Help with a little book...

Posted this a week ago on an American forum... but no luck.

Maybe an American can help me. I'm looking for a pdf of a booklet but only one site gives it. This is the book:

https://books.google.be/books/…=3nMeAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

On the site you can see it was made as a pdf by the University of Minnesota. So there you can go to

http://www.omnia.ie/index.php?…92505b49b2375d04a&repid=2

Here they refocus your attention to

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009663091

And here is the problem. The only site for me now is to go to

https://www.worldcat.org/title…enforschung/oclc/25736722

where they only have references to 24 books you can find to rent. closest to me is in Leiden, The Netherlands. Not good for me, restrictions to go to other countries. So back to

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009663091

Can one or other American get this book as pdf from the website and send it to me (on my personal email.)? Thank you very, very much.

Now, why is this book so important for me? It was written in 1920, so 100 years ago, and though it was really good for those myrmecologists at that time, it is old and probably for a big part out of date. So, why is it important for me?

H. Kutter was one of those great myrmecologists that I personally contacted. It was about Kutter, H., 1978, “Hymenoptera: Formicidae.” Insecta Helvetica, Fauna 6a: 404 ills. This book is a supplement to Kutter, H., 1977, “Hymenoptera, Formicidae.” Insecta Helvetica, Fauna 6: 1-298. At that moment I had Fauna 6 and was looking for Fauna 6a. At last, without a copy found, I wrote Kutter. Sadly, his answer came and he told me there weren’t any exemplars left of the little book (Lucky for me, I found an exemplar by a second hand bookstore and still have it in my collection.). This was in the last years of his life.

Kutter was one of the great myrmecologists that came from Switzerland. He was a student from A.-H. Forel and just like Forel, aSwiss neuroanatomist and psychiatrist, Kutter was a Swiss pharmacist with his own Ant Pharmacy („Ameisenapotheke“). His research about ants was a “great hobby” for him that made him one of the great myrmecologists. Like you can see in his Fauna 6, it was a very big and incredible job to do.

But there was still one more thing great about him, he discovered that little ant Teleutomyrmex schneideri, the Final Ant, Kutter, H., 1950, “Über eine neue, extrem parasitische Ameise. 1. Mitteilung.” Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 23: 81-94. The description of this species took 14 pages, but the original series took 100 pages, in total 4 articles, his article, Stumper, R., 1951, “Teleutomyrmex schneideri Kutter (Hym. Formicid.). II. Mitteilung. Über die Lebensweise der neuen Schmarotzerameise.” Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 24: 129-152, Brun, R., 1952, “Das Zentralnervensystem von Teleutomyrmex Schneideri Kutt. (Hym. Formicid.). III. Mitteilung.” Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 25: 73-86 and Gösswald, K., 1953, “Histologische Untersuchungen an der arbeiterlosen Ameise Teleutomyrmex schneideri Kutter (Hym. Formicidae).” Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 26: 81-128. All this work was reviewed and more in Kutter, H., 1968 ("1969"), “Die sozialparasitischen Ameisen der Schweiz.” Neujahrsblatt. Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich 171: 1-62.

After 24 years in his life he published a little book about ants and how to keep them, Kutter, H., 1920, “"Gehe hin zur Ameise!" Anleitung zur selbständigen Ameisenforschung.” Naturwissenschaftliche Beobachtungsbücher 1-2: 164 pp. What he thought and what he wished about ants is included in it and it is the almost “starting point” about his ant-work. His publications run from 1913 to 1986 and are very important for Europe. So, why can’t they put it online? The book-series/magazine is already death, the author is death, all his publications are for the rest free to read (except a very few of them… including this little book!). Maybe, on a beautiful day…

Zitat von ice_trey

You could get a reprint on demand there for under 30€/30$ (on the .de site it says not available, on the .com site it is? ), but it will be printed in India and needs a lot of time for shipping, up to some months. Of course it is no original from 1920, but the text is not changed at all etc., you could get a fresh book with the original content. Who knows, maybe the provider would also send a PDF-file for an similar amount...

Hope this is helpful for you?

Hallo,

There is one problem with this site: If you want to contact the provider you have to login, but if you don't have that you need to make an account... and that page doesn't exist...

Got an account... Asked if it was available as a pdf... Got as answer: yes... Asked how much it was for a pdf... And then, a big nothing! So I give it up...

Let me start with a small correction of the reference:

Kutter, H., 1920, “”Gehe hin zur Ameise!” Anleitung zur selbständigen Ameisenforschung.” Naturwissenschaftliche Beobachtungsbücher 1-2: viii + 165 pp.

The time the book was written is 1920, publication time, so in reality it must have been written in 1918-1919, a hard/though post-war time. So, with great respect, it is an incredible prestation to write a book about ants. And I must say, it is a fantastic little gem.

First the “Vorwort.” (p. iii-iv), a small but great introduction from the world around us to the world of the ants. In it is already a first mention that it is a general review and not an in-depth study of the ants of Switzerland. So, he won’t give everything known about those insects but invites us to study them and discover things already known and new!

