EXPERIMENT WITH FORMICA. 181 
to the nest. She then set again to work alone, and in 
about forty minutes succeeded in cutting off the head 
of the fly, which she at once carried into the nest. In 
a little while she came out again, this time accompanied 
by five friends, all of whom found their way to the fly ; 
one of these, having cut off the abdomen of the fly, 
took it into the nest, leaving three of her companions 
to bring in the remainder of their prey. 
These experiments certainly seem to indicate the 
possession by ants of something approaching to lan- 
guage. It is impossible to doubt that the friends were 
brought out by the first ant; and as she returned 
empty-handed to the nest, the others cannot have been 
induced to follow her merely by observing her proceed- 
ings. In face of such facts as these, it is impossible 
not to ask ourselves how far are ants mere exquisite 
automatons ; how far are they conscious beings? When 
we see an ant-hill, tenanted by thousands of industrious 
inhabitants, excavating chambers, forming tunnels, 
making roads, guarding their home, gathering food, 
feeding the young, tending their domestic animals, 
——each one fulfilling its duties industriously, and 
without confusion,—it is difficult altogether to deny 
to them the gift of reason; and the preceding observa- 
tions tend to confirm the opinion that their mental 
powers differ from those of men, not so much in kind 
as in degree. 
