Wasmann, Lautueiungen der Ameisen. 39 



Lautiierinigeu der Ameisen. 

 Von E. Wasmann 8. J. 



Wemi es gelingt iiadr/uweisen , duss Auieiseu durch IJeibnng be- 

 stimmter Krperteile Laute hervorzubringen vermgen, die selbst fr 

 unser Ohr hrbar sind, so wchst die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass diese 

 Tiere auch ein wirkliches Gehrsvermgen besitzen \). Landois und 

 Lubbock erwhnten bereits mutmaliche Schrillorgane an dem Hinter- 

 leibe einiger Ameisen, ohne jedoch den obigen Nachweis erbringen zu 

 knnen. Es wird deshalb von Interesse sein, wenn ich eine Stelle 

 ber die Lautuerungen indischer Ameisen aus einer krz- 

 licli erschienenen Arbeit von Robert Wroughton (Onr Ants in: 

 Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 1892) hier wrtlich mitteile (1. c. S. 15): 



,,I am almost certain, that I have heard such sounds. When one 

 of the large brown-paper^' nests of Cremastogaster Kogenhoferi is 

 violently and suddenly disturbed, the ants swarm out in thousands, 

 ,,wagging-' their abdomens, in the manner so characteristic of Cremasto- 

 gaster when excited; at such tinies a distinct hissing sound is audible, 

 as if red-hot cinder had been plunged into water. I had always ac- 

 counted for this by sup])osing it was caused by the material of the 

 nest under the feet of the ants, and a similar, though fainter sound, 

 which may be heard when a large nest of Cami)onotus or Polyrhachis 

 spinigera is disturbed, by the rubbing togetlier of the bodies of the 

 ants, who are all in violeut movement at onee. The passage from 

 Lubbock quoted above, however, leads me to think, that tliis is not 

 so, but that the audible noise is the sum of the individual stridulations 

 (f countless ants. The ,.tail- wagging" of Cremastogaster, would ac- 

 count for the sound made by them being louder, though they are so 

 much smaller than Cam^tonotus or Polyrhachis. I had asked Mr. 

 Aitken to make some experiments to check the results I thought I had 

 obtained. Members will no doubt recognize his band in the following 

 characteristic note which fully supports my contention. ,,1 do not need 

 to experimeut. The roar raised by a sipiadrou of Lobopelta^), if you 

 poke at them with a straw, does not require to be listened for with 

 your hand to your ear. I should like however to know something about 

 the Organs, by which it is produced. Military drums! I sliould think"". 



Dr. Aug. Forel berichtete schon vor fast zwanzig Jahren ber 

 ein eigentmliches, in einem Gerusche bestehendes Alarmsignal bei 

 unseren europischen Camponotus (Fourmis d. 1. 8uisse p. 354): 



Le Signal de l'alarme est tres particulier; non seulement les 

 Camponotus se frappent vivement et coups repetes les uns les autres, 

 mais en meme temps il frappent le sol deux ou trois fois de suite 



1) Vergl. ,Zur Frage nach dem Gehrsvermogen der Ameisen". Biolog. 

 Centralbl., IX, Nr. 1, S. 26 u. 27. 



2) Ponerideu von meist mittlerer Gre. 



