iv.] RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS. 105 



were placed, and these also, if we had watched longer, 

 would no doubt have been also treated in the same way. 

 One out of the twenty-five friends, and three out of 

 the twenty-five strangers, were carried into the nest, but 

 they were all brought out again, and thrown away like 

 the rest. Under such circumstances, then, it seems that 

 ants make no difference between friends and strangers. 



It may, however, be said, as to this experiment, that 

 since ants do not recover from chloroform, and these 

 ants were therefore to all intents and purposes dead, we 

 should not expect that much difference would be made 

 between friends and strangers. I therefore tried the same 

 experiment again, only, instead of chloroforming the 

 ants, I made them intoxicated. This was rather more 

 difficult. No ant would voluntarily degrade herself by 

 getting drunk, and it was not easy in all cases to hit 

 off the requisite degree of this compulsory intoxication. 

 In all cases they were made quite drunk, so that they 

 lay helplessly on their backs. The sober ants seemed 

 much puzzled at finding their friends in this helpless 

 and discreditable condition. They took them up and 

 carried them about for a while in a sort of aimless way, 

 as if they did not know what to do with their drunkards, 

 any more than we do. Ultimately, however, the results 

 were as follows. The ants removed twenty-five friends 

 and thirty strangers. Of the friends twenty were car- 

 ried into the nest, where no doubt they slept off the 

 effect of the spirit — at least we saw no more of them — 

 and five were thrown into the water. Of the strangers, 

 on the contrary, twenty-four were thrown into the water ; 

 only six were taken into the nest, and four at least of these 

 were afterwards brought out again and thrown away. 



