Pye-Kszye, the Small-Heads of the front-army turned against their own leader and his big-headed 252 OVERTHROW AND RECONSTRUCTION officers. They, too, readily recognised Pye-Kszye as their Grand-Ant-Protector, and indeed according to the most ancient law of Mye-Mye, which pledged the myrmecean people to obey the orders and follow the counsels of the most diligent ant of the common tribal nest. And not even the smallest­ headed Small-Head among them doubted for a moment that their new supreme chief, in spite of his big head, beat every other ant whatsoever in zeal and excellence of work. After these rebellious front-soldiers had murdered the crafty Pye-Lye-Gye, and had bitten off the heads of the entire corps of big-headed officers, they joined Pye-Kszye's armies of Ant-Workers and turned their united forces against the neighbouring realm of the Brown Race. Their first object of attack was the Tye-Nation, whose Small-Heads they forced to follow their example, to murder their King and Big-Heads, to rebuild the ancient ruined nest, and to re-establish the venerable laws of Mye-Mye. In this manner the rebellion of the big-headed Pye-Kszye spread from race to race, from nation to nation until the great Ant-World-War grew into a still greater Ant-WorH-Revolution, which finally leapt across the expanse of jungle into the Lesser Glade. Everywhere the Small-Heads received the glad tidings with extreme joy, and butchered~ their big-headed Lord-Ants without mercy. Their bloody undertaking proved a grand success, for not only were the Small-Heads greatly superior in numbers to the Big-Heads, but they were experts in that tactical manceuvre taught to them by their big-headed officers themselves by means of which 253 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL a certain number of Small-Heads easily disposed of a Big-Head. What the Small-Heads had learned from their big-headed superiors in times of peace, and in which .they had gained such wonderful proficiency in times of war, they now applied against their severe instructors. From eight to ten Small­ Heads attacked a Big-Head, held on to his feet and feelers, thus depriving him of his power of locomo­ tion and speech, while from two to three small­ headed Six-Footers leapt upon his neck and bit off his big head. When the formerly very patient and tender-hearted Small-Heads learned in what manner the ancestors of these big-headed miscreants had, in times of yore, murdered their forebears and enslaved their innocent defenceless larvre, their fury grew so passing great that they did not spare a single Big-Head, but butchered with cold blood even the big-headed youths of tender months! In their paroxysm of rage they even proposed to destroy the eggs of their foes and devour their larvre and pupre, but the new Ant-Protector, Pye­ Kszye, drew the line at such wholesale infanticide. "The babes and sucklings are taboo!" the great rebel ruled. "They must be taught to work as soon as they stand on their six legs ; then the habit of indolence will never grow on them. They will work as diligently as yourselves, and thus they will clear the blood-guilt of their robber-ancestors who forced their own brothers under their mandibles, and lived a life of luxurious ease while the Small­ Heads slaved for them."

254 CHAPTER XXIV

CONCLUSION HUS the most ancient laws of Mye-Mye were T restored throughout the entire Aruwimi Glade, -and the Elm Ant-Foot-Hieroglyphics are a true record! Thus also we are not surprised that Professor Armstrong, the celebrated Scotch Formicologist and African Traveller, who attempted to refute our views on " The Customs and Mode of Life of The Aruwimi Ants," published in the " British Entomo­ logical Review" in 1913, could find neither Holy­ Ants nor Lord-Ants in the Aruwimi Forest He could find there only one kind of ants of which every single individual worked incessantly, lived a sensible and moderate life, was not addicted to the debauching habit of getting drunk on the juice of the Sacred Berry, but quenched its thirst by pure dew-drops from the calyx of some virgin flower, and, above all, vied with its fellows in high-minded rivalry to gather a fair sufficiency of food for the period of rain, and to store it in one common granary of gigantic proportions. But the greatest event which ever took place in the history of the Ant-Race, and of which that famous African Traveller could discover no trace, was that world-shaking revolution of the Big­ Head Pye-Kszye which untold millions of years before our era overthrew the dominion of the big­ headed Lord-Ants throughout the entire Aruwimi Glade, and finally led to the re-establishment of the great laws of Mye-Mye, and of those ancient incomplex and sensible ant-customs which the Six- 255 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Footed All-Mother, the Sacred Giant-Queen-Ant, Tye-Vye-Nye Herself, had prescribed when She created all Myrmeceans after Her own likeness. Even though there still remain here and there in the world ants of another, a lower calibre, which sustain life through the exertions of other ant's and live in undeserved luxury and ease, they are-as we are informed-a decadent race and doomed to extinction. At any rate, no doubt can arise in the minds of either two-legged or six-legged beings that the history of the Aruwimi Ants teaches a most useful lesson to those few still existing degenerate blood­ relations, and no one can be hard-hearted enough not to hope that the great truth brought down from the lofty top of the Sacred Tree and promulgated by the common ancestor of all ants, the wise Giant-Ant­ Inspired Mye-Mye, may some time enter their strayed souls and dwell therein for ever. But this Great Truth of Mye-Mye reads :- THE ONLY CLEAR TITLE TO LIFE IS LABOUR!! This is our final answer in this scientific dispute concerning the civilisation and culture among the Aruwimi Ants, and with a great hope and a light heart we leave the final judgment on the credibility of our account to the unprejudiced reader. The history of the Aruwimi Ants is herewith concluded, - and our readers, both laymen and expert scholars, will take a deep breath of relief. NOTES ON THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE ANTS

R

Notes On the Social Life of the An ts 1 Compiled with the kind assistance of MISS E. L. CHEESMAN, F.Z.S., F.E.S., Curator of Insects to the ,, Zoological Society of London ; and revised by MR. HORACE DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S., Late Vice­ President of the Entomological Society of London, etc., etc.

r. Page 21. RACES OF ANTS. Some 6,000 species of ants have been recorded. The countries richest in species being Africa, South America and all tropical countries. In Europe the

1 LITERATURE :- (Some LeadingWorksonAnts and Social Life among Insects): H. DONISTHORPE: British Ants: Their Life-History and Classification. 1915. J. LUBBOCK: Ants, Bees and Wasps. 1882. w. M. WHEELER: Ants, Their Structure, Development and Behaviour. 19ro. w. M. WHEELER: Social Life among the Insects. 1923. A. FOREL: Ants and some other Insects. An Inquiry into the Psychic Powers of these Animals. Transl. by W. M. Wheeler. 1896. A. FOREL: The Senses of Insects. Transl. by Macleod Yearsley. 1908. P. HUBER: The Natural History of Ants. Transl. by T. R. Johnson. 1920. E. WASMANN : Comparative Studies in the Psychology of Ants and of Higher Animals. 1905. J. H. FABRE: Social Life in the Insect World. 1912.-Insect Adventures. 1912.-The Life and Love of the Insects. 19u.-Etc., etc. A. FOREL: Les Fourmis de la Suisse. 1874. A. FOREL: Le Monde social des Fourmis du Globe, compare a celui de l'homme. 5 volumes. 1. Genese, Formes, Anatomie, Classification, Geographie, Fossiles. · 1921. 259 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL total number of species is comparatively few, being less than fifty. The colour varies from light yellow to jet black ; some metallic species occur ; also blue, green, etc. Their size varies between a few millimetres to 3 centimetres (r! inches), even among members of .. the same colony. In the Ethiopian Carebara vidua, for instance, the queen is several thousand times as large as the worker, so that when the young queen leaves the parental nest to take her nuptial flight, several workers attached by their mandibles to her legs are carried by her, in order to be helped by them in rearing her first brood.

2. Page 27. THEIR FORESIGHT. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many scientists doubted whether ants really store up their food and thus make provision · for the inclement weather. The ancients, however, were quite convinced of it. An oft-quoted saying of KING SOLOMON bids men learn wisdom from the

2. Sensations, Physiologie, Fourmis et Plantes, Rotes, Parasites, Nids. 1922. 3. Appareils d'observation Fondation des Fourmilieres. Moeurs a l'interieur des Nids. Betail. J ardins. Fourmis Parasites. 1922. 4. Alliances et Guerres. Parabiose. Lestobiose. · Es­ clavagisme. 1923. 5-. Moeurs specialisees. Epilogue. 1923. A. ESPINAS : Des Societes A nimales. Etude de Psychologie Comparee. 1877. E. ANDRE: Les Fourmis. 1885. c. EMERY: La vita delle Formiche. 1916. E. WASMANN: Diepsychischen Fiihigkeitender Ameisen. 1909. ESCHERICH: Die Ameise. Schilderung ihrer Lebensweise. 1917. w. MARSHALL : Das Leben und Treiben der A meisen. 1889. K. SAJO: Krieg und Frieden im Ameisenstaat. 1908. 260 NOTES. ants. "They have no leaders or teachers, yet they gather in summer provision for winter." In a comedy of PLAUTUS, "Trinummus," one of the actors, when asked what he had done with money entrusted to him, answers" Gold vanishes as quickly as ants' corn." ARISTOTLE, VIRGIL, HORACE l and PLINY held a similar view of the ants. This was also the opinion of later times ; for instance, Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages, in the commentaries of the Tal­ mud, dispute, from the juridic standpoint, the question whether the grain gathered by the ants and found in their nests becomes the property of the owner of the field, or belongs to the gleaner who finds it, and decide the question in favour of the latter. "The rights of the ants," as LUBBOC jestingly remarks, "they have forgotten to con sider." This belief, however, in the ants' foresight and hoarding their food wavered in a remarkable fashion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Certain naturalists such as GOULD in England (1747) and HUBER in Switzerland (18ro), investi­ gating the home-life of ants, made the startling discovery that during winter no stored provision was to be found in their nests. For more than a century after this the belief in the foresight of ants were regarded as a myth and popular superstition. For example, we found in the Handbook of Zoology of the Swedish Naturalist J. BERLIN (1870) the follow-

1" Parvula nam exemplo est magni formica laboris Ore trahit quodcunque potest atque addit acervo Quern struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri." HORATIUS, Sat. I. I. .33-35. 261 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL ing remark : " The ants are a very industrious people. They carry off building material and provision to their nests ; they do not, however, store up provision for the winter. They have no need of it since they hibernate." But in the second half of the nineteenth century it happened that further research led to the astonishing con­ clusion that the ancients and the modern naturalists were both right! The Northern and Middle­ European species of ants do not make provision against the winter, while the Southern-European and tropical species store their food. Those that are found in the cold northern countries hibernate and therefore require no nourishment during the winter-time, but in those regions where the winter is mild or where the year is divided into dry and wet seasons they have need of stores for the time of want. This discovery is due to the learned Frenchman LESPES and the English naturalist MOGGRIDGE, who, as a result of their researches, the first in r866, and the latter in r873, rehabilitated the ants and reinstated them to the honourable position given them by the wise SOLOMON and the popular opinion of the ancient and middle age. (See F. w. HOPE : " Inquiries into the ground for the opinion that ants lay up stores of food for winter," Proc. Ent. Soc. r837, p. 37; " On some doubts respecting the economy of ants," Trans. Ent. Soc., r844, p. ZII.-TH. SMITH : " The Hibernation of Ants," Halifax Nat., r898, n6.) 3. Page 27. THEIR INDUSTRY. It is an undisputable fact that of all creatures, not excepting the bees, the most industrious are 262 NOTES the ants. "Formica virtutum magistra "says rightly ST. CHRYSOSTOMUS. They work from morning till night without pause and will even work right through the night when necessary. LUBBOCK, who kept artificial ant-nests in his study, made very interesting experiments and observations on this subject. One ant, which he did not allow out of his sight all day long, worked from six in the morning until quarter to ten at night without a break. The experiment was carried out in the following way. He placed an ant in the early morning outside the nest beside a saucer full of larvre. Directly the industrious little creature discovered them she began at once to take the larvre to the nest, and during the day carried home no less than 187 larvre. The scientist meanwhile completely cut off the rest of the inhabitants of the nest, so that it was impossible to call her mates to help her. Nevertheless, the brave little animal worked alone the whole day long indefatigably, doing comparatively thirty times as much work as could be accomplished by a most hard-working navvy in an eight-hour day. In another experiment LUBBOCK kept an ant shut up in a bottle for six days without food or drink. When he set her free he placed her beside a heap of larvre rather far from the nest. In such circum­ stances one could hardly expect the exhausted, starving little creature to work. But, in spite of this, the ant started work at once. She took up a larva in her mouth and carried it to the nest. There she rested half an hour while she probably refreshed herself and made her toilette ; then returned to work again and continued without a break until 263 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the task was completely :finished. (See E. BUCKING­ HAM : " Division of Labour among Ants," Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Science, Igrr, I8.)

