SlU JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 495 



appear, that the antennse should in some species act as ears and 

 in others serve for the perception of odours. The position, more- 

 over, which they occupy renders them a most advantageous situ- 

 ation for an organ of sense. This suggestion would also explain 

 various experiments and observations recorded by skilful entomo- 

 logists, and which it is otherwise difficult to reconcile with one 

 another. 



The Sense of Hearing. 



Many eminent observers have regarded the antennse as audi- 

 tory organs, and have brought forward strong evidence in favour 

 of their view. Lespes, for instance, found that a female Locusta 

 viridissima, which was very sensitive to sound, lost apparently all 

 power of hearing when the antennse were removed. She lived 

 a fortnight longer and continued to eat. M. Lespes observed no 

 other result except the loss of hearing. 



So far as I am aware, no proof has yet been adduced that ants 

 possess the power of hearing. In order, if possible, to throw some 

 light upon this interesting question, I made a variety of loud 

 noises, including those produced by a complete set of tuning-forks, 

 as near as possible to the ants mentioned in the preceding pages, 

 while they were on their journeys to and fro between the nests 

 and the larvse. In these cases the ants were moving at a steady 

 pace and in a most business-like manner, and any start or altera- 

 tion of pace would have been at once apparent. I was never able, 

 however, to perceive that they took the slightest notice of any of 

 these sounds. Thinking, however, that they might perhaps be 

 too much absorbed by the idea of the larvse to take any notice of 

 my interruptions, I took oue or two ants at random and put them 

 on a strip of paper, the two ends of which were supported by pins 

 with their bases in water. The ants imprisoned under these cir- 

 cumstances wandered slowly backwards and forwards along the 

 paper. As they did so, I tested them in the same manner as 

 before, but was unable to perceive that they took the slightest 

 notice of any sound which I was able to produce. I then took a 

 large female of F. Kgniperda, and tethered her on a board to a 

 pin by a delicate thread about 6 inches in length. After wan- 

 dering about for a while, she stood still, and I then tried her as 

 before ; but, like the other ants, she took no notice whatever of 

 the sounds. 



It is of course possible, however, if not probable, that ants, even 



LINN. JOrEN. — ZOOLOST, TOL. XII. .3.5 



