PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 357 



and gives him a violent pull : — upon this, leaving his liquor, the loiterer 

 turns round, and opening his threatening jaws with every appearance of 

 anger, goes very cooly to drinking again ; but his monitor without further 

 ceremony, rusliing before him, seizes him by his jaws, and at last drags 

 him off in triumph to the formicary.^ 



The language of ants, however, is not confined merely to giving intel- 

 ligence of the approach or presence of danger ; it is also coextensive with' 

 all their other occasions for communicating their ideas to each other. 



Some, whose extraordinary history I shall soon relate to you, engage in 

 military expeditions, and often previously send out spies to collect infor- 

 mation. These, as soon as they return from exploring the vicinity, enter 

 the nest ; upon which, as if they had communicated their intelligence, the 

 army immediately assembles in the suburbs of their city, and begins its 

 march towards that quarter whence the spies had arrived. Upon the 

 jiiarch, communications are perpetually making between the van and the 

 rear; and when arrived at the camp of the enemy, and the battle begins, 

 if necessary, couriers are dispatched to the formicary for reinforcements.- 



If you scatter the ruins of an ant's nest in your apartment, you will be 

 furnished with another proof of their language. The ants will take a 

 thousand different paths, each going by itself, to increase the chance of 

 discovery ; they will meet and cross each other in all directions, and per- 

 haps will wander long before they can . find a spot convenient for their 

 reunion. No sooner does any one discover a little chink in the floor, 

 through which it can pass below, than it returns to its companions, and, 

 by means of certain motions of its antenna, makes some of them compre- 

 hend what route they are to pursue to find it, sometimes even accompany- 

 ing them to the spot ; these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till 

 all know which way to direct their steps. ^ 



It is well known, also, that ants give each other information when they 

 have discovered any store of provision. Bradley relates a striking instance 

 of this. A nest of ants in a nobleman's garden discovered a closet, many 

 yards within the house, in which conserves were kept, which they con- 

 stantly attended till the nest was destroyed. Some in their rambles must 

 have first discovered this depot of sweets, and informed the rest of it. It 

 is remarkable that they always went to it by the same track, scarcely- 

 varying an inch from it, though they had to pass through two apartments ; 

 nor could the sweeping and cleaning of the rooms discomfit them, or cause 

 them to pursue a different route."* 



Here may be related an amusing experiment of Gould's. Having 

 deposited several colonies of ants (P. fusca) in flower-pots, he placed 

 them in some earthen pans full of water, which prevented them from 

 making excursions from their nest. When they had been accustomed 

 some days to this imprisonment, he fastened small threads to the upper part 

 of the pots, and extending them over the water pans fixed them in the 

 ground. The sagacious ants soon found out that by these bridges they 

 could escape from their moated castle. The discovery was communicated 

 to the whole society, and in a short time the threads were filled with trains 

 of busy workers passing to and fro.^ 



> Huber. 133. ^ Ibid. 167. 217. 237. 



3 Huber, 137. •• Bradley, 134. * Gould, 85. 



