176 EVIDENCE OF COMMUMCATION. 



to the larvae. She examined them carefully, but went 

 home without taking one. At this time no other ants 

 were out of the nest. In less than a minute she came 

 out again with 8 friends, and the little troop made 

 straight for the heap of larvae. WTien they had gone 

 two-thirds of the way, I again imprisoned the marked 

 ants ; the others hesitated a few moments, and then, 

 with curious quickness, returned home. At 5.15 I 

 put her again to the larvae. She again went home 

 without a larvaj but, after only a few seconds' stay in 

 the nest, came out with no less than 13 friends. They 

 all went towards the larvae ; but when they got about 

 two-thirds of the way, although the marked ant had 

 <m the previous day passed over the ground about 150 

 times, and though she had just gone straight from 

 the larvae to the nest, she seemed to have forgotten 

 Ler way and wandered ; and after she had wandered 

 about for half an hour, I put her to the larvae. Now 

 in this case the 21 ants must have been brought out 

 by my marked one ; for they came exactly with her, 

 and there were no other ants out. Moreover, it would 

 seem that they must have been told, because (which 

 is very ciuious in itself) she did not in either case 

 bring a larva, and consequently it cannot have been 

 the mere sight of a larva which induced them to 

 follow her. I repeated an experiment similar to this 

 more than once. 



For instance, one rather cold day, when but few 

 ants were out, I selected a specimen of Atta testaceo- 



