88 ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. [lect. 



In most species of ants, the power of smell is very keen. 

 I placed ants on a strip of paper, each end of which was 

 supported on a pin, the foot of which was immersed in 

 water. They ran backwards and forwards along the paper, 

 trying to escape. If then a camel's-hair pencil was sus- 

 pended just over the paper, they passed under it without 

 taking any notice of it ; but if it was scented, say with 

 lavender-water, they at once stopped when they came near 

 it, showing in the most unmistakable manner that they 

 perceived the odour. This sense appears to reside, though 

 not perhaps exclusively, in the antennas. I tethered, for 

 instance, a large specimen of Formica ligniperda with a 

 fine thread to a board, and when she was quite quiet I 

 approached a scented camel's-hair pencil slowly to the 

 tip of the antenna, which was at once withdrawn, 

 though the insect took no notice of a similar pencil, if 

 not scented. 



On the other hand, as regards their sense of hearing, 

 the case is very different. Approaching an ant which 

 was standing quietly, I have over and over again made 

 the loudest and most shrill noises I could, using a penny 

 pipe, a dog- whistle, a violin, as well as the most piercing 

 and startling sounds I could produce with my own voice, 

 without effect. At the same time I by no means would 

 infer from this that they are really deaf, though it 

 certainly seems that their range of hearing is very 

 different from ours. We know that certain allied in- 

 sects produce a noise by rubbing one of their abdominal 

 rings against another. Landois is of opinion that ants 

 also make sounds in the same way, though these sounds 

 are inaudible to us. Our range is, however, after all, 

 very limited, and the universe is probably full of music 



