ON THE SENSE OE COLOR AMONG LOWER ANIMALa. 121 



those mentioned last year being still alive. One of my nests of 

 Formica fusca was brought from the woods in December 1874 ; it 

 then contained two queens, botli of wbicb are now still alive. I am 

 disposed to think tbat some of the workers now in the nest were 

 among those originally captured, the mortality after the first few 

 weeks having been but small. This, of course, I cannot prove. 

 The queens, however, are certainly more than seven, and probably 

 more than eight, years old. In the following nests, viz. another 

 nest oi F. fusca, which I brought in on the 6th June 1875, and 

 one of Lasius niger on the 30th November 1875, there were no 

 queens ; and, as already mentioned, no workers have been pro- 

 duced. Those now living are therefore the original ones ; and 

 they must be between six and seven years old. 



I had also some workers oi Lasius niger which I began to observe 

 on the 6th July 1875 ; the last of these died on June 15th, 1881. 

 Lastly, some of Formica cinerea which I began to observe on the 

 29th November 1875, lived till the ants in this nest died oflf 

 somewhat rapidly, the last on July 23, 1881. There were no 

 queens in either of these nests ; these workers therefore must 

 have been more than 6 years old. 



On the Sense of Color among some of the Lower Animals. By 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., D.C.L., LL.D., F.E.S., Pre- 

 sident Linn. Soc. 



[Bead November 17, 1881. ] 



As I have already mentioned in a previous communication * 

 M. Paul Bertt has made some very interesting experiments on a 

 small freshwater crustacean belonging to the genus Daphnia, from 

 which he concludes that they perceive all the colors known to us, 

 being, however, especially sensitive to the yellow and green, and 

 that their limits of vision are the same as ours. 



Nay, as I have stated (loc. cit.), he even goes further than this, 

 and feels justified in concluding, from the experience of two spe- 

 cies — Man and DapJirda — that the limits of vision would be the 

 same in all cases. 



* Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xv. p. 376 (No. 87). 

 t Arcbir. de Pbysiol. 1869, p. 647. 

 LINN. JOUSN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XVI. 9 



