THE COMMON-SENSE VIEW 187 



of ants, says that several hundred nests are some- 

 times united into a single confederation. Each 

 ant knows every other ant of the entire con- 

 federation, and they all take part in the common 

 defence. Haeckel says, speaking of social evolu- 

 tion in ants, that the aboriginal ants of the Chalk 

 Age had as little idea of the division of labour and 

 organisation of modern ant states as paleolithic 

 flint-chippers had of the complexity and organisa- 

 tion of twentieth-century civilisation. * If we take 

 an ant's nest, we not only see that work of every 

 description — rearing of progeny, foraging, build- 

 ing, rearing of aphides, and so on — is performed 

 according to the principles of voluntary mutual 

 aid, but we must also recognise, with Forel, that 

 the fundamental feature of the life of many species 

 of ants is the obligation of every ant to share its 

 food, already ssvallowed and partly digested, with 

 every member of the community which may apply 

 for it. Two ants belonging to the same nest or 

 to the same confederation of nests will approach 

 each other, exchange a few movements with the 

 antennae, and if one of them is hungry or thirsty 

 — and especially if the other has its crop full — it 

 immediately asks for food. The individual thus 

 requested never refuses. It sets apart its man- 

 dibles, takes a proper position, and regurgitates a 

 drop of transparent fluid, which is licked up by 

 the hungry ant. Regurgitating food for others is 

 so prominent a feature in the life of the ants, and 

 it so constantly recurs both for feeding hungry 

 comrades and for feeding larvae, that Forel con- 



