SUPPOSED USE OF PASS SIGNS. 127 
municating to their comrades what they purpose is 
peculiar to insects. Much has been talked of the 
so-called signs of recognition in bees, which is said_to 
wv 
by means of peculiar signs. This sign serves to pre- 
vent any strange bee from entering into the same hive 
without being immediately detected and killed. It, 
however, sometimes happens that several hives have 
the same signs, when their several members rob each 
other with impunity. In these cases the bees whose 
hive suffers most alter their signs, and then can im- 
mediately detect their enemy.’ ! 
Others, again, have supposed ants recognise one 
another by smell. 
Mr. McCook states that ants more or less soaked in 
water are no longer recognised by their friends, but, on 
the contrary, are attacked. Describing the following 
observation, he says : 2—‘ I was accidentally set upon the 
track of an interesting discovery. An ant feil into a 
box containing water placed at the foot ofa tree. She 
remained in the liquid several moments and crept out. 
Immediately she was seized in a hostile manner, first 
by one, then another, then by a third: the two an- 
tenne and one leg were thus held. A fourth ant 
assaulted the middle thorax and petiole. The poor 
little bather was thus dragged helplessly to and fro 
for a long time, and was evidently ordained to death. 
? Burmeister’s Zntomology, p. 502. 
2 Mound-making Ants of the Alleghanies, p. 280. 
