THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 107 



faculty acquires a marvellous development ; it supplies the 

 want of a language ; the ants talk to each other by touch. 

 One could not believe this if a careful observer had not de- 

 monstrated it, and yet the fact is so obvious that any one 

 can at any time verify it. When two of these intelligent 

 insects meet in their career, we see that they touch each 

 other differently with their antennae, and that after doing 

 this they seem to form some fresh resolution in consequence 

 of this tactile communication, which Huber calls aniennal 

 language. 



The following experiment, undertaken by this naturalist, 

 gives incontestable evidence in favor of the fact. Having 

 placed a colony of ants in a closed and darkened chamber, 

 he remarked that at first they all scattered in disorder ; but 



52. Claw of the Lion. 



he soon noticed that if an individual, in the course of his 

 peregrinations, discovered an outlet, he returned to the 

 midst of the others ; of these he touched a certain number, 

 and after this communication the whole population assem- 

 bled in regular lines, which marched out under the impulse 

 of one common thought, that of liberty regained. 



In all the large animals there are but two eyes ; in this 

 respect the smallest insect is infinitely better provided than 

 they are. The ant, the visual apparatus of which is one of 



