Silt J. LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 171 



doubt that the friends were brought out by the first ant ; and as 

 she returned empty-handed to the nest, the others cannot have 

 been induced to follow her merely by observing her proceedings. 

 I conclude, therefore, that they possess the power of requesting 

 their friends to come and help them. 



Recognition of Relations. 



In my last paper (Linn. Journ. vol. xiv. p. 611) I recorded some 

 experiments made with puj)?e, in order if possible to determine 

 how ants recognized their nest companions. The general result 

 was that pupae tended by strangers of the same species, and then 

 after they had arrived at maturity put into the nest from which 

 these strangers had been taken, were invariably treated as inter- 

 lopers and attacked. On the other hand, if they were tended by 

 ants from their own nest, and then after arriving at maturity put 

 back in their own nest, they were invariably recognized as friends ; 

 and, lastly, if as pupae they were tended by strangers, but then 

 after arriving at maturity put back in their own nest, they were 

 generally received as friends. In all these experiments, however, 

 the ants were taken from the nest as pupa?, and though I did not 

 think the fact that they had passed their larval existence in the 

 nest could affect the problem, still it might do so. I determined 

 therefore to separate a nest before the young were born, or even 

 the eggs laid, and then ascertain the result. Accordingly I took 

 one of my nests, which I began watching on the 13th Sept., 1878, 

 aud which contained two queens, and on the 8th Feb., 1879, 

 divided it into halves, which I will call A and B, so that there 

 were approximately the same number of ants with a queen in each 

 division. At this season, of course, the nest contained neither 

 young nor even eggs. During April both queens began to lay 

 eggs. On the 20th July I took a number of pupae from each 

 division and placed eacli lot in a separate glass, with two ants 

 from the same division. On the 30th August I took four ants 

 from the pupse bred in B, and one from those in A (which were 

 not quite so forward), and after marking them as usual with paint, 

 put the B ants into nest A, and the A ant into nest B. They 

 were received amicably and soon cleaned. Two, indeed, were once 

 attacked for a few moments, but soon released. On the other 

 hand, I put two strangers into nest A, but they were at once 

 killed. For facility of observation I placed each nest in a closed 

 box. On the 31st I carefully examined the nests and also the 



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