172 EVIDENCE OF COMMUNICATION. 



fusca are put in a box, and in one corner a dark place 

 of retreat is provided for them with some earth, one soon 

 finds her way to it. She then comes out again, and going 

 up to one of the others, takes her by the jaws. The 

 second ant then rolls herself into a heap, and is carried 

 off to the place of shelter. They then both repeat the 

 same manoeuvre with other ants, and so on until all their 

 companions are collected together. Now it seems to 

 me difficult to imagine that so slow a course would be 

 adopted if they possessed any considerable power of 

 descriptive communication. 



On the other hand, there can, I think, be no doubt 

 that they do possess some power of the kind. 



This seems to me clearly shown by the following 

 observations. In order, if possible, to determine 

 whether the ants in question were brought to the 

 larvae, or whether they came casually, I tried (1875) 

 the following experiments: I took three tapes, each 

 about 2 feet 6 inches long, and arranged them 

 parallel to one another and about 6 inches ajDart. 

 One end of each I attached to one of my nests 

 (X. niger), and at the other end I placed a small 

 glass. In the glass at the end of one tape I placed a 

 considerable number (300 to 600) of larvae. In the 

 second I put two or three larvae only ; in the third 

 none at all. The object of the last was to see whether 

 many ants would come to the glasses under such cir- 

 cumstances by mere accident ; and I may at once say 

 that but few did so. I then took two ants and 



