244 NASCENT REASON, EMOTION, 



in almost all cases, persistently attacked and ultimately 

 killed one species, however (Lasius flavus) , presented an 

 exception to this rule. Previous comrades, after a separa- 

 tion of six months or more, are not received with any 

 signs of cordiality, though, at the same time, their pre- 

 sence is not as a rule objected to, and they soon appear 

 quite at home again. This apparent memory of indi- 

 viduals pertaining to the same nest for one another may, 

 perhaps, after all, he rather dependent upon some subtle 

 discrimination by the sense of Smell. An Ant of a strange 

 colony, though belonging to the same species, may present 

 some sensorial attribute leading to its recognition as an 

 intruder ; whilst a member of the same colony, even after 

 long absence, presenting no unusual characters, is not so 

 much remembered as passed by in a heedless manner. 



What, moreover, are we to infer as to the memory or 

 ability to be taught by their own individual experience on 

 the part of Wasps, in the face of the following facts nar- 

 rated by Sir John Lubbock ? * 



A Wasp which had been marked for identification, smeared her 

 wings with syrup, so that she could not fly, and as the experimenter 

 did not know where her nest was, he could not submit her to the 

 before mentioned cleansing operations of her companions. He 

 thought she was doomed, but, as a last resource, resolved to wash 

 her himself, fully expecting " to terrify her so much, that she would 

 not return again." He, therefore, "caught her, put her in a bottle 

 half full of water, and shook her up well till the honey was washed 

 off." She was then transferred to a dry bottle, and put in the sun. 

 "When she was dry, Sir John Lubbock says, " I let her out, an <1 

 she instantly flew to her nest. To my surprise, in thirteen minutes 

 she returned as if nothing had happened, and continued her visits 



to the honey all the afternoon This experiment interested 



me so much, that I repeated it with another marked wasp, this 

 time, however, keeping the wasp in the water till she was quite 

 motionless and insensible. When taken out of the water she soon 



* " Journ. of Linn. Soc.," vol. xii. p. 138. 



