SIE JOUN LUBBOCK OS ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



471 



Fig. 1. 



have been the mere sight of a larva which' had in- 

 duced them to follow her. 



It remained to ascertain whether the ants which 

 came by themselves to the larvse found them by 

 scent, or whether the road had been described 

 to them ; for it is obvious that the latter would 

 imply a higher intelligence than the former. In 

 many of the above eases ants came by themselves 

 almost straight to the larvse which were being 

 visited by my marked ants, while other larvje close 

 by remained entirely unvisited. The stranger anta 

 must therefore either have had the way described 

 to them, or, having been told of the existence of 

 larvae, have tracked the marked ant by scent, and 

 so found their way to the larvae. To determine 

 which, I made the following experiment. 



In the above figure A is the ants' nest, o the 

 door of the nest. M is the section of a pole on which the whole 

 apparatus is supported. B is a board 2 feet long ; C, D, E, and 

 F are slips of glass connected with the board B by narrow strips 

 of paper G, H, I. K is a moveable strip of paper, IJ inch long, 

 connecting the glass F with the strip H ; and L is another move- 

 able strip of paper, as nearly as possible similar, connecting H and 

 I. On each of the slips of glass C and F I put several hundred 

 larvse of F.flava. The object of the larvse on C was to ascertain 

 whether, under such circumstances, other ants would find the larvae 

 accidentally ; and I may say at once that none did so. I then put 

 the ant (A), whom I had imprisoned over night, to the larvse on F. 

 She took one, and, knowing her way, went straight home over the 

 bridge K and down the strip H. Now it is obvious that by 

 always causing the marked ant (A) to cross the bridge K on a 

 particular piece of paper, and if at other times the papers K and 

 L were reversed, I should be able to ascertain whether other ants 

 who came to the larvae had had the direction and position explained 

 to them, or whether, having been informed by A of the existence 

 of the larvse, they found their way to them by tracking A's foot- 

 steps. If the former, they would in any case pass over the bridge 

 K by whichever strip of paper it was constituted. On the other 

 hand, if they found the larvse by tracking, then as the piece of 

 paper by which A passed was transferred to L, it would mislead 

 them and carry them away from the larvae to I. In every case, 



