466 sill JOHN LUBBOCK OK AKTS, EEE3, AND WASPS. 



experiments during the latter days of October. I took three 

 tapes, each about 2 feet 6 inches long, and arranged them parallel 

 to one another and about 6 inches apart. One end of each I 

 attached to one of my nests {F. nigra), and at the other end I 

 placed a glass. In the glass at the end of one tape I placed a 

 considerable number (300 to 600) of larvaB. In the second I put 

 two or three larvse only ; in the third none at all. The object of 

 the last was to see whether many ants would come to the glasses 

 under such circumstances by mere accident ; and I may at once 

 say that scarcely any did so. I then took two ants and placed one 

 of them to the glass with many larvse, the other to that with two or 

 three. Bach of them took a larva and carried it to the nest, re- 

 turning for another, and so on. After each journey I put another 

 larva in the glass with only two or three larvae to replace that 

 which had been removed. Now, if other ants came under the 

 above circumstances as a mere matter of accident, or accompany- 

 ing one another by chance, or if they simply saw the larvse which 

 were being brought and consequently concluded that they might 

 themselves also find larvse in the same place, then the numbers 

 going to the two glasses ought to be approximately equal. In 

 each case the number of journeys made by the ants would be 

 nearly the same ; consequently, if it was a matter of scent, the 

 two glasses would be in the same position. It would be impos- 

 sible for an ant, seeing another in the act of bringing a larva, to 

 judge for itself whether there were few or many larvse left behind. 

 On the other hand, if the strangers were brought, then it would be 

 curious to see whether more were brought to the glass with many 

 larvse, than to that which only contained two or three. I should 

 also mention that every stranger was imprisoned until the end 

 of the experiment. The results were as follows : — 



Exp. 1. — Time occupied, 1 hour. The ant with few larvse made 

 6 visits and brought no friends. The one with many larvse made 

 7, and brought 11 friends. 



Exp. 2.— Time occupied, 2 hours. The ant with few larvse made 

 13 journeys, and brought 8 friends. The one with many larvse did 

 not come back. 



Exp . 3. — Time occupied, 3 hours. The ant with few larvae made 

 24 journeys, and brought 5 friends. The one with many larvse 

 made 38 journeys, and brought 22 friends. 



Exp. 4. — Time occupied, 2| hours. The ant with few larvse did 



