SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 473 



made, therefore, 25 visits to the larvse ; 21 other auts came a dis- 

 tance of nearly 4 feet from the nest and up to the point of junc- 

 tion within 2 inches of the larvse ; but only 1 passed over the little 

 bridge K, while 15 went over the bridge L to I. On repeating 

 this experiment. with another marked ant, she herself made 40 

 journeys, during which 19 other ants found their way to the point 

 of junction. Only 2 went over the little bridge to the larvae, 8 

 went over L to I, and the remainder on to D. 



Another made 16 journeys ; and during the same time 13 other 

 ants came to the point of junction. Of these 13, 6 went on to D, 

 7 crossed over L to I, and not one found the larvae. Thus alto- 

 gether, out of 53 ants, 20 went on to D, 80 crossed over in the 

 wrong direction to I, and only 3 found their way to the larvae. 



From Jan. 2 to Jan. 24 (1875) I made a series of similar ob- 

 servations ; and during this time 39 strangers came in all. Of 

 these, 10 went straight on to D, 21 across to the paper to I, 

 and only 8 to the larvae. 



This, I think, gives strong reason to conclude ^'6- ^• 

 that, under such circumstances, ants track one ^ 



another by scent. 



I then slightly altered the arrangement of the 

 papers as shown in the accompanying diagram 

 (%. 2). A, as before, is the nest, o being theB 

 door. B is the board ; A is a glass on which are 

 placed the larvae ; jre is a similar glass, but empty ; ^ 



n a strip of paper : to the end of n are pinned two j//\9 

 other strips /■ and p^ in such a manner that they j^ p— ^ LUm 

 can be freely turned round, so that they can be 

 turned at will either to 7t or m. Under ordinary circumstances 

 the paper/, as in the figure, was turned to the larvae ; but when- 

 ever a strange ant came, I turned the papers, so that/ led to m 

 and ff to h. The result was so striking that I give the observa- 

 tion in full. 



Jan. 24. I put an ant, which already knew her way, on the 

 larvjB at 3.22. 



At 3.30 she returned. 



