214 INTELLIGENCE IN INSECTS 



acts if they do signify particular things has not been 

 discovered. The general upshot of a long series of experi- 

 ments by Lubbock is that an ant, while having the power 

 of leading others to food, is unable to inform its comrades 

 as to the whereabouts of food so that they may reach it by 

 themselves. Lubbock allowed ants to take food and go back 

 to the nest; when these ants returned accompanied by several 

 companions the former were caught in order to discover if 

 their companions would then be able to find the food alone. 

 This they rarely succeeded in doing, although they would 

 scurry about in various directions as if seeking something. 

 These facts seem to show that the communication of the 

 location of food or other desirable objects is, as Romanes 

 has expressed it, "in the nature of some sign amounting to 

 no more than a 'follow me/ " While ants may not be able 

 to talk about things in their sign language, they apparently 

 express their different feelings and inclinations in ways which 

 are intelligible to other ants. Wasmann has compiled a 

 sort of vocabulary of signs made by the antennae a "Worter- 

 buch der Fiihlersprache," which is about as extensive as 

 Mr. Garner's language of apes. According to the vigor 

 and frequency of the strokes of the antennae, and the part 

 of the body stroked, the ant which is addressed may be im- 

 portuned for food, warned of danger, or induced to cooperate 

 with the communicant in various activities. Naturally one 

 is inclined to be skeptical regarding what seems like many 

 of the romantic tales of animal psychology, but Wasmann 

 is expressing little more than the general opinion among 

 students of ant life regarding the powers of communication 

 possessed by these insects, and the conclusions of so careful 

 and experienced a myrmecologist and one withal so little to 

 be suspected of a tendency to "humanizing the brute" 

 are deserving of the most careful consideration. 



