SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



49 



but I could uot feel quite sure that they were those experimented 

 with. 



Lastly, on the 9th April I again piit twelve ants, six from each 

 of these nests, together, and kept them so till the 22nd October. 

 I then took four of those from 71, put three into 81 and the 

 fourth into 71. I also took four of those from 81, and put three 

 into 71, and the fourth back into 81 among her old friends. The 

 two ants thus restored respectively to their old nests were as 

 usual recognized as friends and quite unmolested. As regards 

 the other six, the results were as follows. The ants were intro- 

 duced into the nests at 8.15 a.m. 



I do not give these results as by any means proving that ants 

 do not recognize their friends by means of smell. They do seem, 

 however, to show that not even six months of close companion- 

 ship under precisely similar conditions will so far assimilate the 

 odour as to lead to confusion. If the recognition is due in any 

 degree to this cause, the odour is therefore probably an hereditary 

 characteristic. 



The following little fact may be worth mentioning as bearing 

 both on the power of communication possessed by ants, and also 

 on their feeling towards a queen. I was starting a new nest of 

 Lasius fiavus in which were two queens. We allowed the ants 

 to take one of them into their new glass house ; the other we kept 

 with a small retinue in a separate bottle. If this bottle is placed 

 near the nest, some of the retinue leave it, go into the nest, and 

 soon the ants come out in large numbers to see, I had almost 

 said to pay their respects to, their queen. 



Longevity of Ants. — In previous papers I have called attention 

 to the considerable age attained by my ants ; and I may perhaps 

 be permitted to repeat here, mutatis mutandis, a paragraph from 

 my last communication with reference to my most aged speci- 

 mens, most of those mentioned last year being still alive. One 



