134 SIB JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 
some improbability in tbe idea that ants should be deceived 
as to their own sisters. M. Liindstrom has found seeds of this 
species in ants’ nests, but has not actually seen ants carrying 
them off, and I thought it would be worth while to determine 
this. 
Accordingly I took 10 seeds and placed them just outside one 
of my domesticated nests of Lasius niger. A certain number of 
ants were outside, and I saw several come up to the seeds, but 
they took no notice of them. I left them lying there for two days. 
I then tried them with another nest, the roof of which consisted 
of two plates of glass, side by side, but with an interval between 
them. I placed the seeds in this interval, and uncovered one of 
the sides. The ants immediately began carrying the pupae which 
were thus exposed to the light to the other, covered part of 
the nest, in doing which they necessarily passed close to the 
seeds, but they did not take the slightest notice of them. This 
operation was finished by 11 a.m., and I left them undisturbed 
till 12, the seeds remaining unnoticed and untouched. I then 
moved the cover from one half of the nest to the other, and the 
ants immediately began transporting the pupae to the shaded 
half. One or two of them examined the seeds, not one of which, 
however, was moved. This took about an hour. At 4 r.M., 
however, three of the seeds had been carried in, and the next 
day, at 7 a.m., two more seeds had been carried in. I then 
removed them, and put them just outside one of my nests of 
F. fusca. 
Aug. 31. 7 a.m. None have been touched. I now put the 
covering close to, but not over them. The ants took no notice 
of them. 
Sept. 2. I now placed them just in the entrance of the nest 
and covered over a part just outside. The ants collected as 
usual under the cover. I then removed the cover just inside the 
nest, so that the ants to reach it had to pass among the seeds. 
They, however, came in, but did not move a single seed. I once 
again moved tbe cover outside, and they followed it as before, 
but without moving the seeds. 
So far as these observations go it would seem that F. fusca 
takes no notice of these seeds, but that they really are under 
certain circumstances carried off by Lasius niger. 
Wasps. 
Mr. and Mrs. Peckham have published in the ‘Proceedings of 
