EXPERIMENT WITH FORMICA. 181 



to the nest. She then set again to work alone, and in 

 about forty minutes succeeded in cutting off the head 

 of the fly, which she at once carried into the nest. In 

 a Httle while she came out again, this time accompanied 

 by five friends, all of whom found theu- way to the fl}^ ; 

 one of these, having cut off the abdomen of the fly, 

 took it into the nest, leaving three of her companions 

 to bring in the remainder of their prey. 



These experiments certainly seem to indicate the 

 possession by ants of something approaching to lan- 

 guage. It is impossible to doubt that the friends were 

 brought out by the first ant ; and as she returned 

 empty-handed to the nest, the others cannot have been 

 induced to follow her merely by observing her proceed- 

 ings. In face of such facts as these, it is impossible 

 not to ask ourselves how far are ants mere exquisite 

 automatons ; how far are they conscious beings ? When 

 we see an ant-hill, tenanted by thousands of industrious 

 inhabitants, excavating chambers, forming tunnels, 

 making roads, guarding their home, gathering food, 

 feeding the young, tending their domestic animals, 

 — each one fulfilling its duties industriously, and 

 without confusion,— it is difficult altogether to deny 

 to them the gift of reason ; and the preceding observa- 

 tions tend to confirm the opinion that their mental 

 powers diff"er from those of men, not so much in kind 

 as in degree. 



