806 Recent Literature. [October, 



their strength and agility, though losing by degrees their real inde- 

 pendence, their arts and even many of their instincts ; that grad- 

 ually even their bodily force dwindled away under the enervating 

 influence to which they subjected themselves, until they sank to 

 their present degraded condition — weak in body and mind, few 

 in numbers, and apparently nearly extinct, the miserable repre- 

 sentatives of far superior ancestors, maintaining a precarious exist- 

 ence as conte.mptible parasites of their former slaves." 



As to the passions of these creatures, Lubbock states that ants 

 of the same nest never quarrel. " I have never seen the slightest 

 evidence of ill-temper in any of my nests, all is harmony. Nor 

 are instances of active assistance at all rare. Indeed, I have my- 

 self witnessed various cases showing care and tenderness on their 

 part." As to their recognition of one another, it appears that it 

 is not personal or individual, "their harmony is not due to the 

 fact that each ant is individually acquainted with every other 

 member of the community. At the same time the fact that they 

 recognize their friends even when intoxicated, and that they know 

 the young born in their own nest even when they have been 

 brought out of the chrysalis by strangers, seems to indicate that 

 the recognition is not effected by means of any sign or pass word." 

 As to the power of communication, the results of a number of 

 experiments taught our author that while they do not possess 

 "any considerable power of descriptive communication," oji the 

 other hand, there can, he thinks, be no doubt but that they do 

 possess some power of the kind. He concludes that his experi- 

 ments " certainly seem to indicate the possession, by ants, of 

 something approaching to language. It is impossible to doubt 

 that the friends were brought out by the first ant ; and -as she 

 returned empty handed to the nest, the others cannot have been 

 induced to follow her merely by observing her proceedings. In 

 face of such facts as these, it is impossible not to ask ourselves 

 how far are ants mere exquisite automatons ; how far are they 

 conscious beings ? When we see an ant hill, tenanted by thou- 

 sands of industrious inhabitants, excavating chambers, forming 

 tunnels, making roads, guarding their home, gathering food, feed- 

 ing the young, tending their domestic animals— each one fulfill- 

 ing its duties industriously, and with.. at confusion— it is difficult 

 altogether to deny to them the gift of reason ; and the preceding 

 observations tend to confirm the opinion that their mental powers 

 differ from those of men not so much in kind as in degree." 

 • While our author concludes that ants track one another by 

 scent, he is inclined to adopt the mosaic theory of insect vision, 

 and from experiments with the spectrum, concludes that " (i) ants 

 have the power of distinguishing colors ; (2) that they are very 

 sensitive to violet; and it would also seem (3) that their sensa- 

 tions of color must be very different from those produced upon 

 us." The sense of hearing appears to be lodged in the antennae, 