4. Page 29. LEADERS AMONG ANTS. Initiative in an ant-colony originates, as a rule, with individual ants. A worker hitting upon an original idea which in his view is advantageous to the community, but he is unable to carry out single-handed, usually tries to persuade the fellow next in his way. If this is dull of comprehension, which is very ofte:a. the case among the working class of the ants also, the genial ant persistingly reiterates the persuasive strokes of antennre; he sometimes employs even force, by carrying the stupid or reluctant comrade in his mouth to the place of action. As soon as he has succeeded in converting one of his fellows, this and after him the third, fourth, fifth ant continues with the same zeal the work of propaganda, during which the original inventor of the scheme modestly disappears in the growing crowd around him, without claiming any distinction or reward due to a successful demagogue. Sometimes, however, there is a hesita­ tion, competition and even struggle, between two or more different schemes. (FOREL.) 5. Page 55. BIG-HEADS. It is a well-known fact that some races of ants bring forth a caste whose members are distin­ guished by the extraordinary size of their heads. In Pheidole pallidula, a yellowish-red species found in South Europe, the head is as large as the whole of the rest of the body. These monstrous, ill- 264 NOTES proportioned creatures are the so-called soldiers of the community. The name soldier is not very happily chosen for these forms, as they by no means only fight and guard the nest and defend the workers against enemies, but also perform other special functions, in different species, such as crushing seeds, using their heads to act as " front-doors," etc. But generally they do not condescend to labour with the workers, and leave all menial labour to the ordinary ants, the "small-heads."

6. Page 55. SLAVE-MAKING. As the foregoing remarks show, everything which Dr. Thiimmel records in the story of the Aruwimi Ants about the Big-Heads or Lord-Ants of this legendary race is nowise to be regarded as absurd monstrosities produced by a heated imagina­ tion. Even to-day the profiting by the labour of others and the life of idleness are not unknown among the ants; on the contrary, it has become quite a system in some ant-races and even form the very foundation of their social life and their political economy. Slave-raiding, similar to that perpetrated on the negro races of Africa by the whites of Europe and America in the past, is also known among them. Among our European ants there are two species which keep slaves, and are fed and tended by them. One of these species is Polyergus rufescens, the Amazon-ants; the other is Formica sanguinea (a British species), the sanguinary ants. For long it remained a puzzle for the natura­ lists, how it was possible that these ants should live in union, in the same nests, with ants of quite different races in contrast to the ordinary ants who 265 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL keep themselves aloof from other species and regard them, as a rule, as enemies and fight them. At last, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the veil was uplifted and the mystery cleared. The obser­ vations of HUBER and others established without doubt the fact that both species mentioned above raid systematically other ants' colonies and carry off their larvre and pupre which they bring up in their own colonies, letting them do all the menia] work as nurses, scavengers, load-carriers, etc. M. TREAT, in describing such a raid from personal observation, carried out by the red Formica san- ·guinea on the black Formica fusca, relates that the battle lasted four or five hours before the reds gained possession of the vast nurseries of the blacks. It took them nearly two days to transport the larvre and pupre prisoners to their own dominions. (See H. DONISTHORPE : "Formica sa11guinea at Bewd­ ley, with an account of a Slave-raid," Zool., 1909, 463; Further observations on "Social Parasitism and Slavery in Ants," Trans. Ent. Soc:, 19n, r75.­ H. MC COOK: "The Shining Slave-maker," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., 1880.-w. M. WHEELER: "An Interpretation of the Slave-making Instincts in Ants," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1905, 21, p. I; " Some Remarks on Temporary Social Parasitism and the Phylogeny of Slavery among Ants," Biol. Zentralbl., 1905, 637.-J. A. ALLEN: "Notice of a foray of a colony of Formica sanguinea upon a colony of a black species of Formica, for the purpose of making slaves of the latter," Proc. Essex Inst., 1866, r4.-A. c. BURRILL : "A Slave-making Foray of the Shining Amazon (Polyergus lucidus)," ]our. N. Y. Ent. Soc., r908, r44.-H. MC COOK : "The 266 NOTES Shining Slave-maker: Notes on the Habits of the American. Slave-making Ant (Polyergus lucidus)," Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1877, 376.-" How the Queens of the parasitic and Slave-making Ants establish their Colonies," Amer. Mus. ]our., 1905, 144; "The Origin of Slavery among Ants," Pop. Sc. Month., 1907, 550.-M. TREAT: "Note on the Slave-making Ant (F. sanguinea)," Am. Nat., 1879, 707.)

7. Page 55. IDLE ANTS. The idleness of the Amazon-ants is carried to such length that, like the Lord-Ants of Aruwimi . in Dr. Thtimmel's story, they cannot even feed themselves, but are literally kept alive by their slaves, which supply them with a sweet liquid in a pre-digested form from their crop, by putting it into their masters' mouths. This has become such a fixed habit with the Amazon-ants that the scien­ tists cannot keep them in artificial nests. without furnishing them with servants, i.e. slave-ants, because even when their most favourite food, honey, is placed before them, they cannot help themselves to it, and in a few days will die of starvation. These ants are interested only in warfare and robbery, but never in ordinary work as nursing, building, harvesting, etc. In summer in the middle of the day they march out of the nest in great crowds to sack and take possession of the nests of other ants, especially Formica fusca, F. rufibarbis, F. pra­ tensis. These three species of ants, in fact, hold the same sad position in the ant world as the black human race held for many centuries among mankind. 267 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THlJMMEL 8. Page 60. MARRIAGE FLIGHT. Among most ants copulation takes place in the air, as described in our story, during the swarm­ ing. The male clings to the female without inter­ rupting their flight. A female in some species will sometimes carry two or three males on her back at the same time. "In the love ecstasy, race-hatred and animosity between members of different colonies vanish completely. Sons and daughters of distant families which below on the earth are at loggerheads with one another, unite above in the pure uncontaminated ether, under the majestic arch of the open sky, in order to enjoy the highest delight of life. The air above is full of love, and there is no room for enmity and hatred." (ESCHERICH's description.) (See H. DONISTHORPE : " On a Mar­ riage-flight of Donisthorpea nigra," Ent. Record, r9r2, p. 6.-T. H. BEARE : "Myrmica ruginodis, a Marriage Flig4t," Entom. Rec., p. 258, r9r3.­ A. A. DALGLISH: "Formica fusca, Winged Females in the Spring," Ent. Mo. Mag., r904, 87.-H. MC COOK: "Note on the Marriage-flights of Lasius fiavus and Myrmica lobicornis," Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., r879, 33.)

9. Page 62. FERTILITY. One fertilisation is sufficient for the whole. life of a queen. According to some scientists, there are races of ants in Africa whose females sometimes lay sixty to eighty thousand eggs in one day. In these genera the total of the inhabitants of a nest will, of course, exceed tens of millions, as· there are sometimes hundreds of queens in one nest. . 268 NOTES 10. Page 67. INSANITY. Naturalists have observed several times that certain individuals of the ant colony rush round the nest with such incredible rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow them. HUBER and other ant­ experts regard this proceeding as the sign of an unknown ant-disease, probably insanity, caused perhaps by some microbe attacking the nerve­ ganglia.

11; Page 67. CEMETERIES. Ants will not tolerate any corpses in their nests, as they would taint the air. Therefore they carry them away to some distant place, far off from the nest. It is said that in some of such cemeteries the dead are laid out on the ground in good order, in rows, one beside the other. In India it was observed on one occasion (by a British General) that some ants of a colony which were being exterminated from the bathroom of a bungalow, finding that the number of their dead was too great for the few survivors to remove, placed them neatly in rows on the floor, with all their heads in the same direction, before they left the house. (MISS CHEESMAN's personal information.) The highly developed cleanliness of the ants explains the necessity of such cemeteries which also contain empty pupa-cases and other debris of the nests. In any case the ancients have already written about them (PLUTARCH, AELIAN, PLINY) recording that the ants bury their dead. PLINY even maintains that the ants alone of all creatures bury their dead as men do. H. MC COOK says of the Mexican honey ants that these possess funeral 269 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY TH-OMMEL chambers inside their dwellings for their deceased "honey-pots." M. TREAT records that Formica san­ guinea, in America, possess separate cemeteries for the dead of their own species and for those of their slaves (F. s. being a slave-making race) ; the corpses of the slave ants are merely piled in a heap with the refuse of the nest, while their own deceased relatives are reverently laid in decent rows in a special cemetery. PROF. GERST.ACKER remarks on this almost incredible report, with some little irony, that after all this we must be prepared to hear next the report that some ant-races hold regular funeral services and that one of the mourners even preaches an emotional funeral sermon over the departed. (MARSHALL.)

12. Page 72. STRENGTH OF ANTS. According to FOREL, the ants are, as regards their muscles, " des Titans minuscules." A. R. MILLER made in 1902 the following observation concerning the strength of the ants: "While walking on the University Campus the other day," he relates, "my attention was arrested by what appeared to be a grasshopper moving along the sidewalk without using his hind legs. Upon closer examination, I saw that the grasshopper was dead and was being dragged by a small ant. The difference between the size of the little labourer and his load was so extraordinary that I thought it might be of interest to know the exact weight of each. I accordingly weighed them carefully on an analytical balance and obtained the following figures :- " Weight of ant, 3·2 mg. "Weight of grasshopper, 190·0 mg. 270 NOTES

cv Thus the ant was dragging a load that weighed approximately sixty times his own weight. This is equivalent to a man whose weight is 150 lb. dragging a load 4! tons, or a horse of 1,200 lb. a load of 36 tons! " KIRBY states: "A small ant has been estimated to lift nearly 400 times its own weight." (See A. R. MILLER: "The Strength of Ants," Science, 1902, 514.-w. F. KIRBY: Marvels of Ant Life, 1898, 19.)

