Architecture in the Animal Kingdom. 139 



that at least the sangnineas are endowed with a good 

 quantity of reflective power and of intelligent con- 

 sciousness of purpose? 



In order to answer this question I tested the above 

 observation by the following experiment : After some 

 time I again placed the same watch-crystal filled with 

 water in the nest, but this time without island and 

 without cocoons. Now, supposing that the ants in 

 the previous case had really intended to build a bridge 

 for the sake of getting at the cocoons, there was no 

 longer any reason for them to repeat the procedure. 

 However, this second time also, after several had 

 accidently got their feet wet, they soon started to fill 

 up the lake. Although this time there were no cocoons 

 to be obtained, nor any island in sight, 1 yet they again 

 covered the water with all kinds of materials in the 

 same manner and almost in the same space of time as 

 they had done before. Hence, we are allowed to con- 

 clude, that even the first time the ants had not intended 

 to build a floating bridge, but only to get rid of the 

 disagreeable moisture that barred their way. If, there- 

 fore, we maintained, that in the first experiment the 

 ants had by intelligent fore-thought invented a means 

 for regaining possession of their cocoons, we would 

 be guilty of uncritically humanizing the brute. 



From all the observations made and noted down for 



J ) I wish to lay emphasis on this circumstance, because Prof. 

 Charles Sajo (in "Prometheus," 1899, No. 486, p. 284) believes the 

 ants had hoped to find some treasure on the island this time also. The 

 ants could easily notice from the margin of the watch-crystal, that 

 there was no island. The eyes of F. sanguinea being rather large and 

 sharp and capable of distinguishing the form of small objects at a 

 distance of several centimeters, the ants could undoubtedly see that 

 there was no island. 



