ANTS MEMORY. 43 



vere thus so certainly recognised by their kindred ants 

 as friends had never, even in the state of an egg, been 

 present in that division of the nest before. On this highly 

 remarkable fact Sir John Lubbock says : 



These observations seem to me conclusive as far as they go, 

 and they are very surprising. In my experiments of last year, 

 though the results were similar, still the ants experimented 

 with had been brought up in the nest, and were only removed 

 after they had become pupae. It might therefore be argued 

 that the ants, having nursed them as larvae, recognised them 

 when they came to maturity ; and though this would certainly 

 be in the highest degree improbable, it could not be said to be 

 impossible. In the present case, however, the old ants had ab- 

 solutely never seen the young ones until the moment when, 

 some days after arriving at maturity, they were introduced into 

 the nest ; and yet in all ten cases they were undoubtedly recog- 

 nised as belonging to the community. 



It seems to me, therefore, to be established by these experi- 

 ments that the recognition of ants is not personal and indi- 

 vidual ; that their harmony is not due to the fact that each 

 ant is individually acquainted with every other member of the 

 community. 



At the same time, the fact that they recognise their friends 

 even when intoxicated, and that they know the young born in 

 their own nest even when they have been brought out of the 

 chrysalis by strangers, seems to indicate that the recognition is 

 not effected by means of any sign or pass- word. 



We must, therefore, conclude with reference to this 

 subject that the mode whereby recognition is undoubtedly 

 effected is as yet wholly unintelligible ; and I have 

 introduced these facts under the heading of memory only 

 because this heading is not more inappropriate than any 

 other that could be devised for their reception. 



It ought here to be added also that the power of 

 thus recognising members of their community is not con- 

 fined by the limits of blood-relationship, for in an experi- 

 ment made by Forel it was shown that Amazon ants 

 recognised their own slaves almost instantaneously after 

 an absence of four months. 



Under this heading I may also adduce the evidence as 

 to enormous masses, or, as we might say, a whole nation 

 of ants recognising each other as belonging to the same 



