APPARENT DEAFNESS OF ANTS. 223 



took the slightest notice of any sound which 1" was 

 able to produce. I then took a large female of F. 

 ligniperda, and tethered her on a board to a pin by a 

 delicate silk thread about 6 inches in length. After 

 wandering about for a while, she stood still, and I 

 then tried her in the same way ; but, like the other 

 ants, she took no notice whatever of the sounds. 



It is of course possible, if not probable, that ants, 

 even if deaf to sounds which we hear, may hear others 

 to which we are deaf. 



Having failed, therefore, in hearing them or making 

 them hear me, I endeavoured to ascertain whether they 

 could hear one another. 



To ascertain then if possible whether ants have the 

 power of summoning one another by sound, I tried the 

 following experiments. I put out (Sept. 1874) on the 

 board where one of my nests of Lasius fiavus was 

 usually fed, six small pillars of wood about an inch 

 and a half high, and on one of them I put some 

 honey. A number of ants were wandering about on 

 the board itself in search of food, and the nest itself 

 was immediately above, and about 12 inches from, the 

 board. I then put three ants to the honey, and when 

 each had sufficiently fed I imprisoned her and put 

 another; thus always keeping three ants at the 

 honey, but not allowing them to go home. If then 

 they could summon their friends by sound, there 

 ought soon to be many ants at the honey. The results 

 were as follow : 



