59 



pratensis (in a wild state), there are probably from 400,000 to 500,000 ants, and in other- 

 cases even these large numbers are exceeded. Yet they nob only recognise each other 

 while living together, but even after living apart for a long period. Thus Sir John 

 Lub'nock separated one of his colonies of F. fusca into two halves, and kept them entirely 

 apart. At different times he put specimens from the one half into the other. At first 

 they were always arnica'. ily received, but after some months' separation, they were 

 occasionally attacked, as if some of the ants, perhaps the young 

 ones, did not know them. The mistake, however, was always 

 reetitied in a short time. The last three ants were put back 

 after a separation of a year and nine months, yet they were 

 well received, and evidently recognised as friends. Formica 

 jalracea is shown in Fig. 21. 



Further experiments were made by this accomplished 

 observer,- with pupa 2 taken from a nest and b fought up by 

 stranger nurses. Even these young ants, when placed in the 

 nesffrom which they had been taken as pupa 2 , were acknow- 

 ledged as friends. But when they were put into the nest from 

 which their nurses had been taken, they were always attacked. 

 A still more extraordinary fact is, that ants will recognise the 

 x- K . 21 claims of consanguinity even in young ants taken from their 



nest in the egg state, and brought up wholly by strangers. How 

 this recognition of their friends is effected, is a mystery. Signs, passwords, the sense of 

 smell, have all been suggested by naturalists as the solution of the problem, but none of 

 these are fully satisfactory. 



Besides this power of recognising their friends, there is no doubt but that they have 

 the power of communicating information to one another. Indeed, their acting in concert 

 in karge numbers, for some special object — as in their warlike expeditions — is a proof of 

 this, for without this faculty, such combinations would be impossible. Sir John Lubbock 

 tried many experiments with marked specimens, and came to the conclusion that ants can 

 impart information to their fellows, but the modus operandi could not be made out. It 

 seems to be connected in some way with signs given by touching with the antenna?, which, 

 (according to Huber and others), they use freely in this manner. That it is imparted by 

 sound, is not probable, unless ants can hear sounds which to us are altogether inaudible. 

 Sir John Lubbock attached an extremely sensitive microphone to one of his nests, for 

 the purpose of testing this point. The ants could be distinctly heard walking about, but 

 no other sounds could be distinguished. 



The industry of ants has long been celebrated. They work literally day and night. 

 Sir John Lubbock says, " I once watched an ant from six in the 1 morning, and she 

 worked, without intermission, till a quarter to ten at night. I had put her to a saucer 

 containing larva-, and in this time she carried off no less than a hundred and eighty-seven 

 to the nest. I had another ant, which I employed in my experiments, under continuous 

 observations several days. When I started for London in the morning, and again when 

 I went to bed at night, I used to put her in a small bottle, but the moment she was let 

 out she began to work again. On one occasion I was away from home for a week. On 

 my return I took her out of the bottle, placing her on a little heap of larva? about three 

 feet from the nest. Under these circumstances I certainly did not expect her to return. 

 However, though she had thus been six day-j 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.'' 



If they work so hard, why should they not sometimes play 1 Huber mentions scenes 

 which he had witnessed on the surface of ant hills, which strongly resembled sportive 

 games. The ants raised themselves on their hind legs, caressed one another with their 

 antenna-, engaged in mock combats, and almost seemed to be playing hide and seek. 

 Gould, an old English observer, also mentions having seen similar "amusements." Even 

 the terrible Ecitons semetimes relax. Bates observed behaviour, in the case of Eciton 

 legiords, which looked like simple indulgence in idle amusement ; the conclusion, he says, 

 " that the ants were engaged merely in play was irresistible." 



