384 SIR J. LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



much to their eyes as a man would have done under similar cir- 

 cumstances, yet that they were to some extent guided by sight. 



I then removed all the paper pathways and put the pillar to M. 

 Of the two first ants which came to the Fig 5 



table, the first found the pillar in 5 minutes, 

 the second, after wandering about for a 

 quarter of an. hour, gave the search up in 

 despair, and went home. I then moved 

 the pillar to M' and watched the next ant 

 that came on to the table ; she found it 

 in a minute or two. I then moved it to 

 M". Two ants came together. One 

 found the pillar in 7 minutes ; the other 



took no less than 25. Obviously, therefore, though it seems clear 

 that they are helped by sight, still these last observations support 

 those previously recorded, and show that in finding their way they 

 do not derive by any means so much assistance from their eyes as 

 we (should under corresponding circumstances. 



Production of Queens. 



I have mentioned in one of my previous papers that queens have 

 never (so far, at least, as I had been able to observe) been pro- 

 duced in my nests, I was therefore much interested last year 

 (1880) to find five queens developed in one of my nests of Formica 

 fusca. The nest had been under observation since April 1879, 

 and the eggs therefore must have been laid in captivity. The 

 nest had been richly supplied with animal food, and this may pos- 

 sibly account for the fact. 



It is known that bees, by difference of food &c, possess the 

 power of obtaining at Avill from the same eggs either queens or 

 ordinary workers. Mr. Dewitz *, however, is of opinion that among 

 ants, on the contrary, the queens and workers are produced from 

 different kinds of eggs. He remarks that it is very difficult to 

 understand how the instinct, if it is to be called instinct, which 

 would enable the working ants to make this difference can have 

 arisen. This is no doubt true ; but it seems to me quite as diffi- 

 cult to understand how the queens, which must have originally 

 laid only queen eggs and male eggs, can have come to produce a 

 third class. Moreover, however great the difficulty may be to 



* Zeit, l'iir wiss. Zool. 1878, p. 101. 



