124 TREATMENT OF STRANGERS. 
did not drag nor apparently guide her; but she went 
with the rest freely. This I repeated several times 
with the same result. 
I then took four ants, two from a nest about 500 
yards from the first in one direction, the other from an 
equal distance in another. In all cases the result was 
the same. I then got a few from a colony about half a 
mile off. These also were most amicably received, and 
in every case the stranger went of her own accord to 
the nest. One of the strangers was, indeed, dragged 
about half way to the entrance of the nest, but was 
then left free and might have run away if she had 
liked. She, however, after wandering about for half a 
minute, voluntarily entered the nest. In one or two 
cases the stranger ran as quickly and straight to the 
nest as if she had been there over and over again. 
This, I suppose, can only have been by scent; and cer- 
tainly no hounds in full ery could have pursued their 
game more directly or with less hesitation. In other 
cases, however, they were much longer before they went 
in. To satisfy myself that these facts were not owing 
to the nest having been taken from that of colonies 
or allies, I subsequently procured some ants of the 
same species from a nest in Hertfordshire ; and they 
also behaved in a similar manner. In one or two cases 
they seemed to be attacked, though so feebly that I could 
not feel sure aboutit; but in no case were the ants killed. 
The following fact surprised me still more. I put 
an ant (Aug. 13) at 9 a.M. on a spot where a number of 
