172 RELATION BETWEEN ANTS. 
number in the garden of the house where 
I lived. ‘The latter fixed their abode 
at the foot of a chesnut tree. The for- 
mer became the subject of some pri- 
vate observations. I noticed them four 
months, without allowing them to quit 
my study; at this time, wishing to bring 
them nearer to a state of nature, I car- 
ried the ruche into the garden, and 
placed it at ten or fifteen paces from the 
natural ant-hill. The prisoners, profiting 
by my negligence of not renewing the 
water which blockaded their passage, 
escaped, and ran about the environs of 
their abode. The ants, established near 
the chesnut tree, met, and recognised 
their former companions ; fell to mutual 
caresses with their antennez, took them 
up by their mandibles, and led them to 
their own nests: they came presently in 
a crowd to seek the fugitives, under and 
about the artificial ant-hill, and even ven- 
tured to reach the bell-glass, where they 
e¥ected a complete desertion, by carry- 
ing away successively all the ants they 