13. Page 73. ANTENN~. The number of segments of ants' antennre varies according to the species from four to thirteen. That ants recognise and understand one another by means of their antennre is an indisputable, well­ known fact. Deprived of both antennre the ant is unable to perceive or converse with its comrades. It is not even able to carry on its usual social duties. An ant born without antennre is similar to a born deaf-mute among men. (LUBBOCK records such a case, relating the kind treatment of the unfortunate by its fellows : " It would have been impossible for any one who witnessed this scene to have denied to the ants the possession of humane feelings.") (See L. w. CLARK: "Antennre of Insects (Formica rufa)," Charlesworth Magazine, 1838, 392.-w. c. CRAWLEY: "How ants greet members of the same colony," Ent. Rec., 1910, 43.-A. M. FIELDE : " Power of Recognition among Ants," Biol. Bull., 1904, 227.) 14. Page 73. ANT-LANGUAGE. WASMANN has compiled a kind of ant-dic­ tionary (in his Die psychischen Fahigkeiten der 271 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Ameisen, p. 86-8) by enumerating, with their meanings, a number of different antennal strokes, conveying different ideas. These depend chiefly on the nature of the stroke, whether quick or slow, heavy or light, at longer or shorter intervals, on the top, on the side of the head, or'only on the antennre, etc. 15. Page 74. PHILOSOPHY OF ANTS. (See J. HUXLEY: Essays of a Biologist, ch. v. ; Philosophic Ants: A Biologic Fantasy. 1923.) 16. Page 76. DOMINANCE OF ANTS ON THE EARTH. "Adaptability and plasticity," says WHEELER, "attains its richest and boldest expression in the ants. It is certain that the ants occupy a unique position among all insects on account of their dominance, which is shown, first, in their high degree of variability; second, in their numerical ascendancy in individuals ; third, in their wide geographical distribution ; fourth, in their remarkable longevity ; fifth, in their abandon­ ment of certain over-specialised modes of life from which the other social insects (bees, wasps and termites) seem not to have been able to emancipate themselves ; and sixth, in their manifold relation­ ships with plants and other animals, man included. These restless, indefatigable, inquisitive busybodies, for ever patrolling the soil and vegetation in search of food, poke their noses, so to speak, into the private affairs of every living thing in their environment. Ants are to be found everywhere, from the Arctic regions to the Tropics, from the loftiest mountains to the sea-shores, and from the dampest forests to 272 - NOTES the driest deserts. They out-number in individuals all other terrestrial animals.'' Justly says a Brazilian proverb (BraziJ... is especi­ ally abundant in ants) : " Not we are the masters of our country, but the ants." Their dominance is doubtless due to the stability of their colonies, the longevity of the individual ants (their queens live even to seventeen years!) and their abandonment of certain habits which must seriously handicap other social insects in their struggle for existence. The ants do not restrict their diet to one or a very few substances (as the bees, wasps and termites); the construction of their nests and their building materials are as various as their surroundings ; the custom of depending on a single fertilised queen has also been outgrown by many of them, for the more dominant and successful species have learned to cherish a number of queens in the colony. There can be little doubt that the ants became superior to other social hymenoptera through their wingless state which compelled them to adopt entirely terrestrial habits. " Ants owe their superiority," says ESPINAS, " to their terrestrial life. Consider the exceptional advantages offered by a terrestrial medium for the development of their intellectual faculties, compared with an aerial medium! In the air there are the long flights without obstacles, the vertiginous journeys far from real bodies, the instability, the wandering about, the endless for­ getfulness of things and oneself. On the earth, on the contrary, there is not a movement that is not a contact and does not yield precise information, not a journey that fails to leave some reminiscence: and as these journeys are determinate, it is inevitable 273 s THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL that a portion of the ground incessantly traversed should be registered, together with its resources and dangers, in the animal's imagination. Thus there results a closer and much more direct com­ munication with the external world. To employ matter, moreover, is much easier for a terrestrial than an aerial animal. The latter must seek it at a distance, as does the bee when she collects propolis or the wasp when she gathers material for her paper. The terrestrial animal has its build­ ing materials close at hand, and its architecture may be as varied as these materials. Ants, there­ fore, probably owe their social and industrial superi­ ority to their habitat." The preponderance of ants on the earth is clearly indicated by all these facts as well as by their proverbial industry and sagacity. (See G. F. ATKINSON : " Singular Adaptation in Nest-making by an Ant (Crematogaster lineolata)," Amer. Nat., 1886, 770.-H. MC COOK: "Modifica­ tions of Habits in Ants through Fear of Enemies," Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1887.)

17. Page 77, ARCHITECTURE OF ANTS. LIVINGSTONE saw in Lounde an ants' nest of a height of 20 ft., and CAMERON in Nyangve found a nest of 40 to 50 ft. high (probably termites). This work, CAMERON remarks, is such a wonderful accomplishment as if the loftiest mountain in the world, the highest peak of the Himalayas, Mt. Ever­ est (29,000 ft.), had been built up by human hands! SMEATHMAN, a Dutch African traveller, writes that he could sit on the top of a huge ant-nest with four of his companions quite comfortably. From the distance these ant heaps have the appearance 274 NOTES of a military encampment with as many tents. Inside they are divided into small stories and chambers and the partitions are sometimes 20-30 mm. thick, making the building architecturally absolutely safe and perfect. (See M. c. STOPE and C. GORDON HEWITT : " On the Tent-building of the Ant Lasius niger, Japan," Proc. Manchester Lit. Phil. Soc., 1909, r.-H. Mc COOK : "Note on the Architecture of the American Slave-making Ant, Polyergus lucidus," Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1880, 376.-J. szAB6: Oriasi Hangyaboly Hazankban (A Gigantic Ant-Nest in our Country. In Hung.), Termeszett. Kozl., 1914, 593.-w. M. WHEELER : "The Habits of the Tent-building Ant (Cremato­ gaster lineolata)," Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1906.) 18. Page 77. SIGHT. The experiments of LUBBOCK, FOREL and MISS FIELDE established the fact that ants' eyes can perceive even ultra-violet rays which are invisible to human eyes and that they are even more sensitive to these than to the other rays. The number of lenses of the compound eyes of the ants varies in different species. For example, according to LUB­ BOCK, the number of eye-lenses or prisms in the eyes of males of Formica pratensis are about 1,200, in their females 900, and in their workers 600. The reason why the power of sight is greater in the males is because these need a very good sight to know the females from the males when swarming, and] the females need better sight than the workers because they have to search for a suitable site for the new nest after fecundation, while the workers' 275 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL sight is the least developed, because they are guided in their activities less by sight than by the sense of smell. We can trace the same principle also i:JJ. other orders of insects. (See o. c. SILVERLOCK : "The Senses of Ants as regards Heat and Light," Nature Notes, 1907, 165.-A. M. FIELDE: "Effects of Light-rays on an Ant," Biol. Bull., 1904, 309.) 19. Page 78. HEARING AND SOUND-PRODUCING. Whether ants possess an organ of hearing no scientist has yet been able to provel in spite of many very interesting experiments. As they cer­ tainly can and do stridulate,- it is highly probable that some of their organs can register sounds. T. s. TAIT related in a letter to Lubbock from Baroda: "We have been able to hear by means of the microphone the roar (sic) of a black ant when attacked by its companion." M. TREAT, in describ­ ing an ant battle, says : " When the black ants were attacked in this great battle, I certainly heard a 'roar,' without the aid of a microphone. It lasted only a few moments, whereas the battle lasted four or five hours." The two reports undoubtedly corroborate one another: (See H. DONISTHORPE : "Hearing in Ants," Ent. Rec., 1910, n7.-n. M. LEWIS: "Sound-producing Ants," Nature, 1882, 266.-A. H. SWINTON: "Note on the Stridulation of Myrmica ruginodis and other Hymenoptera," Ent. Mo. Mag., 1878, 187.-A. M. FIELDE and G. H. PARKER: "The Reactions of Ants to Material Vibrations," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1905, 642. -FORBES and PEAL : " Sound Produced by Ants in Sumatra and Assam," Nature, 1887, IOI, 484.­ R. T. LEWIS: "Note on a Stridulating Organ in. a 276 NOTES South African Ant, Streblognathus aethiopicus," ]ourn. Quekett. Mier. Club, 1896, 271.-D. SHARP: " On Stridulation in Ants," Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1893, 199.-J. WEIR: "The Ears of Worms, Crus­ taceans and Ants," Sci. Amer., 1898, 214.-L. D. WELD : " The Sense of Hearing in Ants," Science, 1899, 768.-A. D. METCALF, "Hearing in Ants," Science, rgoo, 194.)

20. Page 78. UNKNOWN ORGANS OF SENSE. LUBBOCK went so far as to suggest that ants may possess sense-organs of which we human beings have no knowledge at all, because they have no equivalents in our anatomy. " The human ear," he says, "is sensitive to vibrations reaching to 38,000 a second. The sensation of red is produced when 470 million of millions of vibrations enter the eye in a similar time ; but between these two numbers vibrations produce to us only the sensation of heat; we have no special organs of sense adapted to them. But there is no reason in the nature of things why this should be the case with other animals; and the problematical organs possessed by many of the lower forms favour the suggestion." (See LUBBOCK : On the Sens es, Instincts and In­ telligence of Animals, with special reference to In­ sects," r888, 292.)

21. Page 79. ALCOHOLISM, NARCOTISM.-ANT­ GUESTS. Intoxication (alcoholism, or better, drug­ taking, narcotism), even though in a different form than reported concerning the mythical Aruwimi 277 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL Ants, does actually exist among many ant-races, so that the description of intoxication among the Aruwimi Ants in the narrative of Dr. Thiimmel can in no case be stamped as absolutely idle phan­ tasy. Besides Aphids, Coccids, etc., i.e. plant-lice, green-flies which exude nourishing sweet fluids (see Note 22), the ants receive various small beetles (even caterpillars1) as guests and keep them in their

