502 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



gnaw throngli the muslin by which its mouth was closed. This on the 

 seventh day they succeeded in doing, when they killed the imprisoned 

 strangers. " The friends throughout were quite neglected," so that this 

 experiment, as Sir John observes, seems to show that *' in these curious 

 insects hatred is a stronger passion than affection." This experiment 

 always gave the same result in the case of this species ; but, when 

 tried with Formica rufesceiis, the ants took no notice of either bottle, 

 and showed no signs either of affection or hatred ; so that, as Sir John 

 again observes, " one is almost tempted to surmise that the spirit of 

 these ants is broken by slavery " i. e., by the habit of keeping slaves. 



But there is no lack of evidence to show, joer contra^ that the 

 tenderer emotions have a place in ant-psychology. Even the hard- 

 hearted species which Sir John Lubbock observed grew sympathetic 

 toward sick or injured friends. Thus he observed that a specimen 

 of F. fusca^ which was congenitally destitute of antennae, and which 

 had been attacked by an ant of another species, excited the sympathy 

 of a friend on being placed near her own nest. This friend " examined 

 the poor sufferer carefully, then j^icked her up tenderly, and carried 

 her away into the nest. It would have been difficult for any one who 

 witnessed this scene to have denied to this ant the possession of 

 humane feelings." Again, Moggridge has seen one ant carry another 

 sick and apj^arently dead ant "down the twig which formed their 

 path to the surface of the water, and, after dipping it in for a minute, 

 carry it laboriously up again, and lay it in the sun to dry and re- 

 cover." 



But some species of ants seem habitually to show affection and 

 sympathy even toward healthy companions in distress. Thus Belt 

 writes of the Eciton humata, that " one day watching a small column 

 of these ants, I placed a little stone on one of them to secure it. The 

 next that approached, as soon as it discovered its situation, ran back- 

 ward in an agitated manner, and soon communicated the intelligence 

 to the others. They rushed to the rescue," and by their concerted 

 action effected the release of their companion. Similarly ants of this 

 species which Belt buried were always dug out by their friends. To 

 quote one such instance, the ant which first found the buried one 



tried to pull her out, but could not. It immediately set off at a great rate, 

 and I thought it had deserted her comrade, but it had only gone for assistance; 

 for in a short time about a dozen ants came hurrying up, evidently fully informed 

 of the circumstances of the case, for they made directly for their imprisoned 

 comrade and set him free. I do not see how this could be instinctive. It was 

 sympathetic help, such as men only among the higher mammalia show. The 

 excitement and ardor with which they carried on their unflagging exertions for 

 the rescue of their comrade could not have been greater if they had been human 

 beings. 



Ford and McCook have also observed displays of sympathy and affec- 

 tion by other species. 



