iv.] HATRED OF STRANGERS. 107 



By the evening, no less than twelve were collected 

 round it, a larger number than usually came out of 

 the nest at any one time. The whole of the next two 

 days, in the same way, there were more or less ants 

 round the bottle containing the strangers ; while, as 

 far as we could see, no notice whatever was taken of 

 the friends. Eventually the ants succeeded in biting 

 through the muslin and effecting an entrance, when they 

 attacked the strangers. On the other hand, the friends 

 were throughout quite neglected. 



Sept. 21. I then repeated the experiment, putting 

 three ants from another nest in a bottle as before. The 

 same scene was repeated. The friends were neglected. 

 On the other hand, some of the ants were always 

 watching over the bottle containing the strangers, and 

 biting at the muslin which protected them. The next 

 morning, at 6 A.M., I found five ants thus occupied. 

 One had caught hold of the leg of one of the strangers, 

 which had unwarily been allowed to protrude through 

 the meshes of the muslin. They worked and watched, 

 though not, as far as I could see, upon any system, till 

 7.30 in the evening, when they effected an entrance, 

 and immediately attacked the strangers. 



Sept. 24. I repeated the same experiment with the 

 same nest. Again the ants came and sat over the bottle 

 containing the strangers, while no notice w r as taken of 

 the friends. 



The next morning, again, when I got up, I found five 

 ants round the bottle containing the strangers, none near 

 the friends. As in the former case, one of the ants had 

 seized a stranger by the leg, and was trying to drag her 

 through the muslin. All day the ants clustered round 



