52 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



consequently it cannot have been the mere sight of a larva 

 which had induced them to follow her. 



Further experiments proved, as we might have ex- 

 pected, that although an ant is able to communicate to 

 her friends in the nest that she has found treasure some- 

 where outside, she is not able to describe to them its pre- 

 cise locality. Thus, having exposed larvae and placed an 

 ant upon them as before. Sir John watched every time she 

 came out of the nest with friends to assist her, but instead 

 of allowing her to pilot the way, he took her up and 

 carried her to the larvae, allowing her to return with a 

 larva upon her own feet. Under these circumstances the 

 friends, although evidently coming out with the intention 

 of finding some treasure, were never able to find it ; but 

 wandered about in various directions for a while, and then 

 returned to the nest. Thus, during two hours she 

 brought out in her successive journeys altogether no less 

 than 120 ants, of which number only 5 in their unguided 

 wanderings happened to find the sought-for treasure. 

 This result seems to prove, as we might have expected, 

 that the communication is of the nature of some sign 

 amounting to no more than a ' follow me.' Other experi- 

 ments confirmed this result, and also brought out the 

 fact that ' some species act much more in association than 

 others — Formica fusca, for instance, much less than 

 Lasius niger.^ Thus Sir John Lubbock placed some honey 

 before a marked specimen of the former species ; but 

 although she visited and revisited the honey during an 

 entire day, she brought out no friends to share it ; and 

 although in her journeys to and from the nest she happened 

 to pass and repass many other individuals, they took no 

 notice of each other. 



The obvious objection to these experiments, that an 

 ant observing a friend bringing home food or a pupa 

 might infer, without being told, that by accompanying 

 the friend on the return journey she 'might participate in 

 the good things,' has been partly met by the fact already 

 stated, viz., that there is so very marked a difference in 

 the result if, on experimenting on two ants, one had access 

 to a large treasure and the other only to a small one. But 



