60 



Ants are very cleanly, and assist one another in this respect. They a>'e often seen 

 licking one another, and those which Sir John Lubbock marked with paint, for the pur- 



- pose of identification, were gradually cleaned by their friends. Those, too, which die in 

 the nest, are always carried outside, and in the cases observed by Sir John Lubbock, were 

 generally thrown into the moat surrounding his apparatus. 



As to their friendly feelings towards each other, it is shown to a different degree by 

 different ants, for, like men, they differ in individual character. Of course, in carrying 

 on their ordinary avocations, they act together with great harmony, but it is in exceptional 

 circumstances that their real character in this respect is revealed. In the case of sick or 

 disabled ants, he has observed, on several occasions, that they were carefully nursed and 

 guarded ; while on others, their friends acted more like the Priest and the Levite than 

 -the Good Samaritan. Even in the case of ants who had got drunk (not voluntarily, 

 'however), their friends picked them up and carried them to the nest to sleep off their 

 potations. But if these intoxicated ants were strangers, they were thrown into the water. 

 Indeed, the experiments proved that though their friendship for each other is strong, their 

 hatred to their enemies is still stronger, for they were willing to leave friends in confine- 

 ment, if they could only get at stranger ants and maltreat them. No doubt this must be 

 regarded as a blemish in their character. 



Senses — Sight, Hearing and Smelling. 



As regards vision, the species of ants are very differently endowed. Some have 

 upwards of a thousand facets in their eyes, others less, some Ecitons only one. Some 

 species are entirely blind. One of these, Ponera contracta, is found in England. Besides 

 the compound eyes, many species are furnished with simple eyes (ocelli) on the top of the 

 head. 



Whether each facet in an insect's eye acts as a separate organ, or only a part of the 

 object is seen by it, is a question not yet decided hy entomologists. The latter, how- 

 ..aver, is the prevailing opinion, in which Sir John Lubbock, who has made many observa- 

 tions on the vision of ants, is disposed to coincide. " If," he says, " the male of Formica 

 pratensis, for example, sees 1,000 queens when only one is really present, it would 

 seem to be rather a bewildering privilege." Still, if we do not know how they see, we 

 know that they ck> see, and by taking advantage of their dislike to light in their nests, he 

 found that they were susceptible to colour, and prefer some to others. By placing strips 

 of violet, red, green and yellow "glass over their nests, he discovered that they pre- 

 ferred the green and yellow, and particularly avoided being under the violet, and after 

 many elaborate experiments with the magnesium light, the spectra of different sub- 

 stances, etc., lie concludes that they have ;tn aversion to that colour, and even that they 

 ire very sensitive to the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, which our eyes cannot perceive. 

 This he considers a very interesting discovery, making it probable that these rays appear 

 to ants as a distinct and separate colour (of which we can form no idea), as unlike the 

 rest as red is from yellow ; and that, as light appears to them composed of not only the 

 rays which we see, but of those of the ultra-violet, the general aspect of nature must, 

 ss regards colour, pie3ent to them a very different appearance from what it does to us. 



Xone of the experiments he tried could 

 prove to him that ants had the power of hearing. 

 Tuning forks, penny pipes, shrill whistles, a 

 fiddle, or the most piercing and startling sounds 

 lie could produce, had not the slightest effect 



upon them. Still, he thinks that thev may be £• 22- 



__ 11 .' i • j i ■ v. j. Terminal portion of antenna of Mitrutico. 



capable of hearing sounds which we cannot rM J faflrfi; E , "oork-shaped^organB. S, •pen- 

 distinguish. In the terminal joint of the an- ing- nf ■• stethescope " on surface. T\ feube. W, 

 tennse of ants there are several curious struc- i! » ner chamber. N, nerve. (From Luobock.) 

 • cures, which seem to be auditory organs. They are of two kinds, one a cork-shaped organ, 

 opening on the outer surface of the antenna. The other kind is in the form of a stethes- 

 cope, (see Fig. l'2) with an outer sac (s) a long tube (t), and a posterior chamber < w) to 



- which is given a nerve (n). 



