SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 497 



As to Sentiments of Benevolence. 



Mr. G-rote, va. his ' rragments on Ethical Subjects,' regards it 

 as an evident necessity that no society can exist without the sen- 

 timent of morality. " Every one," he says, " who has either spoken 

 or written on the subject has agreed in considering this sentiment 

 as absolutely indispensable to the very existence of society. With- 

 out the diffusion of a certain measure of this feeling throughout 

 all the members of the social union, the caprices, the desires, and 

 the passions of each separate individual would render the main- 

 tenance of any established communion impossible. Positive mo- 

 rality, under some form or other, has existed in every society of 

 which the world has ever had experience." 



If this be so, then ants also must be moral and accountable 

 beings. I cannot, however, of course urge this, because I have 

 elsewhere attempted to show that even as regards man, the case 

 is not by any means clear. In the case of ants, various observers 

 have recorded instances of attachment and affection, some of which 

 have been referred to in my previous papers. With reference to 

 this part of the subject, I have made some further experiments. 



Jan. 3, 1876. I immersed an ant {F. nigra) in water for half 

 an hour ; and when she was then to aU appearance drowned, I 

 put her on the strip of paper I mentioned on p. 473. The strip 

 was half an inch wide ; and one of my marked ants belonging to 

 the same nest was passing continually to and fro over it. The 

 immersed ant lay there an hour before she recovered herself ; and 

 during this time the marked ant passed by 18 times without 

 taking the slightest notice of her. 



I then immersed another ant in water for an hour, after which 

 I placed her on the strip of paper as in the preceding case. She 

 was three quarters of an hour before she recovered : during this 

 time two marked ants were passing to and fro ; one of them went 

 by 18 times, the other 20 times ; and two strangers also went over 

 the paper ; but none of them took the slightest notice of their 

 drowned friend. 



I then immersed another ant for an hour, and then put her on 

 the strip of paper. She took an hour to recover. The same two 

 marked ants as in the previous observation were at work. One 

 passed 30 times, the other 28 times, besides which five strangers 

 passed by ; but not one took the slightest notice. 



I immersed three ants for eight hours, and then put them on 



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