Feb. 20, 1879] 



NATURE 



2>77 



SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS 



SIR JOHN LUBBOCK read two papers on ants at the 

 Linnean Society on Febraary 6. The first gave an accoimt 

 of their anatomy ; but from the extreme complexity of these in- 

 teresting little creatures, it would be impossible to make this 

 communication intelligible without the figures. The second 

 paper was a continuation of his observations on the habits of 

 ants. He mentioned that he had at first isolated his nests by 

 means of water. This was effectual enough, but, especially in 

 summer, the water required to be continually renewed. Kemer, 

 however, had suggested that the hairs of plants ser\ed to pre- 

 rent ants from obtaining access to the honey, and it accordingly 

 occurred to him that strips of fur arranged with the points of 

 the hairs downwards might answer his purpose. He had tried 

 this, and finding it successful, he thought a similar arrangement 

 might perhaps be foimd useful in hot countries. 



It is generally stated that the queen ants alone lay eggs, but 

 Sir John has found that in most of his n^ts some few of the 

 workers are capable of doing so. It appears, however, that 

 these eggs always produce males. In the case of bees we know 

 that the queen is fed on a special kind of food. In ants it is not 

 feasible to make obser^-ations similar to those by which in bees 

 this has been established. It is, however, rendered more than 

 probable by the fact that while males and workers have been 

 bred by hundreds in his nests, no queen has yet been produced. 



It is -well known that ants keep other species of insects in 

 their nests, which they use just as we do cow^s, &c. 



The McU. p. VHist. prim, de V Homme for 1869 contains 

 a short but interesting accoimt by M. Lespes of some experi- 

 ments made by him on the relations existing between ants and 

 their domestic animals, from which it might be inferred that 

 even within the limits of a single species some communities are 

 more advanced than others. He found that specimens of the 

 blind beetle, Claviger duvalii^ which always occurs with ants, 

 when transferred from a nest of Lasius tiiger to another which 

 kept none of these domestic beetles, were invariably attacked 

 and eaten. From this he infers that the intelligence necessary 

 to keep Clavigers is not coextensive with the species, but belongs 

 only to certain communities and races, which, so to say, are 

 more advanced in ci\-ilisation than the rest of the species. 



Sir John Lubbock, however, removed specimens of the curious 

 blind Platyarthrus from one nest to another, but they were 

 always amicably received. He even transferred specimens from 

 a nest of Lasius flavus to one of Formica fusca^ with the same 

 result. 



As regards the longevity of ants he has now tw o queens of 

 F. fusca, which seem quite in good health and which have hved 

 with him since 1874 ; they are therefore probably five years old. 

 He has also workers oi Lasius niger, Formica sanguinea, F. fusca, 

 and F. cinerea, which he has had imder obser\ation since 1875. 



In his pre\'ious papers he had given various instances which 

 seem to show that ants do not exhibit such unvarying kindness 

 to their friends as has been usually supposed. He wished to 

 guard himself, however, against being supposed to question the 

 general good qualities of his favourites. In fact, ants of the 

 same nest never quarrel among themselves ; he had never seen 

 any evidence of ill-temper in any of his nests. All is harmony. 

 He iiad already in previous papers given various instances of 

 tender kindness. Again, in one of his nests of Formica fusca, 

 was a poor ant which had come into the world without antennae. 

 Never having previously met with such a case, he watched her 

 with great interest, but she never appeared to leave the nest. At 

 length one day he found her wandering about in an aimless sort 

 of manner, and apparently not knowing her way at all. After 

 a while she fell in with some specimens of Lasius flavus, who 

 directly attacked her. He then set himself to separate them ; but 

 she was evidently much wounded, and lay helplessly on the groimd. 

 After some time another Formica fusca from her nest came by. 

 She examined the poor sufferer carefully, then picked her up 

 tenderly, and carried her away into the nest. It would have 

 been difficult, Sir John thinks, for any one who witnessed this 

 scene to have denied to this ant the possession of humane 

 feelings. 



