A CRIPPLED ANT. 107 
peared to leave the nest. At length one day I found 
her wandering about in an aimless sort of manner, and 
apparently not knowing her way at all. After a while 
she fell in with some specimens of Lasius flavus, who 
directly attacked her. I at once set myself to separate 
them; but whether owing to the wounds she had 
received from her enemies, or tomy rough, though well- 
meant handling, or to both, she was evidently much 
wounded, and lay helplessly on the ground. After some 
time another Formica fusca from her nest came by. 
She examined the poor sufferer carefully, then picked 
her up carefully and carried her away into the nest. 
It would have been difficult for any one who witnessed 
this scene to have denied to this ant the possession of 
humane feelings. 
Again, in one of my nests of Formica fusca on 
January 23 last (1881), I perceived a poor ant lying on 
her back and quite unable to move. The legs were in 
cramped attitudes, and the two antennz rolled up in 
spirals. She was, of course, altogether unable to feed 
herself. After this I kept my eye on her. Several 
times I tried uncovering the part of the nest where she 
was. The other ants soon carried her into the shaded 
part. On March 4 the ants were all out of the nest, 
probably for fresh air, and had collected together in a 
corner of the box; they had not, however, forgotten 
her, but had carried her with them. I took off the 
glass lid of the box, and after a while they returned as 
usual to the nest, taking her in again. On March 5 
