153 



CHAPTER VII. 



POWER OF COMMUNICATION. 



The Social Hymenoptera, according to Messrs. Kirby 

 and Spence,^ ' have the means of communicating to 

 each other information of various occurrences, and use 

 a kind of language which is mutually understood, 

 . . . . and is not confined merely to giving intel- 

 ligence of the approach or absence of danger ; it is 

 also co-extensive with all their other occasions for 

 communicating their ideas to each other.' 



Huber assures us as regards Ants^ that he has 

 'frequently seen the antennae used on the field of 

 battle to intimate approaching danger, and to ascertain 

 their own party when mingled with the enemy ; they 

 are also employed in the interior of the ant-hill to 

 apprise their companions of the presence of the sun, so 

 favourable to the development of the larvae, in their 

 excursions and emigrating to indicate their route, in 

 their recruitings to determine the time of departure,' 

 &c. Elsewhere also he says ^ ' that should an Ant fall 

 in with any of her associates from the nest they put 

 her in the right way by the contact of their antennae.' 



' Introduction to Entomology, ii. p. 50. - Loc. cit. p. 206. 

 ' Loc. cit. p. 157. 



