306 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [-^W-, 



mutilated ants did not offer to catch the strange insects, Ijut the 

 unmutilated sisters lost no time in catching them. Only one of 

 the 12 mutilated ants ate food, the other 11 stood quietly by the 

 food as if ready to attack an enemy. All of the 12 unmutilated ants 

 greedily ate the food. 



Fifty workers of Formica were removed one at a time from the 

 large glass cage. The funiculi of each were cut off and then the 

 insect was returned to the cage. A small drop of yellowish blood 

 exuded from every wound. Each mutilated ant was quite irritable 

 and invariably attacked one or more sisters, and as a result several 

 ants were killed. 



The funiculi of 2 soldiers, 10 large workers, and 7 small Avorkers 

 of Camporiotus were cut off. These mutilated sister ants were then 

 put into a Fielde nest. For three hours thereafter they were quite 

 irritable and fought each other, then they became very inactive and 

 when tested with oil of peppermint, they responded slowly by 

 moving away. The next day they were still quite inactive and 

 "paid no attention" to anything, except when they came in contact 

 with each other, they still fought one another. When tested with 

 odors they failed to respond. At no time did they eat or drink. 



The funiculi of 30 winged virgin females of Formica Avere cut off. 

 When each antenna was severed a small pencil brush wet with 95 

 per cent, alcohol was applied to the wound for several seconds. 

 This seemed to check the flow of blood, but did not stop it entirely. 

 A half-hour after the funiculi had been cut off these ants were placed 

 singly into the experimental cases. They wandered about inside 

 the cases considerably, and when they stopped wandering they 

 stroked the stubs of the antennae incessantly and as a rule were very 

 inactive. When tested with the three essential oils — peppermint, 

 thyme, and wintergreen — their responses were less pronounced 

 than were those of unmutilated ants. As a whole, their responses 

 were uncertain, but were of the same nature as those of unmutilated 

 ants. Sometimes, instead of giving the usual response, they moved 

 or vibrated one or more legs. Sometimes an ant grabbed a wire in 

 the bottom of the case and held on to it tenaciously and did not 

 react at all to odors. Five of them failed to respond to odors and 

 scarcely moved when touched with a pencil. ^Diese ants were dis- 

 carded from the "experiments. The other 25 were tested with the 

 three essential oils. Their reaction times are: oil of peppermint, 

 2-10 seconds, average 3.08 se(;onds; oil of thyme, 2-15 seconds, 

 average 4.48 seconds; oil of wintergreen, 2-20 seccmds, average 



