70 Chapter II. 



nest. The pupae of Lasius niger they would either 

 devour or throw away, whereas those of F. rufibarbis 

 were reared by them as auxiliary ants for their colony. 

 A Lomechusa strumosa which I put in, was immedi- 

 ately received like an old acquaintance, licked and fed, 

 just as is the custom in the other colonies of F. san- 

 guinea. In the face of such experiments the beautiful 

 theory of tradition and instruction among ants van- 

 ishes into thin air. 



That the older ants "lead their newly born com- 

 rades about the nest and train them to a knowledge 

 of domestic duties, especially in the care of larvae," 

 is a fable originated by Buechner 1 and unfortunately 

 taken up on his authority even by Romanes 2 and 

 other modern animal psychologists. The truth is, that 

 the newly developed ants are as yet the objects of spe- 

 cial care and protection on the part of the others, as 

 remarked already by Huber. Being as yet rather help- 

 less, they are still, as it were, considered as "wards." 



The same applies to bees. In their case also the 

 instruction said to be given by the old workers is a 

 mere fancy, arising in the brain of some anthropomor- 

 phizing observer. Already Reaumur in his classical 

 work Histoire des Insect es 3 remarks : "Scarcely have 

 all the parts of the body of a young bee become suf- 

 ficiently dry, scarcely is she able to move her wings, 

 when she is already acquainted with everything she 

 will have to do in the whole course of her life." He 

 goes on to relate a few observations showing, that 



1) "Geistesleben der Tiere," p. 62. 



2) "Animal Intelligence" (6th ed.), p. 59. 



8 ) Tom. V. part II, mem. XI, p. 278. Amsterdam, 1741. 



