REASON AND LANGUAGE. I3r 



an habitual route: One day some ants had been crushed 

 on a mantel-shelf; "the effect of this was immediate 

 and unexpected. As soon as those ants which were 

 approaching arrived near to where their fellows lay dead 

 or suffering, they turned and fled with all possible haste. 

 In half an hour the wall above the mantel-shelf was 

 cleared of ants. During the space of an hour or two 

 the colony from below continued to ascend until reach- 

 ing the lower bevelled edge of the shelf, at which point 

 the more timid individuals, although unable to see the 

 vase,* somehow became aware of the trouble, and turned 

 without further investigation ; while the more daring 

 advanced hesitatingly just to the upper edge of the 

 shelf, when, extending their antennae and stretching 

 their necks, they seemed to peep cautiously over the edge 

 until they beheld their suffering companions, when they 

 too turned and followed the others." This conduct is 

 so unlike that of ants with which we are familiar, that 

 we cannot help suspecting some (of course, quite un- 

 intentional) inaccuracy in the anecdote; the animus 

 with which it is related being again betrayed by the 

 words we have italicized. 



We will give yet another quotation \ as to these 

 ants : " A curious and invariable feature of their be- 

 haviour was that when an ant, returning in fright, met 

 another approaching, the two would always communi- 

 cate; but each would pursue its own way, the second 

 ant continuing its journey to the spot where the first 

 ant had turned about, and then following that example." 



* A vase of flowers which the ants sought, 

 t From p. 94. 



