PASSAGE C
The communities of ants are
sometimes very large, numbering even up to 500,000 individuals; and it is a
lesson to us that no one has ever yet seen a quarrel between any two ants
belonging to the same community. On the other hand, it must be admitted that
they are in hostility not only with most other insects, including ants of
different species, but even with those of the same species if belonging to
different communities. I have over and over again introduced ants from one of
my nests into another nest of the same species: and they were invariably
attacked, seized by a leg or an antenna, and dragged out.
It is evident, therefore, that the
ants of each community all recognize one another which is very remarkable. But
more than this, I several times divided a nest into two halves and found that
even after separation of a year and nine months they recognized one another and
were perfectly friendly, while they at once attacked ants from a different
nest, although of the same species.
It has been suggested that the
ants of each nest have some sign or password by which they recognize one
another. To test this I made some of them insensible. First I tried chloroform;
but this was fatal to them, and I did not consider the test satisfactory. I
decided therefore to intoxicate them. This was less easy than I had expected.
None of my ants would voluntarily degrade themselves by getting drunk. However I
got over the difficulty by putting them into whiskey for a few moments. I took
fifty specimens- twenty five prevent from one nest and twenty five percent from
another, made them dead drunk, marked each with a spot of paint, and put them
of a table close to where other ants from one of the nests were feeding. The
table was surrounded as usual with a moat of water to prevent team from
straying. The ants that were feeding soon noticed those that I had made drunk.
They seemed quite astonished to find their comrades in such a disgraceful
condition, and as much at a loss to know what to do with their drunkards as we
were.
After a while, however, they carried them all away; the strangers they
took to the edge of the moat and dropped into the water, while they bore their
friends home into the nest, where by degrees they slept off the effects of the
spirits. Thus it is evident that they know there friends even when incapable of
giving any sign or password.
12.
A good title for this passage might be:
A.
Nature’s Mysteries
B.
Human Qualities in the Insect world
C.
Drunken Ants
D.
Communication in Ant Communities
13.
Attitudes of ants toward strangers of the same
species may be categorized as:
a.
Indifferent
b.
Curious
c.
Hostile
d.
Passive
Answers and Explanations
12.
D
Since the passage talks about how ants do/ do not communicate, thus this
is the right answer
13.
C Since the ants reject others of the same
species who do not belong to their nest, therefore the correct answer is
hostile.
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