206 THE WOODLANDS. 



out of the nest to die. This is an interesting trait in 

 ant-character if true ; but although there may be "good 

 Samaritans " amongst ants, the conclusions from 

 Lubbock's experiments are against its truth. On one 

 occasion a wounded ant was placed on her back, near 

 some syrup, soon a companion came up, and recog- 

 nized her, then went to feed at the syrup. Three 

 other ants did the same, none of them taking any 

 further notice of her. One ant was left in water till 

 to all appearances drowned ; she lay exposed for half 

 an hour before she recovered, but during this time 

 an ant from the same nest passed her eighteen times 

 without taking any notice of her. 



This experiment being again repeated, one ant 

 passed thirty times, and another twenty-eight times 

 without taking any notice. On one occasion an ant 

 lost the terminal portion of both antennae, and seemed 

 to have lost her wits. She was put into her nest, but 

 the others took no notice of her ; she then retired 

 into a solitary place, where she remained for five 

 hours without moving. She came out, and remained 

 out all day ; on the following morning she was dead. 



Huber states that the Amazon ants are so depen- 

 dent upon their slaves as to perish in two or three 

 days if separated from them. That this is the case 

 has been shown by subsequent observers. It is of no 

 use giving them food ; they will not touch it, or rather 

 they walk carelessly over it, smear their legs, and die 

 if a slave is not put in to clean and dry them. Lubbock 

 found that he could keep even a single Polyergus alive 

 for more than three months by giving her a slave for 

 about an hour a day to attend upon and feed her. 



