56 Ants. 



fully avoided inferring from this that they are really 

 deaf, though it certainly seems that their range of 

 hearing is very different from ours. 



12. In order, if possible, to throw some light upon 

 this interesting question, I made a variety of loud 

 noises, including those produced by a complete set 

 of tuning-forks, as near as possible to the ants 

 while they were bringing food into the nest. In 

 these cases the ants were moving steadily and 

 in a most business-like manner, and any start 

 or alteration of pace would have been at once 

 apparent. I was never able, however, to perceive 

 that they took the slightest notice of any of these 

 sounds. Thinking, however, that they might, per- 

 haps, be too much absorbed by the idea of the 

 larvae to take any notice of my interruptions, I took 

 one or two ants at random and put them on a strip 

 of paper, the two ends of which were supported by 

 pins with their bases in water. The ants imprisoned 

 under these circumstances wandered slowly back- 

 wards and fonvards along the paper. As they did 

 so, I tested them in the same manner as before, but 

 was unable to perceive that they took the slightest 

 notice of any sound which I was able to produce. 

 I then took an ant belonging to one of the largest 

 European species, and tethered her on a board to 

 a pin by a delicate silk thread about 6 inches in 

 length. After wandering about for a while, she 

 stood still, and I then tried her in the same way ; 

 but, like the other ants, she took no notice whatever 

 of the sounds. 



