1901.] XATURAI. SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 521 



FURTHER STUDY OF AN ANT, 

 BY ADELE M. FIELDE. 



Argument. — That Stencunma fiUvmn piceurn^ is the bearer of 

 three distinct odors, perceived through the three distal segments of 

 her antennae: (a) A scent deposited by her feet, forming an indi- 

 vidual trail, whereby she traces her own steps, discerned through 

 her tenth segment; (6) an inherent and inherited odor, manifested 

 over her whole body, identical in quality for queens and workers 

 of the same lineage, a means for the recognition of blood-relations, 

 discerned by contact of the eleventh segment; (c) a nest-smell, 

 consisting of the commingled odors of all animate members of 

 the colony, diffused by them in air or ether, constituting an aura 

 whereby they distinguish their nest from those of aliens and 

 discerned through the twelfth, the distal, segment. 



That her behavior is influenced by a sensory memory; and that 

 while, without experience or instruction, she capably constructs 

 the dwellings of her species and tends the young, her criterion of a 

 nest-aura is established solely by association, and may be changed 

 many times during her life. 



That her care of the young is a reflex from the eighth and ninth 

 segments of her anteunre ; and that she receives an immediate 

 reward for her labor in the sustenance thereby obtained. 



That the gregarious habit of the ant is a conjoint result of the 

 reflexes from the five distal segments of her antennse. 



An Oriental folk-story ascribes to the ant a keen sense of 

 smell,'' and Occidental biologists grant its possession of this faculty. 



I have recently carried on experiments,^ using the maze heroin 

 described, whereby I believe it to be shown that Stenamma fidvum 

 piceum, aided by a sensory memory, finds her way by means of an 

 individual scent deposited from her feet, and that her perception of 

 this scent is through the tenth segments of her antennce. 



^ Stenamma {Aphanognster) fulvtim., Mayr ; subspecies aquia, Buck- 

 ley ; vaxieij piceum, Emery. 



^"The Origin of Ants," in Chinese Nights' Entertainment, hy A. M. 

 Fielde : G. P. Putnam's Rons, 1894. 



* At the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., May fo Octo" 

 ber, 1901. 



