Slli JOHN LUBBOOE ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASl'S. 485 



away to the empty glass. These experiments, therefore, are in 

 entire accordance with those already laid before the Society, and 

 seem to me to show that when an ant has discovered a store of 

 food and others gradually flock to it, they are guided, in some 

 cases by sight, while in others they track one another by scent. 



As to their Intelligence and Provident Habits. 



It is generally stated that our northern ants do not store up 

 food. But it must be remembered that their nourishment is, for 

 the most part, of a very perishable character, and could not be 

 preserved. Those ants, however, which collect Aphides may fairly 

 be said, in doing so, to provide for themseleves the means of sub- 

 sistence. 



M. Lund tells the following story as bearing on the intelligence 

 of ants*; — 



" Passant un jour pres d'un arbre presque isole, je fus surpris 

 d'enteudre, par un temps calme, des feuilles quitombaient comme 

 de la pluie. Ce qui augmenta mon 6tonnement, c'est que les 

 feuilles detachees avaient leur couleur naturelle, et que I'arbre 

 semblait jouir de toute sa vigueur. Je m'approchai pour trouver 

 I'explieation de ce phenomene, et je vis qu'a peu pres sur chaque 

 petiole etait postee une fourmi qui travaillait de toute sa force ; 

 le petiole etait bientot coupe et la feuille tombait par terre. Une 

 autre scene se passait au pied de I'arbre : la terre etait couverte 

 de fourmis occupees k decouper les feuilles a mesure qu'elles tom- 

 baient, et les morceaux etaient sur le champ transportes dans le 

 uid. En moins d'une heure le grand CBUvre s'accomplit sous mea 

 yeux, et I'arbre resta entierement depouille." 



With reference to this interesting account, I tried the following 

 experiment : — 



Oct. 15, noon. (See fig. 4.) At a distance of 10 inches from the 

 door of a nest of F. nigra I fixed an upright ash 

 wand 3 feet 6 inches high (a), and from the top 

 of it I suspended a second, rather shorter wand 

 (b). To the lower end of this second wand, 

 which hung just over the entrance to the nest 

 (e), I fastened a flat glass cell (d) in which I 



placed a number of larvse of F. flava, and to them ^1- r^ ** 



I put three or four specimens of F. nigra. The ' 



drop from the glass cell to the upper part of the frame was only 

 * Ann. des Sci. Kat. 18;M, p. 112. 



