POWERS OF COMMUNICATION. 17) 
clear that if she had been left alone, all, or at least 
most of, these ants would have accompanied her to the 
store of larve. Three of them were accidentally 
allowed to do so; but of the remainder, only 5 found 
their way to the larve; all the others, after wandering 
about a while, returned hopelessly to the nest. 
One of the ants which I employed in my experi- 
ments was under observation several days. I was, 
however, away from home most of the day, and when I 
left in the morning and went to bed at night I put her 
in a bottle ; but the moment she was let out she began 
to work again. On one occasion I was away for a week, 
and on my return I let her out of the bottle, placing 
her on a little heap of larvae about 3 feet from the 
nest. Under these circumstances I certainly did not 
expect her to return. However, though she had thus 
been six days in confinement, the brave little creature 
immediately picked up a larva, carried it off to the 
nest, and, after half an hour’s rest, returned for another. 
T conclude, then, that when large numbers of ants 
come to food they follow one another, being also to a 
certain extent guided by scent. The fact, therefore, 
does not imply any considerable power of intercom- 
munication. There are, moreover, some other circum- 
stances which seem to show that their powers in this 
respect are but limited. ‘or instance, I have already 
mentioned that if a colony of Polyergus changes the 
situation of its nest, the mistresses are all carried to 
the new one by the slaves. Again, if a number of F. 
