Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XCVII · Topic 15: Ants
97. Ants in an artificial nest
Goal: Your child can describe an ant's body and antennæ, and watch how worker ants feed each other and care for the eggs, larvæ and pupæ.
You'll need
- The ant nest from Lesson XCVI (or a natural nest under a stone)
- A drop of sugar water or honey on a scrap of card
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
Comstock's story of ant anatomy and ant life in the nest: the slender waist, the busy antennæ, how she timed an ant walking along her ruler, and how nurses care for the young. Then Lesson XCVII's leading thought, method and twelve questions.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Any time you have an ant nest set up indoors, or in summer at a natural nest. Take the cover off the nest for a few minutes at a time only.
Keep the big idea in mind
Comstock's "leading thought" is the one idea the lesson is meant to lead to. Read it to yourself now, and save it to share at the end, after your child has looked and answered:
The ants are very devoted to their young and perhaps the care of them is the most interesting feature in the study of the artificial nest.
An ant's body
Look through the glass with the hand lens.
What is there peculiar about the shape of the ant's body? Can you see which section bears the legs? Are the ants' legs long compared with her body? Can she run rapidly?
Note how the ant keeps her antennæ in motion. Note how she gropes with them as a blind person with his hands. Note how she uses them in conversing with her companions.
Mealtime
Put the card with sugar water near the door.
See how an ant eats syrup. How do ants feed each other?
Watch for two ants face to face, one passing a drop to the other.
The nursery
Note the way the ants feed their young. How do they keep them clean?
Describe an egg, a larva and a pupa of the ant and tell how they differ. Do you know which ant is the mother of the larvæ in the nest?
Do you find larvæ of different sizes all together in your nest?
Put it into words
Ask your child to tell you, like a reporter, what one ant did for five minutes. Then read the leading thought aloud.
Nature notebook
Draw an ant large from the side (head, thorax with six legs, slender waist, abdomen), and below it an egg, a larva and a pupa in a row.
Afterwards
Watch for a new worker coming out of her pupa skin. Comstock's question 10 asks how the nurses help this "callow" ant.