We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary
creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war on them, for
they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. They sting or
bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights,
or beat against our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant
insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths. Reading
about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears. Knowing
that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to
prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them
crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like
honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which
bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are
unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however,
insects are strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially
when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible
lives. We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business,
unaware (we hope) of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a
spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an
enormous dead beetle?#
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up
the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a
sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it
has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces
luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the tree
were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny insects called aphids were to be
found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony of
ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on an
experiment which, even though if failed to get rid of the ants, kept me
fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky
tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphids. The tape was so
stick that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time. I watched them
scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at
midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants
were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything
about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given
up in despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were
climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. I
realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The
ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!&