180 EXPERIMENT WITH PHEIDOLE. 



piecemeal. On July 7, I tried the same experiment 

 with a soldier of Fheidole megacephala. She pulled 

 at the fly for no less than fifty minutes, after which she 

 went to the nest and brought five friends exactly as 

 the Atta had done. 



In the same way, one afternoon at 6.20 I presented 

 a slave of Polyergus with a dead fly pinned down. 

 The result was quite different. My ant pulled at the 

 fly for twenty-five minutes, when, as in the previous 

 cases, she returned to the nest. There she remained 

 four or five minutes, and then came out again alone, 

 returned to the fly, and again tried to carry it off. 

 After working fruitlessly for between twenty and twenty- 

 five minutes, she again went back to the nest, staying 

 there four or five minutes, and then returning by her- 

 self to the fly once more. I then went away for an 

 hour, but on my return found her still tugging at the 

 fly by herself. One hour later again I looked, with the 

 same result. Shortly afterwards another ant wandering 

 about found the fly, but obviously, as it seemed to me, 

 by accddent. 



At 3 o'clock on a subsequent day I again put a dead 

 fly pinned on to a bit of cork before a Formica fusca, 

 which was out hunting. She tried in vain to carry it off, 

 ran round and round, tugged in every direction, and at 

 length at ten minutes to four she returned to the nest : 

 very soon after she reappeared preceded by one and 

 followed by two friends ; these, however, failed to dis- 

 cover the fly, and after wandering about a little returned 



