ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 205 



they pursued their course partly by sight, and partly 

 by scent. Ants will communicate with each other, 

 but no evidence has been obtained by recent experi- 

 ments that they can direct their companions to food 

 except by accompanying them. 



It has been shown that ants are affected by different 

 coloured lights and media ; that they are very sensi- 

 tive to violet, and would not go under glass of that 

 colour if it could be avoided, for whilst during an 

 experiment 890 ants went under glass of a red colour, 

 only five were found under violet. It is also demon- 

 strated that wasps, as well as bees, are capable of 

 distinguishing colour. 



Ants belonging to different nests are generally 

 enemies, but M. Forel says that when they first quit 

 the pupal stage they do not distinguish friends from 

 foes, though three or four days are sufficient for them 

 to do so. He is convinced that ants recognized their 

 companions after a separation of four months, but 

 believes they would not do so for more than one 

 season. Lubbock proved that for more than a year 

 ants remembered their old companions, and received 

 them amicably whilst they attacked strangers. That 

 old acquaintances were evidently recognized is clear, 

 because they were never attacked, while any ant from 

 a different nest, even of the same species, would be 

 set upon and killed if she did not succeed in escaping 

 from the nest. In one case the ants had not seen one 

 another for more than a year. 



Forel asserts that if an ant is a little ill, or slightly 

 wounded, she is carefully tended by her companions, 

 while those dangerously ill or wounded are carried 



