156 KIRBY AND SPENCE. 



down. It seems indisputable that the one ant had iu 

 this instance conveyed news of the booty to his com- 

 rades, who would not otherwise have at once directed 

 their steps in a body to the only accessible route.' ^ 



Elsewhere, Messrs. Kirby and Spence say : ^ — ' If you 

 scatter the ruins of an ants' nest in your apartment, you 

 will be furnished with another proof of their language. 

 The ants will take a thousand different paths, each going 

 by itself, to increase the chance of discovery ; they will 

 meet and cross each other in all directions, and perhaps 

 will wander long before they can find a spot convenient 

 for their reunion. No sooner does any one discover a 

 little chink in the floor through which it can pass 

 below than it returns to its companions, and, by means 

 of certain motions of its antennse, makes some of them 

 comprehend what route they are to pursue to find it, 

 sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; 

 these, in their tiu-n, become the guides of others, till 

 all know which way to direct their steps.' 



Here, however, Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not 

 sufficiently distinguish between the cases in which the 

 ants were guided, from those in which they were directed 

 to the place of safety. It is obvious, however, that the 

 power of communication implied in the latter case is 

 much greater than in the former. 



A short but very interesting paper by Dujardin on 

 this subject is contained in the ' Annales des Sciences ' 

 for ] 852. He satisfied himself that some bees which 



' Loc. eit. p. 422. '■^ Introd. to Entomology, vol. ii p. 6. 



