June 24, 1880] 



NATURE 



185 



by relating his fresh experiments on their powers of communica- 

 tion. Among others a dead blue-bottle fly was pinned down, 

 and after vain efforts at removal the selected ant hied home, and 

 emerged \\ith friends who slowly, and evidently incredulously, 

 followed their guide. The latter starting off at a great pace 

 distanced them, and they returned, again, however, to be 

 informed, come out and at length be coaxed to the prey. In 

 the several experiments with different species of ants and under 

 varied circumstances, these seem to indicate the possession by 

 ants of something approaching language. It is impossible to 

 doubt that the friends were brought out by the first ant, and as 

 she returned empty handed to the nest the others cannot have 

 been induced to follow merely by observing her proceedings. 

 Hence the conclusion that they possess the power of requesting 

 their friends to come and help them. For other experiments 

 testing the recognition of relations, although the old ants had 

 absolutely never seen the young ones until the moment, some 

 days after arriving at maturity, they were introduced into the 

 nest, yet in all cases they were undoubtedly recognised as 

 belonging to the community. It would seem, therefore, to be 

 establislied that the recognition of ants is not personal and 

 individual, and that their harmony is not due to the fact that each 

 ant is acquainted with every other member of the community. It 

 would further appear from the fact that they recognise their friends 

 even when intoxicated, and that they know the young born in 

 their own nest, even when they have been brought out of the 

 chrysalis by strangers, indicating, therefore, that the recognition 

 is not effected by means of any sign or password. With regard 

 to workers breeding, the addition.il evidence tends to confirm 

 previously-advanced views, that when workers lay eggs males 

 are always the issue of these. Without entering into details of 

 instances it may broadly be affirmed that in the queenless nests 

 males have been produced, and in not a single case has a worker 

 laid eggs which have produced a female, either a queen or a 

 worker. On the contrary, in nests pos-essing a queen, workers 

 have been abundantly produced. The inference to these curious 

 physiological facts leads to the presumption that, as in the case 

 of bees, so also in ants, some special food is required to develop 

 the female embryo into a'queen. In Sir John's nests, while from 

 accidents and other causes many ants are lost during the summer 

 months, in winter, nevertheless, there are few deaths. As to 

 the age attained, specimens of Formica fttsca and F. sanguinea, 

 still lively, are now four and others five years old at least. The 

 behaviour to strange queens often results in their being ruthlessly 

 killed ; yet as communities are known tD have existed for years, 

 queens must occasionally have been adopted. With the view of 

 trying how far dislike and passion might be assuaged by a formal 

 temporary acquaintance a queen of F. ftisca was introduced into 

 a queenless nest, but protected by a wire cage, and after some 

 days the latter removed, but the queen was at once attacked. 

 Mr. McCook, nevertheless, relates an instance of a fertile queen 

 of Crcmastogaster lineolata having been adopted by a colony of 

 the same species. 



