THE INTELLIGENCE OF " THE LOWER ANIMALS " . 85 



sufficiently established by the observations of Huber, 

 I^espeo, Forel, Adlerz, Wasmann, etc. 



The writer, too, had, occasion to verify the same 

 with regard to Polyergus bicolor Wasm. , a newly dis- 

 covered American Amazon. The process of feeding 

 takes place in the following manner. The hungry 

 Polyergus first violently buffets and strokes with feel- 

 ers and forelegs the head of a passing slave. If the 

 slave has sufficient food in its little crop, it causes a 

 drop of the prepared liquid to appear on its lower lip, 

 where it is licked off by the Amazon. Now it is cer- 

 tainly a very rare case that an animal so much de- 

 pends on others that it must even be fed by them dur- 

 ing its whole existence. And thus the two interesting 

 questions present themselves: First, what will happen 

 to the Polyergus if deprived of their slaves? And 

 secondly, are they at all able to obtain food independ- 

 ently of any exterior aid? As to the second question, 

 Wasmann sums up the results of a minute examina- 

 tion of the Amazon's mouth -parts in the following 

 statements: 1. By the construction of their mouth- 

 parts, and especially by the shortness of their palpi, 

 the Amazons show, indeed, that they are less adapted 

 for independent feeding than other ants related to 

 them (Figs. 4 and 5). 2. There is, however, no or- 

 ganic impossibility in the way of their independent 

 nutrition. For other ants with organs not less imper- 

 fect feed themselves without being assisted by others. 

 3. The structure of the so-called paraglossae seems 

 even to indicate that the Polyergus are able to obtain 

 food in an extraordinary manner (Figs. 4 and 5). Yet 

 these inferences from the construction of the mouth- 



