EXPERIMENT WITH AN ATT A. 177 



pilosa, belonging to a nest which I had brought back 



with me from Algeria. She was out hunting about 



six feet from home, and I placed before her a large 



dead bluebottle fly, which she at once began to drag 



to the nest. I then pinned the fly to a piece of cork, 



in a small box, so that no ant could see the fly until 



she had climbed up the side of the box. The ant 



struggled, of course in vain, to move the fly. She 



pulled first in one direction and then in another, but, 



finding her efforts fruitless, she at length started off back 



to the nest empty-handed. At this time there were 



no ants coming out of the nest. Probably there were 



some few others out hunting, but for at least a quarter 



of an hour no ant had left the nest. My ant entered 



the nest, but did not remain there ; in less than a 



minute she emerged accompanied by 7 friends. I 



never saw so many come out of that nest together 



before. In her excitement the first ant soon distanced 



her companions, who took the matter with much more 



sang-froid, and had all the appearance of having come 



out reluctantly, or as if they had been asleep and were 



only half awake. The first ant ran on ahead, going 



straight to the fly. The others followed slowly and 



with many meanderings ; so slowly, indeed, that for 



twenty minutes the first ant was alone at the fly, 



trying in every way to move it. Finding this still 



impossible, she again returned to the nest, not chancing 



to meet any of her friends by the way. Again she 



emerged in less than a minute with 8 friends, and 



