SEPARATION OF MORE THAN A YEAR. 343 



were not attacked. I also put in a stranger from 

 another nest. Her behaviour was quite different. 

 She kept away from the rest, running off at once in 

 evident fear, and kept wandering about, seeking to 

 escape. At 10.30 she got out; I put her back, but 

 she soon escaped again. I then put in another 

 stranger. She was almost immediately attacked. In 

 the meantime the old friends were gradually cleaned. 

 At 1.30 they could scarcely be distinguished ; they 

 seemed quite at home, while the stranger was being 

 dragged about. After 2 I could no longer distinguish 

 them. They were, however, certainly not attacked. 

 The stranger, on the contrary, was killed and brought 

 out of the nest. 



This case, therefore, entirely confirmed the pre- 

 ceding, in which strangers were always attacked ; friends 

 were in mo.t cases amicably received, even after more 

 than a year of separation. But while the strangers 

 were invariably attacked and expelled, the friends were 

 not always recognised, at least at first. It seemed as if 

 some of the ants had forgotten them, or perhaps the 

 young ones did not recognise them. Even, however, 

 when the friends were at first attacked, the aggressors 

 soon seemed to discover their mistake, and friends were 

 never ultimately driven out of the nest. This recogni- 

 tion of old friends after a separation of more than a 

 year seems to me very remarkable. 



The details are, I fear, tedious, but I have thought 

 them worth giving, because a mere general statement, 

 without particulars, would not give so clear an idea of 

 the result. 



