332 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



individuals ; males have not been found ; and the investi- 

 gator found only one queen. In winter the ball is very 

 stiff and is slow to relax when it is unearthed. The whole 

 communal life is summed up in huddling together. In 

 summer, however, the ball is naturally more plastic, it is 

 always being unmade and remade. 



When we apply a term like ' social instinct ' to ants and 

 the like, we are probably quite accurate if we mean that 

 they have a hereditary disposition to act in concert, but 

 there is a danger in the term since we also speak of our own 

 ' social instincts ', meaning something much more complex 

 than the ants. But in avoiding the Scylla of anthro- 

 pomorphism, it is unnecessary to fall into the Charybdis of 

 mechanism. For ants have a good associative memory, they 

 are able to profit by experience, they act co-operatively and 

 they are born with a predisposition towards social action. 



There is no doubt that smell counts for much in the 

 ant community. Each species seems to have its charac- 

 teristic odour, just as the Chinese say of the English, who 

 appear to them to smell of sheep. It is by the scent that 

 the intruding ant is detected, but if it has been steeped 

 in an essence made from the species into whose nest the 

 experimenter introduces it, then it is welcomed. This does 

 not in the least indicate automatism of behaviour ; it is 

 an * upsetting ' experiment such as might baffle even a 

 clever dog. The mistake corresponds to that made in 

 mankind when disguise appealing to the visual sense is 

 almost perfect. 



While it may be erroneous to speak of the members of 

 the ant-hills being * animated with a common purpose ', 

 and while there is a good deal of individualism on the sly, 

 it appears to us to be going to the opposite extreme to see 



