132 SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 
longing to the same species, be placed among them, sbe will be 
at once attacked and driven out of the nest. Nay, more, I have 
already shown that they remember their friends even after more 
than a year’s separation, and that it is not by any sign or pass- 
word, because even if rendered intoxicated, so as to be utterly in- 
sensible, they are still recognized. As regards the mode of re- 
cognition, Mr. McCook considers that it is by scent, and states 
that if ants are more or less soaked in water, they are no longer 
recognized by their friends, but are attacked. He mentions a case 
in which an ant fell accidentally into some water : — 
“ She remained in the liquid some moments and crept out of it. 
Immediately she was seized in a hostile mauner, first by one, 
then by another, then by a third; the two antennse and one leg were 
thus held. A fourth one assaulted the middle thorax and petiole ; 
the poor little bather was thus dragged helplessly to aud fro for a 
long time, and was evidently ordained to death. Presently I took 
up the struggling heap. Two of the assailants kept their hold ; one 
finally dropped, the other I could not tear loose, and so put the 
pair back upon the tree, leaving the doomed immersionist to her 
hard fate.” 
His attention having been called to this, he noticed several 
other cases, always with the same result. I have not myself 
been able to repeat the observation with the same species, but 
with two at least of our native ants the results were exactly re- 
versed. In one case five specimens of Lasius niger fell into water 
and remained immersed for three hours. I then took them out 
and put them into a bottle to recover themselves. The following 
morning I allowed them to return. They were received as 
friends, and though we watched them from 7.30 till 1.30 every 
hour, there was not the slightest sign of hostility. The nest was 
moreover placed in a close box, so that if any ant were killed we 
could inevitably find the body, and I can therefore positively state 
that no ant died. In this case, therefore, it is clear that the 
immersion did not prevent them from being recognized. Again, 
three specimens of Formica fusca dropped into water. After 
three hours I took them out, and after keeping them by themselves 
for the night to recover, I put them back into the nest. They 
were unquestionably received as friends, without the slightest 
sign of hostility, or even of doubt. I do not, however, by any 
means intend to express the opiuion that smell is not the mode 
by which recognition is effected. 