1 See PROF. NUTTALL's paper on "Symbiosis in Animals and Plants" among the papers of the British Association, 1923 (Liverpool), in which he reports on an extraordinary example of animal relationships that came recently to light. The eggs of the British " Large Blue " butterfly (Lycaena arion) are deposited on wild thyme plants, and the cater­ pillar, for a while, feeds on the flowers. Tiring of this diet and warned by shortening days of the approach of autumn, he l~aves the plant and vanishes. It was a great puzzle up to the present for naturalists, where the small cater­ pillar passed the winter, for in the spring it regularly reappeared on the plant. Diligent search has revealed bis autumn and winter movements. This remarkable insect at the end of the summer crawls about till chance or instinct brings him to one of the highroads of a particular species of ant (Myrmica scrabrenodis). When one of these ants arrives the meeting would seem almost prearranged. The caterpillar bunches himself up and presently the ant takes him bodily in his jaws and carries him to the nest. In the inmost recesses of the nest the caterpillar lives unmolested and in full comfort throughout the whole winter. He wants food, naturally. He assuages his growing hunger by consuming the only food available­ the well-fed larv~ of the ants! Upon this diet he sub­ sists throughout the winter sheltered from the frosts and gales that rage above. When spring brings warmer days, a fat caterpillar issues from the nest of his generous ho~ts and finds ~mother tree of succulent thyme upon which to make his return to a vegetable diet and his preparations for the coming metamorphosis that is to 278 NOTES nests. That this is not done from pure altruism, unegotistical motive, goes without saying, ants being very matter-of-fact and not in the least sentimental and idealistic beings. The ants' partiality for these insects goes so far that they regularly feed them, and even more carefully than their own larvre and rear their progeny, doubtlessly reckoning that' they can produce their own larvre more readily than obtain new species of their strange guests. Through their friendly treatment, the insect-guests are induced to yield a secretion, which, if partaken of by their hosts, reduces them to ah agreeable state of unconscious­ ness.1 As sometimes this secretion is not nourishing change him to a butterfly. The reasons that prompt the ants to give a winter's hospitality and to sacrifice the lives of many of their progeny are not hard to find. The smell and secretion of the caterpillar has doubtless some agree­ able, perhaps intoxicating, effect on them and it seems they abandon individual and collective good sense for the gratification of the moment. 1 A Dutch scientist, E. JACOBSEN, made lately a most interesting observation, which proves without any doubt that the secretions of certain bugs may not only attract but sometimes even totally narcotise and paralyse the ant that imbibes them, and that, like alcoholism and the drug habit in human society, this passion often leads, among ants also, to loss of life and complete ruin. Jacobsen found in Samarang, Java, a bug (Ptilocerus ochraceus) frequenting the trails of a common Indian Ant (Dolichoderus bituberculatus). This ant is particularly fond of the sweet excretions of different insects, a taste which sometimes leads to its wholesale destruction, as we shall presently learn. The bugs named above p~oce~d to entice the ants as follows: They take up a position m an ant path. On the approach of an ant the bug is at once on the alert, and raises half-way the front of the body, so as to put the tufts of hair of the bug, smelling with narcotic, 279 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL. at all, but, on the contrary, is a dangerous stimulant, and further, in view of the fact that the feeding of the guests and the nursing of the larvre of the same is a waste of tim.e and labour for the community, doubtless we are right when we state that the enjoyment of these drugs is a social disease among the ants, just as alcoholism and drug habit is a curse to humanity. (See H. DONISTHORPE: "A Messmate of Ants," Marvels of the Universe, 19rr, 220, with photographs.-G. R. CROTCH: "Coleop­ tera found in company with Formica fuliginosa," Zool., 1862, 8739.-c. w. DALE : "Ants and their Companions," Entom., 1895, 97.-P. DELPINO : On the Fondness of Ants for Certain Homoptera, 1875, IO.-E. WASMANN : "The Guests of Ants and Termites" (transl. by H. DONISTHORPE), Ent. Rec., 1900, 41, 72, 87, rr7, 147 and 207, with plates. -F. HOLME : "Note on Beetles inhabiting Ants' Nests," Zool., 1844, p. 475.-c. J. s. BETHUNE: "Caterpillars attended by Ants," Canad. Ent., 1901, 279.-F. P. DODD : " Notes on the Queensland Green Tree Ants, OecophyUa smaragdina (Caterpillars living with them)," Victorian Nat., 1902, 136, 141.- in evidence. The ant at once proceeds to lick the body of the bug. After the ant has indulged in licking the tufts of hair for some minutes the exudation commences to exercise its paralysing effect. As soon as the ant shows signs of paralysis by curling itself up, and drawing in its legs, the bug at once seizes it with the front legs, and very soon the ant is pierced and sucked dry. Nymphs and adults of the bug act in exactly the same manner, to lure the ants to their destruction, after having rendered them helpless by treating them to a tempting delicacy. "We are confronted here," as WHEELER rightly remarks, " with a flagrant example of appetite perversion." 280 NOTES J. i:· .CHAPMAN: "What the larva of Lycaena arion (Bntish Large Blue Butterfly) does during its last instar," Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., 1916; 291, 298, 313. -E. w. JANSON: "Observations on the Ants' Nest Beetles of Britain," Ent. Ann., 1857, 85, 1858, 78. -A. M. LEA: "Notes on Insects Inhabiting Ants' and Termites' Nests in New South Wales,"· Proc. Linn. Soc., 1895.-w. M. WHEELER : An Extraordinary Ant-Guest.)

22. Page 88. INSECTS USED AS MILCH-COWS. Dairy farming among ants is universally known. Different kinds of plant-lice, living on leaves, flowers and roots of plants, form the ants' cows. This is a very old observation of naturalists. Aphis formicarum vacca, as Linmeus put it. These minute little creatures, Aphids, Coccids, etc., exude sweet fluids which are the favourite food of the ants, their milk. The ants drag these insects, which are even smaller than themselves, very often into their own nests, in order to feed, tend, guard and milk them, just as men herd milch-cows. What Dr. Thiimmel records of the underground " cow-sheds " of root-lice (Trama radicis, etc.) in Aruwimi is also corroborated by the observations of naturalists. In the same way it has also been observed that the ants collect and carry off the eggs and larva! of their favourites into their nests when­ ever they can find them outside during their foraging. As soon as the little things creep out of their eggs, they are at once led or rather dragged out to pasture, on trees, shrubs, or roots of grass, laid bare for them by their masters. (See H. DONISTHORPE : " Dairy- 281 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL ing Ants," in Hutchinson's Marvels of the Universe, 804-6 (1912).-J. H. COMSTOCK: "Relations of Ants and Aphids," Am. Nat., 1886, 382.-MRS. w. P. COCKERELL: "Some Aphids Associated with Ants," Psyche, 1903, 216.-T. D. A. COCKERELL and G. B. KING : " New Coccidre found Associated with Ants," Canad. Ent., 1897, 90.-T. D. A. COCKERELL : " The Use of Ants to Aphids and Coccids," Nature, 1891, 608.-J. w. DOUGLAS: "Ants and Coccidre," E11"t. Month. Mag., 1886, 6.-E. L. FORBES: "Relation of Ants and Aphids," Amer. Nat., 1888, 579.-s. A. FORBES: "The Com-root Aphis and its Attendant Ant," U.S. Dept. Agric. Ent. Bull., 1906, 130; " Habits and Behaviour of the Com-field Ant, Lasius niger americanus," Univ. Ill. Agric. BulZ:, 1908, 131.-J. G. GENTRY : "The Milch-cows of the Ants," Canad. Ent., 1873, 207.-J. c. GOUDIE: "Ants and Aphids," Victorian Natur., 1898, 148.­ T. HARDWICKE: "Observations on the Loves of the Ants and the Aphids," Zool. Journ., 1828, rr3.­ J. LEIDY : " The Yellow Ant and its Flock of Aphis and Coccus," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1882, 148.-B. LIEBALD : " Hangyak a Gyiimolcsfan (Ants on Fruit-Trees. In Hungarian)," Gyiim. es Kert. Fiiz., 1886, 22.-G. ROMANES : " The Use of Ants to Aphids and Coccids," Nature, 1893, 54.­ w. TRELEAX : " Unusual Care of Ants for Aphides," Psyche, 1882, 310.-F. M. WEBSTER: "The Relation of Ants to the Com-Aphids," Insect Life, 1888, 150 ; " Relations of Lasius americanits to the Peach Root-Louse," Canad. Ent., 1899, 15 ; "The Com Leaf-Aphis and the Corn Root-Aphis," U.S. Agric. Dept., 1907, No. 86.)

282 NOTES 23. Page 88. AGRICULTURE.

According to BUCKLEY, LINCECUM and MC COOK a race of ants in Texas (Pogonomyrmex barbata) systematically raises two species of grasses, Aristida stricta and Aristida oligantha. They culti­ vate them in an area of 1 to 5 feet broad round their nests. These plants have therefore been named by the natives "ants' rice." (See H. DONISTHORPE : "The Agricultural Ant of Texas," Marvels of the Universe, 1912, rr59.-w. E. ARMIT : "Agricultural Ants," Nature, p. 643, 1878.-G. H. BRYAN: "Har­ vesting Ants," Science Gossip, 1879, 238; Nature, 1899, 174.-H. MC COOK: The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant in Texas, 1880.-G. LINCECUM : "On the Agricultural Ant of Texas," Proc. Acad. Scienc. Phil., 1866, p. 323.-w. M. WHEELER : "A new Agricultural Ant of Texas, with Remarks on the Known North-American Species," Am. Naturalist, 1902, p. 87.-J. T. MOGGRIDGE: Harvest­ ing Ants: Observations on their Habits and Dwell­ ings, 2 vols., 1873.)

24. Page 92. DIGESTION. How do ants feed ? Do they bite up seeds and digest them in this form ? This question came up when the English_ scientist MOGGRIDGE, while investigating the contents of the ants' stomach under the microscope, made the startling discovery that it did not contain any trace of starch. As the various seeds which form the chief diet of many ant races contain a large percentage of starch, he was faced with a new problem. The solution was found by MC COOK, the American entomologist, who 283 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL proved that ants do not bite the seeds, but only lick them with their tongues; their saliva dissolves the starch and converts it into sugar. He found that ants can only digest fluids and therefore all solids are to be dissolved by the saliva before gulping and assimilating it.

25. Page 93. FUNGUS GARDENS. The horticulture, in the form of raising fun­ gus, described in Dr. Thiimmel's narrative, is actually carried out, even nowadays, by many ants. Particularly some races found in Central and South America (Atta discigera, sexdens, texana, Acromyrmex, etc.) raise fungus in their underground dwellings. For a long time it had been noticed that these tropical ants wrought great havoc among the foliage in the woods. They climb up into the trees and return with pieces of leaves often ten times as large as themselves. It was first assumed that these ants collected leaves as food, but this opinion became later untenable, so that the matter was one of the numerous enigmas of the ants' life for a long time. Finally, it was discovered that ants used the leaves not for food, but as manure for fungus-beds in their under­ ground habitations. It was further discovered that the young queens of these particular (so called "leaf-cutting ") races (Attae), when they are leaving their home-nests for ever in order to take the nuptial flight and to form new colonies, take with them in the cavity which is present below the mouth (in­ frabuccal pocket) from the old home a few spores of fungus to start a new fungus-culture for their descendants. (See w. M. WHEELER: "The Fungus- 284 NOTES growing Ants of North America," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1907, 669.-R. J. H. GIBSON: "The Mushroom-beds of the South-American Ants" Proc. Liverp. Lit. Soc., 1894, 99.-G. ISTVA.NFF~ : "Gombatenyeszto Hangyak (Mushroom-growing Ants. In Hungarian)," Termeszett. Kozl., 1894, 378. -H. MC COOK: "Note on a New Northern Leaf­ cutting Ant, Atta septentrionalis," Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1880, 359.-w. T. SWINGLE: Fungus Gardens in the Nest of an Ant near Washington (Atta tar­ digrada Buckl.).-J. E. TANNER: "The Parasol or Leaf-cutting Ant," Trinidad Field Nat. Club, 1892, 68 and 123.) 26. Page -94. HONEY-ANTS. The living honey-pots play a very important role in the housekeeping of numerous ant-races in Africa, America, and Australia (e.g. Myrmecocystus melliger, mexicanus, horti-deorum, Camponotus in­ .flatus, Melophorus bagoti, M. cowlei, Plagiolepsis trimensii, Leptomyrmex rufipes, etc.). FOREL dis­ covered some ants with living honey-pots even in Europe (e.g. Camponotus rufoglaucus, micans, For­ mica nasuta, etc.). These ants compete with the bees in collecting honey, and man, of course, does not fail to rob them just as he robs the industrious bees of the fruit of their labour. Ants' honey forms a favourite delicacy for the natives of the tropical zones, the ants which act and serve as honey-pots being collected and eaten by them. To understand this curious phenomenon of food stor­ age, we have to be acquainted with the anatomy of ants. In the body of every ant there are two stomachs; the first stomach, called the crop, stores 285 THE ANTS OF. TIMOTHY THOMMEL food for the larvre and fellow workers, and this food can be put out again from the mouth; but the. second stomach digests food for the ant itself. Therefore this most remarkable form of division of labour among the ants has been founded upon a quite simple natural anatomical, physiological principle. (See H. DONISTHORPE : " Ants as Honey­ Pots," Marvels of the Universe, 1912, 940, with plates.-H. MC COOK: The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods, 1882.-w. w. FROGATT : " Honey Ants," Horn Scient. Exped. Centr. Austr., 1896, 385.-w. M. WHEELER: "Honey Ants," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1908, 345 (28 Fig.).-J. BLAKE: "On the Structure of the Honey-bag in the Honey­ making Ant (Myrmecocystus mexicanus)," Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., 1873, 98.-H. EDWARDS : " Notes on the Honey-making Ant of Texas and New Mexico," Am. Nat., 1873, 722, and Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., 1873, 72.-0. LOEW: "The Honey Ants," Amer. Nat., 1874, 365.-c. MORRIS: "Living Honey Comb: A Novel Phase of Ant Life"; "Habits and Anatomy of the Honey-bearing Ant," Journ. Sc., r88o, Feb. and July.-w. SAUNDERS : " The Mexican Honey-Ant (Myrmecocystus mexicanus)," Canad. Ent. 1875, 12.-M. WETHERILL : " Chemical Investigation of the Mexican Honey-Ant," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1852, III.)

