LANGUAGE, 9 1 



Turning now to ants, the extent to which the power of 

 communicating by signs is here carried cannot fail to strike 

 us as highly remarkable. In my work on Animal Litelli' 

 gence I have given many observations by different naturalists 

 on this head, the general results of which I will here render. 



When we consider the high degree to which ants carry the 

 principle of co-operation, it is evident that they must have 

 some means of intercommunication. This is especially true 

 of the Ecitons, which so strangely mimic the tactics of military 

 organization. " The army marches in the form of a rather 

 broad and regular column, hundreds of yards in length. The 

 object of the march is the capture and plunder of other 

 insects, &c., for food ; and as the well-organized host advances, 

 its devastating legions set all other terrestrial life at defiance. 

 From the main column there are sent out smaller lateral 

 columns, the component individuals of which play the part 

 of scouts, branching off in various directions, and searching 

 about with the utmost activity for insects, grubs, &c., over 

 every log, under every fallen leaf, and in every nook and 

 cranny where there is any chance of finding prey. When their 

 errand is completed, they return into the main column. If 

 the prey found is sufficiently small for the scouts themselves 

 to manage, it is immediately seized, and carried back to the 

 main column ; but if the amount is too large for the scouts to 

 deal with alone, messengers are sent back to the main column, 

 whence there is immediately despatched a detachment large 

 enough to cope with the requirements. . . . On either side of 

 the main column there are constantly running up and down 

 a few individuals of smaller size and lighter colour than the 

 other ants, which seem to play the part of officers ; for they 

 never leave their stations, and while running up and down 

 the outsides of the column, they every now and again stop to 

 touch antennas with some member of the rank and file, as if to 

 give instructions. When the scouts discover a wasps'-nest in 

 a tree, a strong force is sent out from the main army, the nest 

 is pulled to pieces, and all the larvae carried to the rear of the 

 army, while the wasps fly around defenceless against the 



