The British Journal of Animal Behaviour最新文献

Summaryo

1. 1.

   Experiments were carried out with populations of a queen and about eight workers of Monomorium pharaonis (L.) kept at constant temperature in very artificial conditions. Foodsharing occurred between the members of the group; workers fed the queen and each other, very rarely the queen fed a worker. The behaviour associated with food-sharing is described. The activity of the ants was variable and sometimes none of them moved for a few minutes, this inertia was broken by spontaneous movements of one ant which disturbed its neighbours.

2. 2.

   When a new source of food (rabbit liver) was added the behaviour of the population altered. Foragers, who appeared to find the food by undirected search, returned to the nest and entered in an “excited” way, which is described. This excited behaviour caused all but one or two of the workers in the nest cell to leave the cell and feed at the liver. After a variable time the workers returned to the nest cell. The queen, who rarely foraged, was not fed at once by the returned workers, and often she solicited food without success for 20 minutes.

3. 3.

   The methods by which Monomorium pharaonis workers communicate with one another are discussed in relation to those of other social insects. The significance of washing in their behaviour is also discussed.

Summaryo

1. 1.

   A survey of studies of maze learning indicates two progressive series with respect to increasing rate and limits of complexity: (a) an invertebrate series from Annelida to Insects, and (b) a vertebrate series from fish to mammal.

2. 2.

   There is no reason to assume arbitrarily the necessary superiority of all vertebrate to all invertebrate forms in terms of learning capacity. The previously troublesome fact that fishes and frogs learn less efficiently than cockroaches and ants, for example, is consistent with the morphological divergence of chordate and annulate stocks at a very early stage of metazoan evolution.

Summaryo

1. 1.

   Observations were made on the behaviour of 76 herd bulls on 216 occasions of semen collecting.

2. 2.

   The behaviour of bulls in the Chillingham herd of Wild White Cattle was observed and one feature of their behaviour is discussed.

3. 3.

   Constancy in behaviour of bulls was observed.

4. 4.

   According to the behaviour observed on each visit the disposition of each bull was recorded in one of six groups A,B,C,D,E, and F.

5. 5.

   The behaviour pattern of each group is briefly described.

6. 6.

   Young bulls are seen to be of stable personality.

7. 7.

   Adult beef bulls are shown to reveal mainly docile behaviour.

8. 8.

   Adult bulls of dairy breeds are shown to have wide variation in behaviour and a great many to be neurotic.

9. 9.

   Neurosis is thought to be revealed by the behaviour of all the bulls in groups D, E and F.

10. 10.

    A theory on the aetiology of this neurosis is put forward and is based on the conflict of two factors—libido and threat in environment.

11. 11.

    The threat display of the bull is described as occurring in aggression, being different to that demonstrated in apprehension.

Summaryo

1. 1.

   The activity of a honeybee queen affected both the number of her attendants and the proportion licking her. The mean number attending the queen in the summer was six while she was moving over the comb, eight when laying, and ten when stationary. During the summer one out of eighty-nine attendants licked the queen while she was moving, compared with one out of twenty-four while egglaying, and one out of nine when stationary.

2. 2.

   There was no appreciable change in the number of attendants after swarm preparations had started, or in the proportion of attendants licking and examining the queen.

3. 3.

   Less interest was shown in the queen during the winter period, and at this time she was only very occasionally licked.