in.] SMELL. HEAKI^G. 87 



instance, a large specimen of Formica ligniperda with a 

 fine thread to a board, and when she was quite quiet I 

 approached a scented cameFs-hair pencil slowly to the 

 tip of the antenna, which was at once withdrawn, 

 though the insect took no notice of a similar pencil, if 

 not scented. 



On the other hand, as regards their sense of hearing, 

 the case is very different. Approaching an ant which 

 was standing quietly, I have over and over again made 

 the loudest and most shrill noises I could, using a penny 

 pipe, a dog-whistle, a violin, as well as the most piercing 

 and startling sounds I could produce with my own voice, 

 without effect. At the same time I "by no means would 

 infer from this that they are really deaf, though it 

 certainly seems that their range of hearing is very 

 different from ours. We know that certain allied in- 

 sects produce a noise by rubbing one of their abdominal 

 rings against another. Landois is of opinion that ants 

 also make sounds in the same way, though these sounds 

 are inaudible to us. Our range is, however, after all, 

 very limited, and the universe is probably full of music 

 which we cannot perceive. There are, moreover, in the 

 antennae of ants certain curious organs which may 

 perhaps be of an auditory character. There are from 

 ten to a dozen in the terminal segment of Lasius flavus, 

 the small meadow ant, and indeed in most of the species 

 which I have examined ; and one or two, in each of the 

 short intermediate segments. These organs consist of 

 three parts : a small spherical cup opening to the outside, 

 a long narrow tube, and a hollow body, shaped like an 

 elongated clock- weight. They may serve to increase the 

 resonance of 'sounds, acting, in fact, to use the words of 



