AFTER LONG SEPARATION. 337 



ants, and almost clean. After 12 a.m. I could not see her 

 any more. At 1.40 p.m. 1 again put into each nest an 

 ant from the other, accompanied, however, in both cases 

 by a stranger. The contrast was most marked, and no 

 one who saw it could have doubted that the friends and 

 strangers were respectively recognised as such, or that 

 they themselves were fully aware of their posi- 

 tion. 



In the first nest the friend at once joined the other 

 ants, who began to clean her. The stranger ran about 

 in evident alarm, was pursued by the others, and took 

 refuge in a corner. At 2 p.m. the friend was with the 

 other ants, the stranger alone in a corner. At 2.25 p.m. 

 the friend was almost cleaned, and after 2.30 p.m. we 

 could no longer distinguish her : the stranger was still 

 alone. At 3.40 p.m. she came out of her hiding-place 

 and was attacked ; after a while she escaped from the 

 nest. At 5.30 p.m. she met one of the ants, and a 

 battle at once began. I separated the combatants and 

 put the stranger back near her own nest, which she at 

 once entered, and where she was soon cleaned by her 

 own friends. 



I will now describe the adventures of the other 

 couple. The friend immediately joined the other ants ; 

 the stranger was hunted about and soon seized. At 2 

 p.m. the friend was all right, the stranger being dragged 

 about. At 2.30 p.m. ditto. The stranger was soon 

 afterwards dragged out of the nest. The friend, whom 

 I watched at intervals till 6.30 p.m., continued on the 

 best terms with the others ; it was quite clear, there- 

 fore, that they did not regard her as a stranger. 

 She herself was not afraid of, and did not avoid 

 them. Still for some time she apparently wished to 

 return to the ants with whom she had recently lived. 

 She came out of the nest, and tried to find her way 

 home. I put her back again, however, and by the even- 

 ing she seemed to have accustomed herself to the 

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