CHAPTER VII. 
POWER OF COMMUNICATION. 
Tue Social Hymenoptera, according to Messrs. Kirby 
and Spence,! ‘have the means of communicating to 
each other information of various occurrences, and use 
a kind of language which is mutually understood, 
. and is not confined merely to giving intel- 
ligence of the approach or absence of danger; it is 
also co-extensive with all their other occasions for 
communicating their ideas to each other.’ 
Huber assures us as regards Ants? that he has 
‘frequently seen the antenne used on the field of 
battle to intimate approaching danger, and to ascertain 
their own party when mingled with the enemy; they 
are also employed in the interior of the ant-hill to 
apprise their companions of the presence of the sun, so 
favourable to the development of the larve, in their 
excursions and emigrating to indicate their route, in 
their recruitings to determine the time of departure,’ 
&e. Elsewhere also he says * ‘that should an Ant fall 
in with any of her associates from the nest they put 
her in the right way by the contact of their antenne.’ 
’ Introduction to Entomology, ii. p. 50. 2 Loe. cit. p. 206. 
8 Loc. cit. p 157. 