27. Page 103. LARVJE-NURSERIES. After LUBBOCK'S description the larvre in an ants' nest are sorted and arranged according to age (i.e. size). A larvre-nursery reminds one, says he, of a school consisting of five or six classes. 286 NOTES

28. Page rn5. WEAVING. Regarding the "weaving industry" of ants, reliable data have only recently come to the fore. In India, Australia, Africa and Brazil there are certain races (Oecophylla smaragdina, virescens, longinoda, Polyrachis dives, bicolor, some Campo­ notus species, etc.) which, just like caterpillars do, spin up leaves and make nests for themselves and their " cows." There is no doubt that we are here facing one of the most astounding wonders of nature. The weaver-ant is, perhaps, the only creature besides man to make use of a tool to achieve a certain aim. The tools used by the weaver-ants are their own larvre, which can issue threads from their body, a feat that the mature ants are not able to perform. The spinning of the thread round the leaves really takes place exactly as Dr. Thi.immel has described in his report on the legendary Aruwimi Ants. (See E. E. GREEN: "Note on the Web-spinning habits of the Red Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina)," Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1900, 181; "On the Habits of the Indian Ant (Oecophylla smarag­ dina), Trans. Ent. Soc. LoJJd., 1896, 9.-w. SAVILLE KENT: "The Weaving Properties of the Australian Green Ant," Proc. Roy. Soc., 1891.-F. P. DODD : "Notes on the Queensland Green Tree Ant," Victor. Natural., 1900, 136.-G. B. KING: "Naked and Cocoon Pupre of Ants," Canad. Ent., 1897, 147. -E. JACOBSON: " Notes on Web-spinning Ants," Victorian Natur., 1907, 36.-WHEELER: " ... On the Presence and Absence of Cocoons among Ants and the Nest-Spinning Habits of the Larvre amo:og 287 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL certain Australian species," Ann. Ent. Soc. America, 1915, 325.) 29. Page rn8. LONGEVITY OF ANTS. We are probably not incorrect in estimating an ant's life to average eight to ten years. LUBBOCK had worke~s of Lasius niger ·and F. fusca at least seven years old and two queens of F. fusca, one of which lived thirteen, the other fifteen years in captivity (in artificial nests). WHEELER says that a queen may live even to seventeen years, and although fecundated only once, may produce off­ spring up to the time of her death. (See J. LUB­ BOCK: "Longevity of Ants," American Naturalist, 1885, 170.-c. C. BEST GARDNER : " Experiments on the Capability of Ants to withstand drought and to recover from its effect when nearly dead," Ent. Rec., 1913, 25.-A. M. FIELDE : "Tenacity of Life in Ants," Biol. Bull., 1904, 300 and Scient. Amer., 1905, 363.-J. PASZLAVSZKY: "Meddig elnek a hangyak? (How long live the Ants? In Hung.)," Termesz. Kozl., 1887, r82.) 30. Page rq. SHORT LIFE OF MALES. When once the copulation is over, the life task of the male ant is accomplished. He enjoyed life's highest bliss for a moment, flies about for a short time without taking any nourishment, becomes weaker and weaker and soon dies, having expended all his surplus energy during the brief breed~ng season. 31. Page II4. ANTIQUITY OF · ANTS AND MEN, COMPARED. . Doubtless the" World-history of the ants," of which Dr. Thiimmel so often and so boldly speaks, can 288 NOTES be measured by millions of years with even more justice than that of the human race by thousands.- " When we observe carefully the wonderful efficiency of the social system of ants," says MAR­ SHALL, fC we are forced to conclude that they must have a very long and ancient history behind them. A social organisation so complicated both in the entirety and in the minutest details as theirs, cannot possibly be the result of a short period of develop­ ment. And it is not a simple surmise, an arbitrary assumption, when we attribute to the ants a vast geological antiquity, but a fact supported by un­ deniable scientific data. In geological strata, as old as Jurassic, remains of ants, quite similar to modern ants (Palaeomyrmex), are to be found. Most numerous of all insects found in amber are the ants, and some of these fossil genera still exist exactly in the same form to-day!" Another scientist, WHEELER, utters on the antiquity and social evolution of ants the following opinion :- " Some years ago the museums of Konigsberg and Berlin sent me for study an extraordinary collection of a:nts in lumps of amber. So beauti­ ful and lifelike are the insects preserved in the amber, that by comparison all other fossiles have a singularly dull and inert appearance. My study showed conclusively that the ants have undergone no important structural modifications since the Lower Oligocene, that they had at that time developed all their various castes just as we see them to-day, that their larvre and pupre were the same, that they attended plant-lice, kept guest­ beetles in their nests and had parasitic mites, ek, just as in our living species. All their main struc- 289 T THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL tural and social peculiarities were completed by the beginning of Tertiary and they have since been developing only slight modifications. Geolo­ gists (recently the American J. BARRELL) give the time since the beginning of the Tertiary as 55 or 65 millions of years. But the social insects are the most recent in the great class of I nsecta, and as our earliest known fossils are perfectly typical insects, it is probable that the earliest Hexapods made their appearance in the Silurian, if not earlier. This would make the period during which the wonderful creatures have been living and multiplying on our planet about 300 million years ! " " Let us now compare," Wheeler continues, "the age of man and his society with that of the ants. During the Oligocene and early Miocene, while these insects represented the dominant animal life of the globe, the early Primates were just splitting into two tribes, one of which was destined to produce the modern apes, the other the Hom­ inidce, or humans. Our ancestors were probably just forsaking that life among the tree-tops which has left its ineffaceable impress on -all the details of. our anatomy. A large part of the diet of these early Hominids probably consisted of those same ants, which have already developed a co­ operative communism so complete that in com­ parison the most radical of our bolsheviks are ultra­ conservative capitalists. By a hundred thousand years ago our ancestors had reached the stage of the Neanderthal-man whose society was probably somewhat more primitive than that of the Austra­ .lian savage of to-day, and so far as the actual funda­ mental, biological structure of our society is 290 NOTES concern~d _and notwithst~ndin~ its stupendous growth m size and all the tmkermg to which it has been subjected, we are still in much the same infantile stage. But if the ants are not despondent because they have failed to produce a new social invention or convention in the last 65 million years, why should we be discouraged because some of our institutions and castes have not been able to evolve a new idea in the past fifty centuries." Although it is difficult to forecast the social evolution in mankind, all signs show that it is tending in the same direction as the past evolution of the ants. The same way as, anatomically, we must accustom ourselves to the thought that our remote posterity, sometime in the MMth century, will be a hairless, toothless being, purely vegetarian, and teetotaller, without olfactory organs, sense of smell, toes, and possibly other organs, we can also foresee that, sociologically, their organisation at that date will be essentially different from, at any rate much more co-operative than, that of their brutal primeval ancestors of the twentieth century. Probably they will think of the social system of the twentieth-century Hominids with the same disgust and horror with which they will record, from the discovery of the skulls of some Thamesthal­ men, the almost unbelievable, but, alas, scientific­ ally irrefutable fact, that their ancestors, ?o~h 1:1ale and female, once carried dog's teeth, or 1m1tat10ns of such, in their mouths ! Luckily, they will have also their scientists who will help them over the shock by proving, with the whole sci~ntific apparatus of their admirable knowledge both m anatomy and sociology, that the London type of man was only 291 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL a link-the missing one-between Man and Ape! (See H. DONISTHORPE : " British Oligocene Ants," Am. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1920, 8r.-w. M. WHEELER: The Ants of the Baltic Amber, 1915.-P. B. BRODIE : "Tertiary Fossile Ants in the Isle of Wight," Nature, p. 570, 1895.-c. EMERY: "On the Origin of European and North-American Ants," Nature, 1895, 399.-T. D. A. COCKERELL : "A New Fossil Ant," Ent. News, 1906, 27.-E. GOLDSMITH : " On Amber Containing Fossil Insects," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1879, 208.-s. H. SCUDDER : " On the first discovered traces of fossil insects in American Tertiaries," Bull. Geol. Survey U.S. Wash., 1877, 742; Systematic Review of our Present Knowledge of Fossil Insects, 1886; The Tertiary Insects of North America, 1890.)

32. Page n4. SOCIAL AND SEXUAL EVOLUTION OF ANTS. When Dr. Thfunmel speaks of a state in which the male sex among ants, so to say, predomin­ ates (contrary to their generally known social order in our days, in which the male plays an insignificant part), he is . not meandering in the realm of pure phantasy. The immense difference between the mode of life of social insects and that of other animals is still a great puzzle to scientists. There is little doubt that the first ancestors of ants lived the same individualistic, unpolitical, unsocial and uneconomic life as the animals, including most insects, live even nowadays.1 When 1 Among bees and wasps there are even to-day a great n~mb~r of solita7y species, e.g. the small carpenter bee (Ceratina curcurbitacea) or the American small black bee 292 NOTES Dr. Thiimmel attributes the originating of social differentiation among ants to a mythical being, a Mye-Mye, he is, perhaps unconsciously, in accord­ ance with the theory of the German scientist PLATE, Haeckel's successor in Jena, who could not explain otherwise the problem, which has puzzled even Darwin, how ants inherit their wonderful working instincts through parents who themselves, as a rule, do not work, than by the hypothesis of the following stages of evolution :- I. A pre-social (solitary) stage, with a single form of male and female (like most insects nowadays). 2. A primitive social (sub-social) stage with a single form of male and female, but with some working instincts already developed, male and female working equally (like some beetles, e.g. Scarabrei, nowadays). 3. A social stage, with one form of male and two specialised forms of females, all fertile, but those who perform hardest tasks (build, collect food and hunt) becoming gradually less fertile (like most social insects, specially bees and wasps, nowadays). 4. The present stage, with one form of male, one form of fertile female (queens) and one or more forms of so-called "sterile" females ("workers"). These workers, however, have not lost absolutely their power of reproduction as yet, as some of them

(Halictoides novae-angliae). Accordi~g to W?-~eler, .95 per cent. of the bees live in un- or sub-social condit10n; m fact, among bees only the so-called honey-bee has developed a highly socialised form. 0~ t?-e contrary! .the whole family of ants consists of social msects, and 1t mcludes no solitary nor sub-social forms as are to be found among wasps and bees. 293 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THUMMEL can lay eggs without fecundation (parthenogenesis). Every such stage of evolution, of course, covers many millions of years. And perhaps we shall not err by predicting a fifth stage, in which all traces of sexuality will disappear among working ants, so that they will become absolutely " sexless " or " neuter " beings. (See w. c. CRAWLEY : " Par­ thenogenesis in Worker Ants, with special reference to two colonies of Lasius niger Linn." Trans. Ent. Soc., 19rr, 657.-J. T. CUNNINGHAM, "Neuter Insects and Darwinism," Natural Science, 1894, 187.-J. E. FLETCHER: "Fertile Eggs laid by Workers of Lepto­ thorax tuberum," F. Ent. Mo. Mag., 1889, 313.­ w. PLATT BALL: "Neuter Insects and Lamarck.ism," Natural Science, 1894, 9r.-EDITH N. BUCKINGHAM: "Division of Labour among Ants," Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Science, 19rr, No. 18.-c. J. BRUES: '' The structure and significance of vestigial wings among insects," Biol. Bull., 1903, 179.-E. D. COPE: "Heredity in the Social Colonies of the Hymenop­ tera," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad., 1893, 736.­ A. M. FIELDE: "Observations on the Progeny of Virgin Ants," Biol. Bull., 1905, 355.-J. A. FLETCHER: "Fertile Eggs laid by Workers of Leptothorax tub8- rum," Ent. Month. Mag., 1889, 313.)

