2l6 JOHN L. PRICER. 



above are typical. The principal variations are the following : 

 Sometimes instead of waiting for an ant to find the larvae, I took 

 one directly from the nest and put her with them. When this 

 was done the ant invariably picked up a cluster of larvae and 

 sought to find a temporary place of safety for them. In this she 

 sometimes succeeded, and at other times she brought the larvae 

 back to the others on the island and then found the way home 

 before again touching them. In no instance, however, did an ant 

 which had found the larvae herself attempt to carry them away 

 until she had made a trip to the nest. 



In one trial the ant which found the larvae called on eight of 

 her friends to help before she started to lead them to the larvae. 

 While she was doing this two of the first she had saluted started 

 for the larvae ahead of her and went directly to them, following 

 exactly the route over which their informant had returned to the 

 nest. 



If I changed the bridge from B to C and replaced it with a 

 new one while the first discoverer of the larvae was on her first 

 trip to the nest, those that followed her back invariably went to 

 C and, not finding the larvae there, they often returned to the 

 nest and seemed to give up the search as if they had been falsely 

 advised. But, although the original discoverer sometimes also 

 followed her old trail to C, I never knew one which had really 

 seen the larvae to give up searching until she found them again. 



I think that these experiments and observations fully warrant 

 the following conclusions : 



i. These ants have some means of inter-communication. A. 

 Bethe has endeavored to show that all so-called communication 

 among ants may be explained by odors carried by the informants 

 and perceived by those saluted (Diirfen wir den Ameisen und 

 Bienen Psychische Qualitaten zurchreiben). But in this case I 

 do not see how the ants saluted could have known that the odor 

 of the larvae which the informant may have borne was not 

 received from the larvae in the nest. It is perhaps possible that 

 the larvae removed from the nest give off some special odor which 

 is a signal of distress and which may be conveyed to the nest by 

 the informant, but I think this far less probable than the other 

 explanation. 



