Turner, Homing of Ants. 421 



whence they are carried further by another set of workers. Each 

 set does its share, and between them the work is quickly accom- 

 phshed. Thus stated, these facts suggest the thought that these 

 cooperating ants must have some kind of mutual understanding. 



I am constrained, however, to add a statement which will give 

 a different interpretation to the act. In all of the cases of cooper- 

 ation observed by me, the pupae were carried into the nest by 

 workers which, roaming from the nest, by chance discovered them. 

 The workers that stored the pupie under the incline, those that 

 hid pupae in the dark chamber, and those that piled them in the 

 open on the stage, were ants which, being unable to find the way 

 home disposed of the pupae in these special ways. Those that 

 laid them on the island simply brought the pupae thus far 

 and laid them dowm. They did not go to the nest, nor did they 

 touch with their antennae any of the ants that subsequently carried 

 these pupae to the nest. In all of the cases mentioned, some 

 worker or workers, roaming from the nest, discovered the pupae 

 and carried them home. The only observations that did not 

 accord completely with the above statement, were those few cases 

 in which the workers from the stage deposited the pupae in a 

 group of ants that was swarming against one side of the nest. 

 In that case, it was impossible to be sure that some of those did 

 not assist the stragglers from the nest in carrying the pupae. Even 

 in that case, I could detect no evidences of communication between 

 the ants from the stage and those from the nest. These observa- 

 tions warrant the assertion that each case of division of labor 

 observed by me was the result, not of mutual understanding, but 

 rather of accidental cooperation. 



On re-reading Moggridge's (Romanes '92, p. 98) account of 

 ants dropping leaves for other ants to pick up, Lespe's {ibid., p. 

 99) account of "regular depots for their provisions," and Belt's 

 {ibid., p. 99) account of ants casting down burdens for other ants 

 to carry, I cannot help but feel that had these special cases been 

 observed from the beginning, they would have proved to be of the 

 same type as those described above. Any one acquainted with 

 the habits of ants who reads Moggridge's account of the cooper- 

 ative dismemberment of a grasshopper by ants, is certain to be 

 reminded that any large insect dropped in the midst of ants is 

 sure to be independently attacked from all sides by ants which, 

 acting as individuals, gnaw and pull away from the object. 



