178 EXPERIMENT WITH AN ATTA. 



hurried on to the fly. They were even less energetic 

 than the first party ; and when they found they had 

 lost sight of their guide, they one and all returned to 

 the nest. In the meantime several of the first detach- 

 ment had found the fly, and one of them succeeded in 

 detaching a leg, with which she returned in triumph 

 to the nest, coming out again directly with 4 or 5 

 companions. These latter, with one exception, soon 

 gave up the chase and returned to the nest. I do not 

 think so much of this last case, because as the ant 

 carried in a substantial piece of booty in the shape of 

 the fly's leg, it is not surprising that her friends should 

 some of them accompany her on her return ; but 

 surely the other two cases indicate a distinct power of 

 communication. 



Lest, however, it should be supposed that the result 

 was accidental, I determined to try it again. Accord- 

 ingly on the following day I put another large dead fly 

 before an ant belonging to the same nest, pinning it 

 to a piece of cork as before. After trying in vain for 

 ten minutes to move the fly, my ant started off home. 

 At that time I could only see two other ants of that 

 species outside the nest. Yet in a few seconds, con- 

 siderably less than a minute, she emerged with no less 

 than 12 friends. As in the previous case, she ran 

 ou ahead, and they followed very slowly and by no 

 means directly, taking, in fact, nearly half an hour to 

 reach the fly. The first ant, after vainly labouring for 

 about a quarter of an hour to move the fly, started off 



