106 ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. [lect: 



The difference in the treatment of friends and strangers 

 was therefore most marked. Dead ants, I may add, 

 are always brought out of the nest, and I have more 

 than once found a little heap on one spot, giving it all 

 the appearance of a burial-ground. 



Again I tried the following experiment. I took 

 six ants from a nest of Formica fusca, and imprisoned 

 them in a small bottle, one end of which was left 

 open, but covered by a layer of muslin. I then put 

 the bottle close to the door of the nest. The muslin was 

 of open texture, the meshes, however, being sufficiently 

 small to prevent the ants from escaping. They could 

 not only, however, see one another, but communicate 

 freely with their antennae. We now watched to see 

 whether the prisoners would be tended or fed by their 

 friends. We could not, however, observe that the least 

 notice was taken of them. The experiment, never- 

 theless, was less conclusive than could be wished, 

 because they might have been fed at night, or at some 

 time when we were not looking. It struck me, there- 

 fore, that it would be interesting to treat some strangers 

 also in the same manner. 



On September 2, therefore, I put two ants from one of 

 my nests of F. fusca into a bottle, the end of which was 

 tied up with muslin as described, and laid it down close 

 to the nest. In a second bottle I put two ants from 

 another nest of the same species. The ants which were 

 at liberty took no notice of the bottle containing their 

 imprisoned friends. The strangers in the other bottle, 

 on the contrary, excited them considerably. The whole 

 day one, two, or more ants stood sentry, as it were, 

 over the bottle, in a state of considerable excitement. 



