182 



Sir John Luhhoch 



[May 9, 



other liand, fifteen specimens belonging to the same species, removed 

 as pupae, tended by nurses belonging to the same species, and then put 

 into the nest of these nurses, were all attacked. The results may be 

 tabulated as follows : — 



Attacked 

 Received amicably 



PupER brought 



up by friends, 

 and replaced in Put in own 

 tlieir own nest. nest. 



Pupa3 brought up by strangers. 





 33 



7^ 

 37 



Putin 

 strangers' nest. 



* About three of these 1 did not feel sure. 



I hope to make further experiments in this direction, but the 

 above results seem very interesting. They appear to indicate that 

 ants of the same nest do not recognize one another by any password. 

 On the other hand, if ants are removed from a nest in the pupps state, 

 tended by strangers, and then restored, some at least of their relatives 

 are certainly puzzled, and in many cases doubt their claim to con- 

 sanguinity. Strangers, under the same circumstances, would be imme- 

 diately attacked: these ants, on the contrary, were in every case, — 

 sometimes, however, only after examination, — amicably received by 

 the majority of the colony, though it even then seemed as if there were 

 still a few ants who did not recognize them. 



I had hoped to have been able to keep various species of ants 

 together, trusting that if they were well supplied with food and 

 water they would not attack one another. In this expectation I 

 have been disappointed. My ants quite appreciate the importance 

 of rectifying their frontier, and in their case, as in others nearer 

 home, it is especially the strong communities which feel the need of 

 a scientific frontier to enable them to defend themselves from the 

 attacks of the weak. 



In the construction of their nests ants manifest much ingenuity. 

 Thus, in one case I established some ants between two plates of 

 glass, ^ inch apart, and with three sides closed, but the fourth 

 open. This suited them very well, but they did not like being so 

 much exposed ; accordingly they had recourse to a heap of earth, which 

 was about three feet from the nest, and brought enough of it to 

 close up the open side, leaving only a small door. In winter they 

 generally fasten up their doors. The majority of our species live in 

 the ground, some construct mounds, some burrow in wood. In parts 

 of South America liable to floods, the ants have learnt to construct 

 their nests in trees above the reach of the water. 



Until recently we had no knowledge as to how long ants lived, 

 but the general impression was that the workers lived one year, the 

 queens somewhat longer. The results of my observations have jDroved 

 that this was a mistake, and I have been much surprised at the 

 longevity of ray ants. I have still two queens which I have kept 



