152 MODE OF RECOGNITION. 
tainly be in the highest degree improbable, it could 
not be said to be impossible. In the present case, 
however, the old ants had absolutely never seen the 
young ones until the moment when, some days after 
arriving at maturity, they were introduced into the 
nest; and yet in twenty-one cases they were undoubt- 
edly recognised as belonging to the community. 
It seems to me, therefore, to be established by 
these experiments that the recognition of ants is not 
personal or individual; that their harmony is not 
due to the fact that each ant is individually acquainted 
with every other member of the community. - 
At the same time, the fact that they recognise 
their friends even when intoxicated, and that they 
know the young born in their own nest even when 
they have heen brought out of the chrysalis by 
strangers, seems to indicate that the recognition is not 
effected by means of any sign or password 
