Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XCVI · Topic 15: Ants
96. How to make the Lubbock ant-nest optional
Goal: With an adult, your child can make or set up a simple observation nest and move a small group of ants into it for watching.
You'll need
- A ready-made ant observation habitat, or two clear plastic sheets (picture-frame plastic), thin wood strips and a shallow tray
- A pan or tray of water to stand it in (Comstock's moat)
- A trowel and a large jar with a lid
- A dark cloth or card to cover the nest
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
Lesson XCVI is a building project, not a set of questions: a list of materials, directions for making Lubbock's nest of two panes of glass with a thin layer of earth between them, standing on a plank with a water-filled moat, and directions for digging up a small colony with a fruit jar and trowel and moving it in. A second design, the Fielde nest, follows.
The lesson, step by step
Read the plan
Read Comstock's directions on the book page together. The key ideas are simple:
This furrow is to be filled with water, as a moat, to keep the ants imprisoned.
Cover the glass with a thin layer of fine earth.
A thin layer between two clear sheets means the ants can't hide: every tunnel is against the glass.
Safety: the adult's part
Comstock's nest needs cut window glass, tin and a plank with a cut furrow. Cutting glass and tin is adult work, and many families use clear plastic or buy a ready-made ant habitat instead. If you build it, sand any cut edges smooth.
Build a simple version
Lay one clear sheet on the tray. Glue thin wood strips around its edges, a little taller than an ant, leaving one corner open as a door. Spread a thin layer of fine, slightly damp soil. Lay the second sheet on top. Stand the tray in a wider pan of water: that is the moat. Make a cover of dark cloth or card.
Find a colony
Armed with these, visit some pasture or meadow near by, and find under some stone, a small colony of ants which have plenty of eggs and larvæ.
Use a common small black or brown ant, never fire ants or any ant that stings. Scoop a small handful of ants, young and soil into the jar, and leave most of the colony where it is.
Move them in
Tip the jar out on top of the cover, near the door.
The ants will soon find the way into the nest through the cut corner of the upper pane of glass, and will transfer their larvæ to it because it is dark.
But, since light disturbs the little prisoners, the cover should be removed only for short periods.
Nature notebook
Draw the nest from above and from the side, and label the glass, the soil, the door, the cover and the moat. Write the day the ants moved in.
Afterwards
Keep the soil a little damp (Comstock uses a wet sponge or blotter between the panes) and give the ants a drop of sugar water and a crumb every few days. When your observations are done, in a few weeks, return the ants to the same stone.