ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. 47 



I then placed a heap of fine moukl close to the grass, but just so far 

 that they could still not reach across. It would have been of course 

 quite easy for any ant, by moving a particle of earth for a quarter of 

 an inch, to have made a bridge by which the food might have been 

 reached, but this simple expedient did not occur to them. On the other 

 hand, I then put some provisions in a shallow box with a glass top, 

 and a single hole on one side, and put some specimens of Lasius 

 niger to the food. As soon as a stream of ants was at work, busily 

 carrying supplies off to the nest, and when they had got to know 

 the way thoroughly, I poured some fine mould in front of the hole 

 so as to cover it up to a depth of about half an inch. I then took 

 out the ants which were actually in the box. As soon as they 

 had recovered from the shock of this unexpected proceeding on my 

 part, they began to run all around and about the box, looking for 

 some other place of entrance. Finding none, however, they began 

 digging down into the earth just over the hole, carrying ofi" the 

 grains of earth one by one, and depositing them, without any order, all 

 round at a distance of from half an inch to six inches, until they had 

 excavated dov/n to the doorway, when they again began carrying oif 

 the food as before. This experiment I repeated on the following days 

 three or four times, always with the same result. 



As evidence both of theiri intelligence and of their aifection for 

 their friends, it has been said by various observers that when ants 

 have been accidentally buried they have been very soon dug out 

 and rescued by their companions. Without for a moment doubting 

 the facts as stated, we must remember the habits which ants have of 

 burrowing in loose fresh soil, and especially their practice of digging 

 out fresh galleries when their nests are disturbed. It seemed to me, 

 however, that it would not be difiicult to test whether the exca- 

 vations made by ants under the circumstances were the result of this 

 general habit, or really due to a desire to extricate their friends. 

 With this view I tried (20th of August) the following experiments ^ 

 I placed some honey near a nest of Lasius niger on a glass sui^ 

 rounded with water, and so arranged that in reaching it the ants 

 passed over another glass covered with a layer of sifted earth about 

 one-third of an inch in thickness. I then put some ants to the 

 honey, and by degrees a considerable number collected round it. 

 Then, at 1.30 p. sr., I buried an ant from the same nest under the 

 earth, and left her there till 5 p. m., when I uncovered her. She 

 was none the worse, but during the whole time not one of her friends 

 had taken the least notice of her. 



Again, September 1st, I arranged some honey in the same way. 

 At 5 p. M. about fifty ants were at the honey, and a considerable 

 number were passing to and fro. I then buried an ant as before, of 

 course taking one from the same nest. At 7 p. m. the number of 

 ants at the honey had nearly doubled. At 10 p. m. they were still 