33. Page 121. SOCIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. There can be no doubt whatever that Sociology rightly claims to be regarded as an absolute, exact science. Man being eminently a social animal, "zoon politikon," according to Aristotle's defini­ ~ion. As EDWARD CARPENTER in his Civilisation, its Cause and Cure (1921) remarks :-" The sense of organic unity, of common welfare, the instincts 294 NOTES of humanity, or general helpfulness, are things which run in all directions through the very fibre of our individual and social life-just as they do through that of the gregarious animals: In a thousand ways : through heredity and the fact that the common ancestral blood flows in our veins, though we be only strangers that pass in the street; through psychology and the similarity of structure and concatenation in our minds; through social linkage and the necessity of each and all to the other's economic welfare ; through personal affection and the ties of the heart ; and through the mystic and religious sense which, diving deep down below personalities, perceives the vast flood of universal being: in these and many other ways does the Common Life compel us to recognise itself as a fact -perhaps the most fundamental fact of existence." But man is not the only "zoon politikon "in Nature and social organisation is not exclusively a human production. The primitive, chief cause which has undoubtedly originated our society: the helpless­ ness of the new-born, was bound to produce similar effects in the life of many other animals also. It is true that in most of them the effort remained in a primitive subsocial stage as further incentive for a development was lacking, but in some animals the evolution went even further than that of the human society. The most stirring ·examples of highly developed social orgai:isations ca~ be. found among the insects and the science of social b10lo~, sociology, besides human psychology, econ?m1cs, law, religion, history and ethnography, has to ~nves­ tigate the principles of the origin and evolut10~ of social life, also in Zoology, i.e. in the social orgamsa- 295 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL tions of lower beings. The first steps in the effort of enlarging the circle . of Sociology in the said direction were done by zoologists. A. FOREL in his Le Monde Social des Fourmis (1921) and w. M. WHEELER in his Social Life among Insects (1923) have laid the foundations of a new social science which may be called Zoo-Sociology. According to WHEELER, social insects, among them chiefly ants, are specially apt for sociological studies for the following particular reasons:­ First, because they represent Nature's most start­ ling efforts in communal organisation; second, because these organisations are simpler and more conspicuous than our own, and we can study their origin, development and decay, and subject them to experimentation ; third, because many of them represent clean-cut products of comparatively simple evolutionary tendencies and hence final and relatively . stable accomplishments ; fourth, because they show us the extent to which social organisation can be developed and integrated on a purely physiological and instinctive basis, and by contrast therefore throw into sharper relief some of the defects and virtues of our own intellectual type of society ; and fifth, because they are so remote from us that we should be able to study them in an unbiased scientific spirit. In his latest investigations WHEELER came to the remarkable result, that social life among insects is more common than it was held heretofore, and instead of being restricted to a few species of Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants), and the some­ what remote Isoptera (termites), it can be traced, either in incipient or more or less progressive stages, 296 NOTES in no less than twenty-four species of insects, among them in se~eral famili~s of b~etles (Coleoptera), such as Scarabre1dre, Passahdre, S1lvanidre, etc.

34. Page I2I. HUMAN AND ANIMAL SOCIETIES. "Human and insect societies are so similar" says WHEELER, "that it is difficult to detect really fundamental biological differences between them.'' The usual objections are that men are neither ants nor bees, and human and animal social life cannot possibly be founded on the same biological principles ; that man is a rational, whilst animals are irrational beings; that "individualism," and not collectivism, is the natural basis and characteristic feature of human society; that "human nature" is essen­ tially egotistic; that man alone, among all animals, is able to control Nature and subject his surround­ ings, etc., etc. WHEELER, however, supports his assertion against such and similar objections by the following considerations:- I. It is sometimes said or implied that human society is a "rational " association, due to intelli­ gent co-operation, whereas insect-societies are merely physiological or " instinctive " associations. But he who would seek support, says WHEELER, for the first part of this statement in the works of the present­ day sociologists, psychologists and philosophers, will be disappointed. The whole trend of modern thought is towards a greater recognition of the very important and determining role of_ the irration~l and instinctive, not only in our social, but. also m our individual lives. The best proof of this state­ ment is to be found in the family which by common consent constitutes the primitive basis of our 297 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL society, just as it does among the insects, and the bonds which unite the human family are and will always be physiological and instinctive. 2. It may be said that every insect-society arises as a single family, increases in population for some time and then dies away, whereas human society is a mixture of families which grow and continue indefinitely. This distinction is important but not absolute, since human society must have arisen also from a single family or a few families.. The only difference would be that human society no longer repeats, in each generation, the whole evolution of the race from the first beginning as do insect-societies. But even this distinction is not quite absolute, since there are a few social insects that no longer repeat the incipient phylo­ genetic stage, but from time to time send off new colonies, much as the Greeks did or the British do nowadays. So that the only essential difference which remains is that each insect-society stands for itself, and that there is no such thing as interfamilial and international intercourse among them, which seems to be entirely a human product. But this is no more a biological difference. 3. Some emphasise another difference :-the exis­ tence of social heredity in human society and its absence among animals. Certainly we should still be in the anthropoid stage if we had failed to preserve and add to the capital of culture trans­ mitted to us by former generations or cease to transmit them and the fruits of our activities to our descendants. It is clear also that the social insects do not bequeath libraries, institutions and bank accounts to their posterity. Nevertheless, this 298 NOTES distinction is neither absolute. There are ants termites and beetles that cultivate fungi and be~ queath them to succeeding generations. Social insects may also be said to bequeath real estates that ~s, their nests, pastures, and hunting-grounds; and smce the young queens often live for some time in the parental nests before they establish colonies of their own, there is reason to believe that they may acquire a slight amount of experience by consorting with their sisters (the workers) and parent queen. 4. It may be said that the social insects differ from man in not having learned the use of tools, but there are species of ants that use their larvre as shuttles in weaving the silken walls of their nests, and the marvellous engineering feats of many social insects (ladders, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, etc.) show that they are our close rivals in controlling the inorganic environment. 5. That they have acquired an equally astonishing control of their organic environment is shown by the fact that they are the only animals besides ourselves that have succeeded in domesticating other animals and enslaving their kind. In fact, ants and termites may be said to have domesticated a greater number of animals than we have, and the same statement may prove to be true of their food­ plants when they have been more carefully studied. 6. It may be maintained that we have developed language, and this, of course, is a true distinction, if we mean by language articulate speech ; but t~e members of an insect-society undoubtedly commum­ cate with one another by means of peculiar move­ ments of the body and antennre, by shrill sounds 299 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL (stridulation) and odours. (See H. MC COOK: Ant Communities and how they are Governed: A Study in Natural Civics. 1909.-c. v. RILEY : " Social Insects from Psychical and Evolutional Points of View," Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., 1894, 1.)

35. Page 122. INTELLIGENCE OF ANTS. DONISTHORPE considers ". ·.. that ants are not merely reflex machines; they possess senses somewhat similar to ours in effect, though not in degree, and in many of their actions they are influenced by education, experience and memory." According to DARWIN an ant's brain is about a quarter the size of a darning-needle's head, and the great naturalist considered the intelligence of this little insect one of the most remarkable wonders of nature and perhaps even more awe-inspiring than the brain of man. The same is expressed by the old Latin saying: "Ingenium formicae male habitat" (" The great genius of the ant dwells in a tiny space"). The life and activities of ants so resemble those of human beings that it is no wonder that not only popular belief but also many scientists have attributed intelligence to these tiny insects. MARSHALL, after relating the experience of PROF. LEUCKART's with the ants of his garden which have built an earthen­ bridge across the belt of tobacco-juice applied on a ~ree-trunk (see Note .39), remarks:-" All the philosophers, all the theologians of the ancient and modern times fail to convince me that this was simply 'instinctive' action of 'irrational' beings. If this was 'instinct,' I might call the invention of the steam-engine also ' instinct.' Both were fundamentally the same : clever, deliberated exploit- 300 NOTES ations of given circumstances." (See J. LUBBOCK: On the Senses, Instincts and Intelligence of Animals with special reference to Insects, 1888.-G. ROMANES; Animal Intelligence, 1883.-w. SWAINSON: On the Habits and Instincts of Animals, 1859.-c. H. TUR­ NER: "Do Ants Form Practical Judgments?" Biol. Bull., 1907, 333 ; "A Comparative Study of the brains of three genera of Ants," Journ. Comp. Neurol. and Psychol., 1913; "The Homing of Ants," Ibid., 1907.-w. M. WHEELER : " Ethological Observations on an American Ant (Leptothorax Emerson( Wheeler)," Arch. Psych. and Neurol., 1903, 93.-E. w. cox: " Intellect in Brutes (on Ants)," Nature, 1878, 315.-c. DARWIN: "Instinct, Perception in Ants," Nature, 1873, 443 ; " The Habits of Ants," Nature, 1873, 244.-w. F. KIRBY, "Mental Status ot Ants" (In Evolution and Natural Theology), 1883, 149; Marvels of Ant Life, 1898.­ J. LEIDY: "Circumspection of Ants," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila., 1877, 320.-R. VON OSTEN SACKEN: "A Remarkable Instance of Deliberation observed in an American Ant," Ent. M. Mag., 1902, 172.)

36. Page r28. FALLING FROM TREE-TOPS. In MARSHALL'S and DONISTHORPE's view, an ant can fall even from a height of 1,000 feet without the risk of breaking the neck or legs, on account of its lightness. In PROF. LEUCKART's experience with the ants of his garden (see Note 39), those of the ants which found themselves on the tree above the band smeared with tobacco-juice which they could not cross, helped themselves summarily. They retraced their steps, climbed the tree again and from the leaves dropped themselves to the earth. WARNER 301 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL states that workers of Formica rufa, in descending from a tree, dropped from leaf to leaf to save them­ selves trouble in reaching the ground. (See Science Gossip, 1871, p. 198.)

37. Page r48. WAR GAMES. One can often see ants performing actions which seem to have no meaning, and so we describe them as " games." This applies, above all, to the mimic battles which members of the same colony will carry out especially on sunny days, on the surface of the nests. GOULD mentions these " sports." Likewise HUBER, WASMANN and FOREL observed and described such mimic warfare among Formica rufa, pratensis and sanguinea. HUBER described these proceedings with particular clearness. "They hold one another by the hind legs and actually wrestle with one another, grasping the mandibles, legs, or antennre, one climbs upon the other's back and holds him fast, wrestles with him, throws him over, etc." However fierce the wrestling-bout may appear the wrestlers never hurt one another and never make use of their poison. But we must notice here that real battles among members of the same community also occur sometimes ; and civil war seems not to be absolutely unknown among ants. (See DONISTHORPE's paper, " Myrmecophilous Notes for 1920," in which he recounts a case of internal strife in a colony of M yrmecina gramini­ cola, Ent. Rec., 1921, 21.)