Chapter one: “Allgemeine Orientierung.” (p. 1-7). Why are ants interesting and how should we study them? In it, there is a general review about how we can study ants and that we will not leave them alone afterwards…

Chapter two: “Die Ameisen und die wichtigsten Tatsachen aus ihrem Leben.” (p. 8-29). In this chapter he gives the most important things from the life of these insects. A total of 21 steps gives a very good view of the extraordinary life’s of these little creatures. And he is also in favour of ants communicating with chemical substances…

Chapter three: “Die Exkursionsausrüstung und ihr Gebrauch etc.” (p. 30-48). A very good introduction to the way how we can go on a tour to collect ants and how to keep them at home. In it is a complete guide about what you need to collect ants and a first step to keep them at home.

Chapter four: “Die künstlichen Beobachtungsnester, ihre Nebenapparate und die Ameisenzucht.” (p. 49-97). Here you get a very good review of how to keep ants for scientific reasons and technics about how to introduce queens in alien nests. It does not include some of the more modern ant-keeping ways but the chapter is surprisingly well written.

Chapter five: “Präparation und Sammlung.” (p. 98-105). A very good introduction about how to make a dry preparation and how to organise your collection. Some products used are a little bit old and should now be replaced but that does not reduce the quality of the technics used.

Chapter six: “Reiseausrüstung, Fragen der Tiergeographie etc.” (p. 106-112). The part about the “Reiseausrüstung” is good and is an amendment on chapter three. But the second part of this chapter isn”t very good. For questions about animal geography this little booklet is way too old.

Chapter seven: “Die Bedeutung der Ameisen.” (p. 113-118). This chapter starts very well, only the figures about how many species of ants there are on the world are old. But the second part, about the extermination materials for ants, is very old and should be omitted. It gets great again when talking about myrmecochoric plants.

Chapter eight: “Unsere einheimischen Ameisen.” (p. 119-161). This chapter is again very good but old. The very good part is about what kind of individuals are found in a nest, their differences, the parts of the worker ant (also some internal structures!), which animals will be determined and a list of authors.
The last 30 pages of the chapter are about the determination of the Swiss ants. In these pages you can find these ants (52 sp., v. and r.):

Camponotus vagus Scop.
Camponotus herculeanus L.
Camponotus herculeanus r. ligniperdus Latr.
Camponotus aethiops Latr.
Colobopsis truncates Spin.
Formica sanguinea Latr.
Formica execta Nyl.
Formica rufa L.
Formica rufa r. pratensis Retzius.
Formica rufa r. truncicola Nyl.
Formica fusca r. fusca L.
Formica fusca r. glebaria Nyl.
Formica fusca r. rufibarbis F.
Formica fusca r. cinerea Mayr.
Polyergus rufescens Latr.
Lasius fuliginosus Latr.
Lasius flavus F.
Lasius umbratus Nyl.
Lasius niger L.
Lasius emarginatus Ol.
Lasius brunneus Latr.
Plagiolepis pygmaea Latr.
Myrmica rubida Latr.
Myrmica rubra r. levinodis Nyl.
Myrmica rubra r. ruginodis Nyl.
Myrmica scabrinodis Nyl.
Myrmica lobicornis Nyl.
Myrmica rugulosa Nyl.
Myrmica sulcinodis Nyl.
Tetramorium caespitum L.
Strongylognathus testaceus Schenck.
Strongylognathus huberi r. huneri For.
Strongylognathus huberi r. alpinus Wheeler.
Anergates atratulus Schenck.
Leptothorax acervorum F.
Leptothorax nylanderi Först.
Leptothorax tuberum r. tuberum F.
Leptothorax tuberum r. unifasciatus Latr.
Leptothorax tuberum r. affinis Mayr.
Harpagoxenus sublaevis Nyl.
Formicoxenus nitidulus Nyl.
Solenopsis fugax Latr.
Myrmecina graminicola Latr.
Aphaenogaster subterranean Latr.
Messor structor Latr.
Cremastogaster scutellaris Ol.
Pheidole pallidula Nyl.
Pheidole anastasii v. cellarum For.
Monomorium pharaonic L.
Tapinoma erraticum Latr.
Dolichoderus quadripunctatus L.
Ponera coarctata Latr.

It is a simplified determination key. A bigger/fuller key you can find in Forel 1915. Also, some of the species discovered by himself aren’t yet found, most importantly Teleutomyrmex schneideri, described in 1950, Doronomyrmex pacis, described in 1945, Leptothorax arcanus, described in 1973, and so on, not even including new found species, etc.
It is an old list but, for that time, a relative good one. Like he says, Forel 1915 is for specialists.

Chapter nine: “Literatur.” (p. 162-164). For that time it is a great reference list, for Switzerland and general books.

And finally “Nachwort.” (p. 165). Kutter thanks all the people who helped him with his book and dates it on “März 1920”.

In general, this is a very good book about ants, here and there a little bit old but for the most part very good. Only his list about Swiss ants is an old one. For those who can read it, do it and learn from it!
But if you look now at Seifert, 2018…. What a difference! For that moment in time, 100 years ago, Kutter must have been a good introduction to the study of ants! So…

Yes, I hope you can see that. Got it form Emse, on Ameisenportal.de ...

Got finally an answer.... but it is not needed any more

---------

SN Books World <snbooksworld@gmail.com>
Wo 12/08/2020 23:44

Aan: U

Dear Customer
The Printable(Scanned) PDF of the title would cost you only 20.91 USD.

You can directly pay us on our paypal ID: xx

We are extremely sorry for the delayed response, due to COVID-19 there was a lockdown imposed over here.

Thanks and Regards

S N Books World Team