INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 31 



duties, and do not leave the nest till some time after 

 they have arrived at maturity. 



I have noticed, also, that some individuals seem to 

 possess a finer sense of taste than other;!, and some light 

 seems to be thrown on this difference by the fact that 

 the number of the taste-pits is not the same in all indi- 

 viduals. Thus Will observed that the number on the 

 tongue of Lasius flavus (our common yellow ant) varies 

 from twenty to twenty-four, and in Atta from forty to 

 fifty-two. The number of pits on the maxillae is subject 

 to still greater variations, and is not even always the 

 same on the two sides of the same insect. 



On the whole, then, we may conclude that the organs 

 of taste in insects are certain modified hairs situated 

 either in the mouth itself or on the organs immediately 

 surrounding it. 



