grid | 207intoxicated friends Data table
from Sir John Lubbock, Ants, Bees,
and Wasps (New York: D. Appleton
and Company, 1893). The author of
this experiment studied how ants
responded upon meeting either
“friends” (members of their own
colony) or “strangers.” In the first
experiment, the friends and strangers
were rendered unconscious with
chloroform. In the second
experiment, the ants were merely
intoxicated. The chloroformed
ants—whether friends or strangers—
were usually taken for dead and
pitched into a moat of water
surrounding the colony. The
intoxicated ants were treated with
more discrimination. Many of the
drunken friends were taken back to
the nest for rehab ilitation, whereas
drunken strangers were generally
tossed in the moat. Ants, one might
conclude, should not rely on the
kindness of strangers.
don’t rely on the kindness of strangers