156 Lubbock’s Observations on Bees and Ants. [ March, 
hardly have been a visible one; are we then to imagine a sound 
or smell to have been made use of which our auditory and olfae- 
tory nerves are incapable of perceiving ? or have ants some sense 
which we do not possess ? 
It would even appear, from M. Forel’s statements, that in 
some cases one species comprehends the signs of another. This 
is, of course, the case when different species live in association; 
but I am now speaking of hostile species. Formica sanguinea, 
he assures us, understand the signals of F. pratensis. “ Elles 
savent,” he says (page 359), “ toujours saisir l’instant où les pra- 
tensis se communiquent le signal de la déroute, et elles savent 
s’apprendre cette découverte les unes aux autres avec une rapi- 
dité incroyable. Au moment même où Pon voit les pratensis se 
jeter les unes contre les autres en se frappant de quelques coups 
rapides, puis cesser toute résistance et s’enfuir en masse, on voit 
aussi les sanguinea se jeter tout-à-coup au milieu d’elles sans la 
plus petite retenue, mordant à droite et à gauche comme des 
Polyergus, et arrachant les cocons de toutes les pratensis qui en 
portent.” 
He is of opinion (page 364) that the different species differ much 
in their power of communicating with one another. Thus, though 
Polyergus rufescens is smaller than F. sanguinea, it is generally 
victorious, because the ants of this species understand one an- 
other more quickly than those of F. sanguinea. 
It appeared to me that the following experiment might throw 
some light on the power of communication possessed by ants, 
namely, to place several small quantities of honey in similar sit- 
uations, then to bring an ant to one of them, and subsequently to 
register the number of ants visiting each of the parcels of honey, 
of course imprisoning for the time every ant which found her way 
to the honey except the first. If, then, many more came to the 
honey which had been shown to the first ant than to the other 
parcels, this would be in favor of their possessing the power of 
communicating facts to one another, though it might be said they 
came by scent. Accordingly, on the 13th of July, at three P. M., 1 
took a piece of cork about eight inches long and four inches wide, 
and stuck into it seventeen pins, on three of which I put pieces 
of card with a little honey. Up to 5.15 no ant had been up any 
of these pins. I then put an ant to the honey on one of the bits 
of card. She seemed to enjoy it, and fed for about five minutes, 
when she went away. At 5.30 she returned, but went up six 
pins which had no honey on them. I then put her on to the card. 
