248 WANT OF INGENUITY 
‘Then, thinking that paper was a substance to which 
they were not accustomed, I tried the same with a bit 
of straw 1 inch long and } inch wide. The result was 
the same. I repeated this more than once. 
Again I suspended some honey over a nest of 
Lasius flavus at a height of about 4 an inch, and 
accessible only by a paper bridge more than 10 feet 
long. Under the glass I then placed a small heap of 
earth. The ants soon swarmed over the earth on to the 
glass, and began feeding on the honey. I then 
removed a little of the earth, so that there was an 
interval of about 4 of an inch between the glass and 
the earth; but, though the distance was so small, they 
would not jump down, but preferred to go round by the 
long bridge. They tried in vain tostretch up from the 
earth to the glass, which, however, was just out of their 
reach, though they could touch it with their antennz ; 
but it did not occur to them to heap the earth up a 
little, though if they had moved only half a dozen 
particles of earth they would have secured for them- 
selves direct access to the food. This, however, never 
occurred to them. At length they gave up all attempts 
to reach up to the glass, and went round by the paper 
bridge. I left the arrangement for several weeks, but 
they continued to go round by the long paper bridge. 
Again I varied the experiment as follows :—Having 
left a nest without food for a short time, I placed some 
honey on a small wooden brick surrounded by a little 
moat of glycerine 4 an inch wide and about jj of 
