156 KIRBY AND SPENCE. 
down. It seems indisputable that the one ant had in 
this instance conveyed news of the booty to his com- 
rades, who would not otherwise have at once directed 
their steps in a body to the only accessible route.’! 
Elsewhere, Messrs. Kirby and Spence say :*—‘If you 
scatter the ruins of an ants’ nest in your apartment, you 
will be furnished with another proof of their language. 
The ants will take a thousand different paths, each going 
by itself, to increase the chance of discovery; they will 
meet and cross each other in all directions, and perhaps 
will wander long before they can find a spot convenient 
for their reunion. No sooner does any one discover a 
little chink in the floor through which it can pass 
below than it returns to its companions, and, by means 
of certain motions of its antenne, makes some of them 
comprehend what route they are to pursue to find it, 
sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; 
these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till 
all know which way to direct their steps.’ 
Here, however, Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not 
sufficiently distinguish between the cases in which the 
ants were guided, from those in which they were directed 
to the place of safety. It is obvious, however, that the 
power of communication implied in the latter case is 
much greater than in the former. 
A short but very interesting paper by Dujardin on 
this subject is contained in the ‘ Annales des Sciences’ 
for )852. He satisfied himself that some bees which 
1 Loe. cit. p. 422. ? Introd. to Entomology, vol. ii p. 6. 