38. Page r5r. WARFARE AMONG ANTS. . LUBBOCK describes the manner of fighting and makmg war among ants, which we also corroborate 302 NOTES from personal observations. Anybody can witness how small ants will fight with larger ones and over­ come. them ~ither with their overwhelming number or with the1r shrewdness and military cleverness. The): ofte!1 t~ke the enemy by surprise, in ambush, holdmg him m shackles while one or more of the aggressors spring on his back from behind and bite off, or rather saw off, his head. Among many races of ants the victors have the habit of dragging the headless trunks of their conquered enemies to their own nests, most probably to hold, like our primeval ancestors assuredly did, cannibalistic feasts, devouring the corpses of their unlucky adversaries ; as LINCECUM describes, nothing re­ mains on the battlefield but thousands and thousands of severed heads, sometimes so thickly strewn that it looks as if somebody had scattered gunpowder all over the ground. The first scholar who has described a regular ant-battle was no less a person than the great humanist, JENEAS SYLVIUS (POPE PIUS n) in his Cosmographia Universalis. This battle took place somewhere at Bologna, around a dead pear-tree, in the middle of the fifteenth century (about 1440).1

1 NICHOLAS of PISTOJ A was eye-witness of this battle and has given a full report of it to the later Pope. The descrip­ tion of the latter is so vivid that it deserves to be related in extenso as we have never seen it reproduced by modern naturalists :- " Mira formicarum pugna. In agro Bononiensi pyrum quandam aridam ex minoribus formic~s pastus causa complures ascenderunt. Supervenere maJo~es no.n parvo numero, quae illas partim occiderunt, partim ?-eJecerun~. Post duas ferme horas tanta minorum form1carum vis exorta est, ut totus ager nigro tectus agmine videretur. 303 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL Also the Swedish naturalist, OLAF WORMIUS, observed two ant-battles, one of which was fought at Upsala and the other at Stockholm in the royal garden, both in the same year, r52r. Since then many ant-battles have been seen and described. The contentions and wars of ants have usually the same cause as those of men, namely, ill-will, greed, ambition and provocation. Every ant-colony, to a certain extent, has a personality of its own, like a human state or nation ; it possesses a territory, a· province which it regards as its own property in which no invading ant-neighbour dare venture. But as this occurs not infrequently, frictions, skir- _ mishes and even wars are unavoidable. A bush or tree with plant-lice (green-flies) is very often the apple of Eris among them. As a general rule the. contention is fought out to a finish and ends with the complete extermination of the defeated. The Accessere stipatae omnes, et arboris undique stipitem circumdantes paulatim ascendere coeperunt. Majores formicae ubi hostes adesse animadverterunt, conglobatae superne pugnam expectaverunt. Postquam simul acies convenere, commisso proelio majores morsu rabido modo illas, modo istas e minoribus interemere, tantumque brevi spatio confecerunt, ut cadentium morientiumque cumulus ad pyri radices non parvus in terra succreverit. Sed cum pertinacius instarent minores, semperque acies aciem premeret, vigintique aut plures unam ex hostibus circum­ darent, et a tergo, et a fronte pugnantes undequaque latera confoderent, victae tandem majusculae, et ad unum omnes necatae, illati prius temere proelii poenas dedere. Haec acta sunt spectantibus Romanae Ecclesiae copiis, cum Petri cathedram Eugenius quartus teneret. Ea nobis q~i se vidisse ait, vir fide dignus et authoritate retulit N1co~au~ Pisto?e?-sis . utroque jure consultus." (Pii II. P<;>nt~c1s Maxim1 Asiae Europaeque Elegantissima Des­ cnptio. Caput 53. Parisiis, 1534, pag. 435.) 304 NOTES fort o~ the weaker people, overcome by open war­ fare, 1s taken by storm and all the inhabitants, queens, workers, pupre, larvre, and eggs are de­ stroye?-, the las~ mentioned (eggs, larvre and pupre) sometimes earned away to be made into slaves. How sanguinary these battles may be is instanced by an example given by LINCECUM, who saw an ant-battle-ground in Texas on which two colonies of black tree-ants of the same species had fought, and on which w-ere spread 4-5 litres of dead (about 40,000 corpses). But wars are not always decided by the issue of one single battle ; they may last for days, weeks and months. MC COOK records of a great ant-war which took place in the neighbour­ hood of Philadelphia between two colonies of Tetramorium ccespitum. This war began early in the spring, continued during the whole summer, and ended in late autumn, breaking out from time to time afresh until the end was reached by one of the belligerent parties being completely wiped out. While the battle raged the corpses of the slain were collected and heaped by each side, which seems to have been a sign of piety for the heroes who gave up their life for the country of their larvahood. But there is no such thing as chivalry or nobility in their fighting rules ; on the contrary, anything is allowed which is capable of injuring the enemy and benefiting their own state. Contrary to the ways of other animals which only know, when they quarrel, individual fights, there exists a real art of warfare among ants; they have strategics. We see whole armies going to besiege another nest; we see them operating with milita!y tactics on an open field, and we cannot but adm1re . 305 u THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL the unity of thought which they display and the order which rules during the whole campaign without any superior officers, generals appearing to be at hand. " The battles of ants," says MAR­ SHALL, "are more worthy to inspire rhapsodians than the world-famous battle of Mice and Frogs; it is remarkable that they have not yet found their Homer." (See w. P. ALCOTT: "Battles of the Black Ants," Bull. Essex Inst., 1899, 64--G. c. BIGNELL: "Myrmica ruginodis making war on its own species," Ent. Month. Mag., 1892, 135, and Brit. Nat., 1892, ro3.-L. BIRO : " Hangya Ha.born (An Ant-Battle. In Hungarian)," Rovartani Lapok, 1885, 8r.-J. c. DALE: "A Battle between Ants of the Species Myrmica rubra and Myrmica cr:espitum," Mag. Nat. Hist., 1834, 267.-A. M. FIELDE : " A Cause of Feud between Ants of the same Species living in different Communities," Biol. Bull., 1903, 326.­ J. c. GOUDIE: "Fighting Ants," Victorian Natitr., 1905, 75.-J. A. HILL : " Fights between two Species of Ants," Victorian Natur., r905, 35. Regarding the Ant-Bee Battle described in Chapter XVII, see L. so6s: "Hangya-Darazsharcz (Battle between Ant and Wasp. In Hung.)," Rovart. Lapok, 1903, 17r.)

39. Page 170. ANT-BRIDGES. The African traveller DU CHAILLU relates how the Basiku-ants are never checked by a brook or small river when they come upon one in their wan~erings. Such paltry obstacles do not appear to hinder them in their march. Their scouts simply star~ work at once to build a bridge of their own bodies. The support for this generally consists of 306 NOTES the root of a tree or shrub on the bank to which some of the ants cling. Then they for~ a chain, each individual holding fast to the hind body or legs of those in front and in this manner they altogether build a very safe and long arch over which the whole army can pass. In the same way some ant-races can build ladders and suspension bridges in the air, between trees, from one branch or leaf to another. MR. E. E. GREEN, President of the Entomological Society of London, describes his personal observations in Ceylon in the year r9ro regarding such suspension bridges as follows:­ " Mr. Petch has drawn my attention to a living chain of Oecophylla smaragdina (' red ants ') spanning a gap of three inches in extent between the leaf of a shrub occupied by the insects and a plant immedi­ ately below. When first observed, the chain was some three insects thick and bifurcated above, being supported at the upper extremity by two ants to each branch of the chain. These supports held on to the leaf by their feet, and each firmly held in its jaws the foot of one of the next link in the chain. These, in their tum, were gripped by members below, and so on, while the base of the chain or column was held taut by the lowest members on the leaf below. This living chain was being utllised as a bridge or rather ladder, and other members of the colony were passing up and down over the bodies of their devoted comrades.'' This personal observation of a modem naturalist leaves no doubt whatever that the fabulous narrative of Miss Sibylle Merrian two hundred years ago (1726) on the ants of Surinam in South America, which she reported building chains from one tree to another serving 307 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL as bridges for their various expeditions, has not deserved the contempt with which LATREILLE, in his Histoire naturelle des Fourmis (1802), treated it, turning the lady's whole report into ridicule, the same way as the narrative of L. de Rougemont on " tree-climbing fishes " and " riding on tortoises," in North Australia, were unjustly stamped as idle Miinchauseniada on the day when they appeared, some twenty or thirty years ago. LEUCKART, Professor of Zoology at Giessen, has observed a somewhat different but not less remarkable engin­ eering feat of the ants. In order to protect in his garden a fruit-tree against these insects, he applied round the trunk of the tree a band smeared with tobacco-juice. After awhile he noticed with great astonishment that the ants returned to the tree, each carrying between the mandibles a small lump of earth wherewith they built a firm passage-a kind of stone bridge-across the obstacle. (See E. E. GREEN: Living Chain of Ants, Spolia Zeylanica, VII, 25, p. 55.) 40. Page r7r. FLOWERS AND ANTS. LUBBOCK gives very interesting and detailed notes on the different means of defence which flowers use against " undesirable " intruders such as ants and other wingless insects, which can only injure them without assisting them in the task of cross­ fertilisation by carrying off their pollen to other blossoms. (See J. LUBBOCK: British Wild Flowers considered in Relation to Insects, 1883.-J. G. GOOD­ CHILD : " Ants in Relation to Flowers," Trans. Edinb. Field Soc., 1903, ro.-HEIM: "The Biologic Relations between Plants and Ants," Ann. Rep. 308 NOTES Smithson Inst., 1898, 4n.-w. B. HEMSLEY: " So­ cial Life of Ants and Plants," Gard. Chron., 1883, 7r. -A. KERNER: Flowers and their Unbidden Guests (Transl. from German by W. Ogle), 1878.-E. L. RICHARDSON: "Ants and Sunflowers," Am. Natur., 1886, 296.-w. M. WHEELER : " An Ethological Study of Relations of Ants to Plants," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1906, 403.)

41. Page 182. ANT-TUNNELS.

LUBBOCK records the personal observation of REV. HAMLET CLARK, himself a naturalist, who actually discovered an ant-tunnel in South America, under the river Parahyba (Brazil), at a place where this river was about as broad as the Thames in London. DU CHAILLU relates among other subjects of his African travels that the Basiku-ants, so often mentioned by him, when in their wanderings they come to an open space where there are no trees to shade them from the glare of the sun, build a tunnel, to the next forest, in order to reach the aim of their expedition. These tunnels are dug sometimes 4-5 feet deep under the surface of the ground. DONIS­ THORPE observed in August, 1914, on Weybridge Heath, in Surrey, a large number of Donisthorpea fuliginosa attending their milch-cows (black Aphids) on some birch trees. It was almost impossible to discover whence the ants came to the tree, but even­ tually he found that they had constructed a tunnel, about an inch in diameter, just beneath the surface of the earth. This tunnel extended for six yards, when it entered a sandy bank in which their nest was situated. THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THUMMEL 42. Page 184 .. MARCH AND RETREAT. nu CHAILLU informs us that he once witnessed the passing of huge masses of ants which lasted without pause or break for full twelve hours. "One · cannot form any idea," the traveller writes, " of how many billions of ants made up this moving army. The ants marched in a line 5 cm. broad and several kilometres long. On both sides of the line marched big-headed ants which seemed, like officers, to keep the army in good marching order." LIVING­ STONE was witness of a gigantic battle between red and black ants. The latter, called by the natives Sirafu-ants, came off victors. The conquered red race, called Chungus, defended themselves like heroes, even in retreat, and sought at all price to save their eggs and larvre, holding them firmly in their mandibles when in flight. "No living being shows greater courage or rather fury in battle than these ants," says LIVINGSTONE of the Sirafu-ants. "They do not recognise any physical obstacle: they climb trees and mountains and even cross streams by building bridges."

