246 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 6, nov. 1905 



nests. The odor of the queen, the first occupant, becomes the 

 earHest aura of the nest. As the community increases its popula- 

 tion, the odor of the workers is added to that of the queen, and 

 is diffused in the air. The ant that has been out foraging recog- 

 nizes its home through the famihar odor there discerned, and it 

 avoids the abodes of unfriendly communities because of its per- 

 ception of their strange odor. No ant with a discerning " nose " 

 need ever intrude upon an alien household. Should it do this 

 it would be attacked and rent limb from limb. The laws of the 

 ant-world require from every ant a strict adherence to its own 

 colony. 



If a female ant be dropped into its own nest, it waves its 

 antennae and hastens to join its former associates ; but if it be 

 dropped into an alien nest it flees away or hides itself. 



The odor of the ant-nest is perceived through the air^ but the 

 odor or savor of ants, whether friends or strangers, are perceived 

 by an application of the '' nose " to the subject of examination. 

 Ants have two similar " noses," the two antennae or " feelers " 

 that project from the face just below the eyes. These are the 

 organs of the chemical sense, dominant in the life of the individual 

 ant and in the affairs of the ant community. The uses made by 

 the ant of this sense are singularly diversified, while the minute- 

 ness of its discriminations are almost inconceivable. Associated 

 with the great power of memory possessed by the ants, it enables 

 them to prosper greatly in the world, though they lack the sense 

 of hearing, and have but very imperfect vision. 



Within the ant community the queen is chief, probably be- 

 cause her comparatively large size makes her a center of familiar 

 odors. Her odor is unchanging, and her daughter-workers recog- 

 nize her thereby, even after years of separation from her. Ant 

 workers will also recognize their queen-mother and identify her 

 among several other queens, even when these workers have never 

 before met her. They remember the odor that they themselves bore 

 in their own infancy which is also the odor of their queen. They 

 would likewise recognize their mother's sister-queen. The queen 

 exercises no authority in the nest, but is always the object of chief 

 devotion, and of sedulous attention. She abides at home, except 

 at or near the time of her nuptials. 



