SOME SPECIES MORE COMMUNICATIVE THAN OTHERS. 161 
so fed returned with her to the honey. In due course 
these five would no doubt have brought others, and sa 
the number at the honey would have increased. 
Some species, however, act much more in association 
than others—Lasius niger, for instance, much more 
than Formica fusca. 
In March 1877 I was staying at Arcachon. It was 
a beautiful and very warm spring day, and numerous 
specimens of Formica fusca (Pl. I, fig. 3) were 
coursing about on the flagstones in front of our 
hotel. At about 10.45 a.m. I put a raisin down before 
one of them. She immediately began licking it, 
and continued till 11.2 a.m, when she went off 
almost straight to her nest, the entrance to which was 
about twelve feet away. In a few minutes she came 
out again, and reached the fruit, after a few wander- 
ings, at about 11.18 a.m. She fed till 11.30 a.., 
when she returned once more to the nest. 
At 11.45 another ant accidentally found the fruit. 
I imprisoned her. 
At 11.50 the first returned, and fed till 11.56, when 
she went off to the nest. On the way she met and 
talked with three ants, none of whom, however, came 
to the fruit. At 12.7 she returned, again alone, to the 
fruit. 
On the following day I repeated the same experi- 
ment. The first ant went backwards and forwards 
between the raisin and the nest for several hours, but 
only six others found their way to it. 
