.240 SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON BEES, WASPS, AND ANTS. 



signal was given, the Amazons rusTied in the right direction and 

 pillaged the nest in spite of its inhabitants." This is a surprising 

 statement. If it is to be taken literally, the communication can- 

 not have been made by the antennae ; the signal can hardly have 

 been a visible one ; are we then to imagine a sound or smell to 

 have been made use of which our auditory and olfactory nerves 

 are incapable of perceiving ? or have ants some sense which we 

 do not possess ? 



It would even appear, from M. Forel's statements, that in 

 some cases one species comprehends the signs of another. This 

 is, of course, the case wlien different species live in association ; 

 but I am now speaking of hostile species. Formica sanguinea, 

 he assures us, understand the signals of F. pratensis. " Elles 

 savent," he says (p. 359), "toujours saisir I'instant oii lespra- 

 tensis se communiquent le signal de la deroute, et elles savent 

 s'apprendre cette decouverte les unes aux autres avee une rapidite 

 incroyable. Au moment memo oii Ton voit les pratensis se jeter 

 les unes centre les autres en se frappant de quelques coups 

 rapides, puis cesser toute resistance et s'enfuir en masse, on voit 

 aussi les sanguinea se jeter tout-a-coiip au milieu d'elles sans la 

 plus petite retenue, mordant a droite et a gauche comme des 

 Polyergus, et arrachant les cocons de toutes les pratensis qui en 

 portent." 



He is of opinion (p. 364) that the different species differ much 

 in their power of communicating with one another. Thus, 

 though Polyergus rufescens is smaller than F. sanguinea, it is 

 generally victorious, because the ants of this species understand 

 one another more quickly than those of F. sanguinea. 



It appeared to me that the following experiment might throw 

 some light on the power of communication possessed by ants, viz. 

 to place several small quantities of honey in similar situations, 

 then to bring an ant to one of them, and subsequently to register 

 the number of ants visiting each of the parcels of honey, of coui'se 

 imprisoning for the time every ant which found her way to the 

 honey except the first. If, then, many more came to the honey 

 which had been shown to the first ant than to the other parcels, this 

 would be in favour of their possessing the power of communicating 

 facts to one another, though it might be said they came by scent. 

 Accordingly on the 13th Ju]y,at 8 p.m., I took a piece of cork about 

 8 inches long and 4 inches wide, and stuck into it seventeen pins, 

 on three of which I put pieces of card with a little honey. Up 



