EXPERIMENTS WITH DROWNED ANTS, 107 
ant passed her twelve times ; three others also went by 
but took no notice of her; but, on the other hand, a 
fourth picked her up and carried her off into the nest. 
Again, I immersed an ant for an hour, and put her 
on the strip of paper. The marked ant passed twice, 
after which she did not return. Soon after, another ant 
came by and, picking up the immersed one, carried 
her off to the nest. 
I do not bring forward these cases as proof or even as 
evidence that ants are less tender to friends in distress 
than previous observers have stated to be the case; but 
they certainly show that tenderness is not invariably 
the rule; and, especially when taken in connexion with 
the following cases, they are interesting illustrations 
of the individual differences existing between ants—that 
there are Priests and Levites, and good Samaritans 
among them, as among men. 
As evidence both of their intelligence and of their 
affection for their friends, it has been said by various 
observers that when ants have been accidentally buried 
they have been very soon dug out and rescued by their 
companions. Without for one moment doubting the 
facts as stated, we must remember the habit which ants 
have of burrowing in loose fresh soil, and especially their 
practice of digging out fresh galleries when their nests 
are disturbed. 
It seemed to me, however, that it would not be 
difficult to test whether the excavations made by ants 
under the circumstances were the result of this general 