Such difference in conduct. Sir John suggests, may be due to 

 his own ants having been living in a republic ; for it is affirmed 

 that bees long without a queen are strongly averse to adopt or 

 accept another. Furthermore, if a few auts from a strange nest 

 are put along with a queen they do not attack her, and if otiier 

 ants are by degrees added the throne is ultimately secured. In 

 pursuance of experiments to test the sense of direction, some 

 ants were trained to go for their food over a wooden bridge 

 made up of segments. Having got accustomed to the way, 

 afterwards when an ant was in the act of crossing, a segment 

 was suddenly reversed in direction, evidently to the ant's dis- 

 comfiture ; she then either turned round, or, after traversing the 

 bridge, w'ould return. When, however, similar pieces of wood 

 were placed between nest and food, and tlie ant at the middle 

 piece, those at the ends being transposed, the ant was not dis- 

 concerted. In other instances a circular paper disk was placed 

 on a paper bridge, and when tlie ant was on the disk this was 

 revolved, but the ant turned round w ith the paper. A hat-box 

 with holes of entrance and exit pierced at opposite sides was 

 planted across the line to the food ; when the ant had entered 

 and the box turned round, the ant likewise wheeled about, 

 evidently retaining her sen-e of direction. Again, with the 

 insect en route, when the disk or box with the ant within was 

 merely shifted to the opposite side of the food without being 

 turned round, the ant did not turn round, but continued in what 

 ought to have been the direction to the food, and evidently was 

 surprised at the result on arrival at the spot where the food had 



previously been. To ascertain whether ants make sounds audible 

 to one another, the use of the telephone was resorted to, but the 

 results were negative. These experiments may not be conclu- 

 sive, for the plate of the telephone may be too stiff to be set in 

 vibration by any sounds which the ants produced. As opposed 

 to the opinion expressed by M. Dewitz, Sir J. Lubbock regards 

 tlie ancestral ant as having been aculeate, and that the rudi- 

 mentary condition of the sting in Formica is due to atrophy, 

 perhaps attributable to disuse. A ground plan of the nest of 

 Lasitis niger is now given by Sir John, which exhibits an intri- 

 cate, narrow, and winding entrance-passage ; the main nest 

 cavity is further supported by pillars, and here and there by 

 islands ; protected recesses obtain, ^evidently strategical retreats 

 in times of danger. Studying the relations and treatment of the 

 aphides, or plant-lice of the ants, Sir John clearly demonstrates 

 that not only are the aphides kept and protected in the ants' 

 nests, but the eggs of Aphis laid outside on the leaf-stalks of its 

 food-plant in October, when exposed to risks of weather, are care- 

 fully brought by the ants into their nests, and afterwards tended by 

 them during the long winter months until March, when the young 

 ones are again brought out and placed on the young vegetable shoots. 

 This proves prudential motives, for though our native ants may 

 not lay up such great supplies of winter stores of' food as do 

 some of those found abroad, they thus nevertheless take the 

 means to enable them to procure food during the following 

 summer. The fact of European ants not generally laying up 

 abundant stores may be due to the nature of their food. Insects 

 and small animals form portions of their food, and these cannot 

 always be kept fresh. They may also not have learnt the art of 

 building vessels for their honey, probably because their young 

 are not kept in cells like those of the honey bee, and their pupae 

 do not construct cocoons like those of the humble bee. Rela- 

 tively to their size our English ants nevertheless store propor- 

 tionally ; for if the little brown garden ant be watched milking 

 their aphides, a marked abdominal distension is observable. 

 The paper concludes by the history and technical description of 

 a' new species of Australian honey ant. This corroborates 

 Westmael's strange account of the Mexican species ; certain 

 individual ants being told off as receptacles for food, in short 

 they become literally animated honey pots. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



The committee of management of the Royal Agricultural 

 College, Cirencester, have just established two scholarships of 

 25/. and 10/. respectively, to be open to all students of the 

 college, and to be awarded three times every year in accord- 

 ance \\ith the results of the sessional examinations. The first 

 award will take place after the Christmas examination of the 

 present year. The vellum certificates and book prizes, and the 

 gold medals, will be continued as heretofore. 



The first session of the representative Conseil Superieure de 

 rinstruction Publique of France was closed on June 17, by an 

 address pronounced by M. Jules Ferry. The result of the 

 deliberations has been to raise the standard of Baccalaiireal, the 

 first step in French classical honours ; the time allotted to Greek 

 and Latin in the course of studies has been curtailed at the 

 expense of themes and versification, and allotted either to 

 science or to living languages. The work of the next session 

 will be to organise the scientific instruction. Sharp discussions 

 are expected between the delegates who wish to organise a special 

 course of instruction for sciences, and those who stick to the old 

 scheme of making the preparation for the Government schools a 

 supplement to classical instruction. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Aunaleii der F/iysik unci Chcmie, No. 5.— On tones generated 

 by a limited number of impulses, by W. Kohlrausch. — On torsion, 

 by E. Warburg. — On stationary vibrations of a heavy fluid, by G. 

 Kirchhoff. On the propagation of electricity by current water, 

 and allied phenomena (continued), by E. Dorn. — On the new 

 relation discovered by Dr. Kerr between light and electricity, by 

 W. C. Rontgen. — On some new researches on the mean length 

 of path of molecules, by R. Clausius. — Researches on heat- 

 conduction in liquids, by H. F. Weber. — Researches on the 

 height of the atmosphere and the constitution of gaseous celes- 

 tial bodies (continued), by A. Ritter.— On ultra-violet rays (con- 