It is dear from the experiments recorded in the present and 

 in Sir John's former papers, that the ants recognise all their 

 fellows in the same nest, but it is very difl5cult to understand how 

 this can be effected. TTie nests vary very much in size, but in 

 some species 100,000 indiriduals may probably be by no means 

 an unusual number, and in some instances even this is largely 



exceeded. Now it seems almost incredible that in such cases 

 ever)' ant knows every other one by sight ; neither does it seem 

 possible that all the ants in each nest should be characterised 

 from those of other nests by any peculiarity. It has been sug- 

 gested in the case of bees that each nest might have some sign 

 or password. The whole subject is full of difficulty. It occurred 

 to Sir John, however, that experiments with pupae might throw 

 some light on the subject. Although the ants of every separate 

 nest, say of Formica fusca, are deadly enemies, still if \ax\x or 

 pupae from one nest are transferred to another, they are kindly 

 received and tended with, apparently, as much care as if they 

 really belonged to the nest. In ant warfare, though sex is no 

 protection, the young arc spared — ^at least when they belong to 

 the same species. 



Moreover, though the habits and dispositions of ants are greatly 

 changed if they are taken away from their nest and kept in 

 solitary confinement, or only with a few friends, still under such 

 circumstances they w ill often carefully tend any young which may 

 be confided to them. Now if the recognition were effected by 

 means of some signal, or password, then, as it can hardly be 

 supposed that the lar%-3e or pupae would be sufficiently intelligent 

 to appreciate, still less to remember it, the pupae which were 

 intrusted to ants from another nest would have the password, if 

 any, of that nest, and not of the one from which they had been 

 taken. Hen^e, if the recognition were effected by some pass- 

 word, or sign with the antennae, they would be amicably received 

 in the nest from which their nurses had been taken, but not in 

 their ovra. 



He therefore took a number of pupae out of some of his nests 

 of Formica fusca and Lasius niger, and put them in small 

 glasses, some with ants from their own nest, some with ants of 

 another nest of the same species. The results were that thirty- 

 two ants belonging to Formica fusca and Lasius niger, removed 

 from their nest as pupae, attended by friends and restored to 

 their own nest, were all amicably received. What is still more 

 remarkable, of twenty-two ants belonging to Formica fusca, 

 removed as pup», attended by strangers and retxirned to their 

 own nest, twenty were amicably received. As regards one Sir 

 John was doubtful ; the last was crippled in coming out of the 

 pupae case, and to this, perhaps, her unfriendly reception may 

 have been due. Of the same number of Lasius niger developed 

 in the same manner from pupae tended by strangers belonging to 

 the same species, and then returned into fiieir o^vn nest, seventeen 

 were amicably received, three were attacked, and of about two 

 Sir John felt doubtfvi]. 



On the other hand, fifteen specimens belonging to the same 

 species, removed as pupae, tended by strangers belonging to the 

 same species and then put into the strangers' nest, were all 

 attacked. 



The results may be tabulated as follows : — 



Fupx brought up by friends and 

 replaced in their own nest. 



Pupae brought up by strangers. 

 Put back in own Put in strangers' 



nest. nest. 



Attacked o 7^ 15 



Received amicably .. . 33 37 o 



Sir John intends to make fm-ther experiments in this direction, 

 but the above results seem very interesting. They appear to 

 indicate that ants of the same nest do not recognise one another 

 by any password. On the other hand, if ants are removed from 

 the nest in the pupae state, tended by strangers, and then restored, 

 some at least of their relatives are certainly puzzled, and in many 

 cases doubt their claim to consanguinity. Strangers, imder the 

 same circumstances, would be immediately attacked ; these ants, 

 on the contrary, were in every case — sometimes, however, after 

 examination — amicably received by the majority of the colony, 

 and it was often several hours before they came across one who 

 did not recognise them. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



The Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich gave, last 

 week, the degree of M.D. to Miss Draya Sjocie, from Shabats,; 

 in Ser\'ia, and the Countess Vilma Hugonai, from Teteny, 

 Hungary. 



The success of the high classes for ladies at Odessa has ex- 

 ceeded all expectations. On the opening day, January 21, instead 

 of the expected sixty or seventy students, 215 ladies were 

 inscribed. The University has offered its rooms for the classes. 

 ' Of about three of these Sir John did nit feel sure. 



