220 



SIB JOHN I.UBBOCK ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. 



Number of 

 friends. 



Hour. 



5.44 



5.47 



5.49 



5.52 



5.54 



5.57 



5.59 



6. 1 



6. 4 



6. 7 



6.11 



6.14 



6.17 



6.20 



6.23 



6.25 



6.29 



6.32 



6.35 



6.42 



Thus during these two hours more than 120 ants came out of 

 the nest in company with the one under observation. She knew 

 her way perfectly ; and it is clear that if they had been left alone, 

 all these ants would have accompanied her to the store of larvae. 

 Three of them were accidentally allowed to do so ; but of the re- 

 mainder, only five found their way to the larvae ; all the others, 

 after wandering about a while, returned hopelessly to the nest. 



One of the ants which I employed in my experiments was under 

 observation several days. I was, however, away from home most 

 of the day, and when I left in the morning and went to bed at night 

 I put her in a bottle ; but the moment she was let out she began 

 to work again. On one occasion I was away for a week, and 

 on my return I let her out of the bottle, placing her on a little 

 heap of larvse about 3 feet from the nest. Under these circum- 

 stances 1 certainly did not expect her to return. However, 

 though she had thus been six days in confinement, the brave little 

 creature immediately picked up a larva, carried it off to the nest, 

 and, after half an hour's rest, returned for another. 



