SOME SPECIES MORE COMMUNICATIVE THAN OTHERS. 161 



SO fed returned with her to the honey. In due course 

 these five would no doubt have brought others, and so 

 the number at the honey would have increased. 



Some species, however, act much more in association 

 than others — Lasius niger, for instance, much more 

 than Formica fusca. 



In March 1877 I was staying at Arcachon. It was 

 a beautiful and very warm spring day, and numerous 

 specimens of Formica fusca (PI. I, fig. 3) were 

 coursing about on the flagstones in front of our 

 hotel. At about 10.45 a.m. I put a raisin down before 

 one of them. She immediately began licking it, 

 and continued till 11.2 a.m., when she went off 

 almost straight to her nest, the entrance to which was 

 about twelve feet away. In a few minutes she came 

 out again, and reached the fruit, after a few wander- 

 ings, at about 11.18 a.m. She fed till 11.30 a.m., 

 when she returned once more to the nest. 



At 11.45 another ant accidentally found the fruit. 

 I imprisoned her. 



At 11.50 the first returned, and fed till 11.56, when 

 she went off to the nest. On the way she met and 

 talked with three ants, none of whom, however, came 

 to the fruit. At 12.7 she returned, again alone, to the 

 fruit. 



On the following day I repeated the same experi- 

 ment. The first ant went backwards and forwards 

 between the raisin and the nest for several hours, but 

 only six others found their way to it. 



M 