43. Page 216. PRISONERS OF WAR. It is a fact that ants sometimes make regular prisoners of war instead of killing them in battle. They do this for a very curious reason : in order to take from them the sweet fluid contained in their crops. MR. M. E. MILLER recounts how he was eye-witness of an ant-battle in which the smaller ants outnumbered their much larger enemies, and became conquerors. To the great astonishment of the onlooker, the victors, instead of slaying the vanquished people to the last ant, carried many of 310 NOTES them away. The prisoners were shaken, pulled about and dragged to and fro by their captors until a sw~et drop appeared at their mouth, which was gre~d1ly absor_bed at once by their conquerors, during which the pnsoners could and many of them did escape.

44. Page 217. INVASION OF ANTS.1 It is not absurd exaggeration when Dr. Thiimmel continually speaks of many millions, even billions, of inv~ding and fighting ants. nu CHAILLU narrates of a night-attack of ants on a

l MR. ARTHUR LOVERIDGE gives, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society, London, 1922, a fully detailed account of an invasion of Siafu-ants which took place in Kilossa, former German East Africa, in July, 1921. From his report we give the following interesting extracts:- July 3rd . ... "At 8 a.m. I discovered we were being invaded by Siafu-ants (Dorylus nigricans) who were entering the stonework base of the house at half a dozen different points. Beetles were flying in numbers before the advanc­ ing host, frequently with one or more of the red furies attached to their hind legs. Wretched crickets and small grasshoppers were being dragged off, feebly waving the one or two legs that remained to them. The" Marmalade Ants" (Camponotus maculatus) were driven from their hiding-place and sought refuge amongst books and papers on the table. Jumping spiders cleared for their life with prodigious leaps; one black Carabid beetle clung to the table-cloth, etc. . . . Soldier sentries were stationed at intervals of two inches along the lines of the column, waiting with widely open jaws for any disturbers .... At 9 p.m. I procured wash-basin, soap-dish, etc., and placed them beneath the four feet of the bed which was yet un­ touched. These I hurriedly filled with water from the jug, raised the mosquito net and jumped in to accom- plish disrobing in some degree of comfort. " July 4th . ... "Towards sunset small lines issued from 3II THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL village in which he found himself just then. The whole village was suddenly swarming with enor­ mous masses of Basiku-ants, probably drawn there by the smell of a fresh killed antelope. All the inhabitants of the village turned out in full force to a hole at the base of the wall (outside) and entered another hole ; a second line was going in the reverse direction. Neither company bore any spoils, and their procedure seemed aimless and foolish unless, indeed, we suppose it was a practice route march for two companies to pass through each other without confusion. I have noticed this with Siafu-ants many scores of times. . . . " July 5th . ... " I retired to bed and despite the fact that the walls and floors were a crawling mass of live ants I slept in confident security until 2.30 a.m. when I was awakened by the slashing of a crocodile in the pan. Most of my creatures I had moved outside the previous day, but thought that the young crocodiles in their tanks could defy Siafu ; the tortoises had also been left in their pen outside the house. Heroically I decided to rise and go to the rescue, despite the ants on the floor. Untucking the net, therefore, I stretched forth a hand to turn up the lamp and encountered an ant on the handle; then I saw a few ants on my pillow and beheld two single lines moving up the net, one inside and the other outside the net. I examined the pans of water in which the bed-legs were standing : across one of these, at the head of the bed, a company of sappers had thrown a bridge composed of living ants upon which their comrades were coming and so up the net! I hurriedly splashed out enough oil on the bridge to cause its collapse, and in the water beneath many a gallant Horatius Siafu soldier lost his life.... The other pans being similarly treated to an accompani­ ment of rapidly moving feet, as if I were smitten with St. Vitus's dance, I went out to the crocodiles' cage. One poor beast, about fifteen inches in length, was revolving round and round in the water, belly and back being alter­ nately uppermost, while all the time he threshed water with his tail in an effort to rid himself of his inexorable assail- 312 NOTES defend t~emselves a~ainst ~he invaders. They built up fires m a great rmg to isolate the interior of the village in order to save their property and their own life against the small monsters. Not until dawn, when the ants had devoured everything edible, an.ts. The ~dges

45. Page 2I9. FORMIC ACID AND REPUGNATO­ RIAL ODOUR. LIVINGSTONE records that he found in South Africa very large black ants 2! cm. long, called by the natives Leshonya. These diffused a very dis­ agreeable odour which comes from a secretion that the ants when irritated squirt out from the end of the body; it must be an etherlike volatile because this smell is noticeable at the slightest interference with these insects. Having touched one of them with a stick six feet long, he noticed the smell even from this distance. LUBBOCK describes to us the defensive measures of the very tiny Cremastogaster sordidula against the much larger and stronger Formica cinerea. The first-mentioned species were, as the great naturalist tells us, just engaged in carrying off honey when the larger ants appeared and also wanted to reach the sweet fluid. They between the Lesser Stink Ants and Siafu. Beneath the doorstep where the affray took place a little heap of dirt and Siafu heads caught my eye. I therefore watched the entrance to the hole outside which it had accumulated, and presently a Stink Ant came to the opening and dropped a Siafu head, presently came another with a bit of grit, then one with another head and so on. I removed this dump and found that it was only the Siafu soldiers that had been beheaded ; the workers' bodies were intact. I counted a hundred corpses and estimated the remainder at seven hundred, which represented one day-and-night's work." 315 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL wished to drive away the smaller ants, but these raised their bodies, whereupon the enemy took to flight in wild disorder. It is quite clear that the powerful Formica cinerea were not frightened by the bodily strength of the Cremastogaster, but by the disagreeable smell of the poison emitted by them. DONISTHORPE points out that the common Formica rufa can shoot its acid to a distance of from six to twelve inches. (See P. J. AMOUREUX : "Observation on Ants and on the Poison of these Insects," Philos. Mag., 1800, 152.-G. LINCECUM: "Sweet-scented Ants," Am. Nat., 1874, 564.-A. L. MELANDER and c. J. BRUES : " The Chemical Nature of some Insects' Secretions," Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1906, 22.) 46. Page zzr. BATHING EXPERIMENTS. LUBBOCK'S experiment of bathing ants in the blood of strange ants in order to deceive the latter by the new scent, resulted in several cases that these did not detect that they had to deal with strangers, or at any rate, they were not un­ friendly towards them. The experiments of BETHE led to a similar result. He washed a few ants in alcohol in order to make them lose their own nest­ scent and then bathed them in the blood of a strange species. The ants so treated were received with friendliness in the strange nests and so completely were they changed by this operation that they were treated as enemies by their own mates when later on they were replaced in their original home. So it seems possible, among ants, to change friends into e~emies and enemies into friends if only for a short time, of course, until the new smell has vanished. 316 NOTES 4 7. Page 248. ANT-ASSEMBLIES. Sometimes it happens that in or outside of a nest a great number of ants may be seen crowding densely together, in the daytime, and remain so for a long while. Generally they have their heads turned towards one another and stay quite motion­ less, only the antennre and abdomens slowly moving to and fro. In this remarkable posture they remain for hours or even whole days as MISS FIELD (1901) observed of Stenamma fulvum~ DONISTHORPE re­ counts of the Formica rufa that in the early spring on sunny days he observed many times how these ants mass together in great number on the top of the hillock, not doing any work, only moving the antennre slowly. He thinks on such occasions they are only enjoying a sun-bath after the long winter sleep. What causes these assemblies and what is their meaning is uncertain. (ESCHERICH.)

48. Page 256. DECADENT ANT RACES. Most scientists hold the view that the slave­ making ants still in existence are degraded races, moving slowly towards their extinction. The Ama­ zon-ants (Polyergus rufescens), for example-as we have pointed out in Note 7-has degenerated to such a degree that they cannot even feed themselves by their own exertion, and without the aid of their slaves would starve. The equally slave-making sword-ants (Strongylognathus testaceus), which also live by robbery and plunder, can very rarely be found nowadays. They live as parasites in the nests of other ants, and are obviously going towards their extinction. All slave-making races have in all 317 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THOMMEL probability the same fate awaiting them. "It is not impossible," says ESCHERICH, " that the institu­ tion of slavery among ants was a long time ago universal, spread over the whole surface of the globe, but the slave-makers were superseded by those ant-races which live by their own work, and not by exploitation of other working races." The few sur­ viving species of slave-making ants seem to be the last remains of a bygone age, and are doomed one day to disappear entirely from the face of the earth. "The slave-making ants," LUBBOCK says, " represent an abnormal or perhaps only a temporary state of things, for slavery seems to tend in ants as in men to the degradation of those by whom it is adopted, and it is not impossible that the slave­ making species will eventually find themselves unable to compete with those which are more self­ dependent, and have reached a higher plane of civilisation. . . . In Anergates we come to the last scene of this sad history. We may safely con­ clude that in distant times their ancestors lived as many ants live now, partly by hunting, partly on honey ; that by degrees they became bold marauders and gradually took to keeping slaves; that for a time they maintained their strength and agility, though losing by degrees their real independence, their arts, a:i;id even many of their instincts, that gradually even their bodily force dwindled away under the enervating influence to which they had subjected themselves until they sank to their present degraded condition, weak in body and mind, few in numbers, and apparently nearly extinct, the miserable representatives of far superior ancestors, maintaining a precarious existence as contemptible 318 NOTES parasites of their former slaves." To this WHEELER adds the following remark: "Extreme parasitism in ants,. as in other organisms, tends continually to defeat its own ends and to undermine its own existence. The zoologist, as such, is not concerned with the ethical and sociological aspects of parasitism, but the series of ants we have been considering in these chapters (Social Symbiosis; Temporary Social Parasites; Facultative Slave-Makers; Obligatory Slave-Makers; Degenerate Slave-Makers and Per­ manent Social Parasites) cannot fail to arrest the attention of sociologists. He who without preju­ dice studies the history of mankind will note that many organisations that thrive on the capital accumulated by other members of the community, without an adequate return in productive labour, bear a significant resemblance to many of the social parasites among ants. This resemblance has been studied by sociologists who have also been able to point to the detailed coincidences and analogies between human and animal para­ sites. Space, and the character of this work, forbids a consideration of the various (human) parasitic and semi-parasitic institutions and organi­ sations-social, political, ecclesiastical and criminal -that have at their inception timidly struggled for adoption and support, and after having obtained these, have grown great and insolent, only to degen­ erate into nuisances, from which the sane and productive members of the community have the greatest difficulty in freeing themselves." (See w. M. WHEELER: "Social Parasitism among Ants," Journ. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1904, 74.; "A New Type of Social Parasitism among Ants," Bull. Am. 319 THE ANTS OF TIMOTHY THDMMEL Mus. Nat. Hist., 1904, 347; " Some Remarks on Temporary Social Parasitism among Ants," Biol. Centralbl., 1905, 637; "The Polymorphism of Ants, with an Account of some Singular Abnor­ malities due to Parasitism," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1907, I.-H. DONISTHORPE and w. C. CRAWLY: " Further Observations on Temporary Social Para­ sitism and Slavery in Ants," Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., 19n, 175.-H. PIERON : " On the Origin of Slavery and Parasitism in Ants," Nature, 1915, 351.-J. szAB6: "Magyarorszag rabszolgatart6 es eloskod& hangyai (The Slave-making and Parasitic Ants of Hungary. In Hung.)," Allatt. Kozl, 1914, 93.)

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