$22 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
round, and opening his threatening jaws with every appearance of anger, 
goes very coolly to drinking again; but his monitor without further 
ceremony, rushing before him, seizes him by his jaws, and at last drags him 
off in triumph to the formicary.' 
The language of ants, however, is not confined merely to giving intelli. 
gence of the approach or presence of danger : it is also coextensive with 
all their other occasions for communicating their ideas to each other, 
Some, whose extraordinary history I shall soon relate to you, engage in 
military expeditions, and often previously send out spies to collect informa- 
tion. These, as soon as they return from exploring the vicinity, enter the 
nest ; upon which, as if they had communicated their intelligence, the 
army immediately assembles in the suburbs of their city, and begins its 
march towards that quarter whence the spies had arrived. Upon the 
march, communications are perpetually making between the van and the 
rear; and when arrived at the camp of the enemy, and the battle begins, if 
necessary, couriers are despatched to the formicary for reinforcements.2 
If you scatter the ruins of an ants’ nest in your apartment, you will be 
furnished with another proof of their language. The ants will take a 
thousand different parts, each going by itself, to increase the chance of 
discovery ; they will meet and cross each other in all directions, and per. 
haps will wander long before they can find a spot convenient for their 
reunion. No sooner does any one discover a little chink in the floor, 
through which it can pass below, than it returns to its companions, and, by 
means of certain motions of its antenna, makes some of.them comprehend 
what route they are to pursue to find it, sometimes even accompanying 
them to the spot ; these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till all 
know which way to direct their steps.? 
It it well known, also, that ants give each other information when they 
have discovered any store of provision, Bradley relates a striking instance 
of this. A nest of ants in a nobleman’s garden discovered a closet, many 
yards within the house, in which conserves were kept, which they con- 
stantly attended till the nest was destroyed. Some in their rambles must 
have first discovered this depot of sweets, and informed the rest of it. It 
is remarkable that they always went to it by the same track, scarcely varying 
an inch from it, though they had to pass through two apartments: nor 
could the sweeping and cleaning of the rooms discomfit them, or cause 
them to pursue a different route.* 
Here may be related an amusing experiment of Gould’s. Having de- 
posited seyeral colonies of ants (F. fusca) in flower-pots, he placed them 
in some earthen pans full of water, which prevented them from making 
excursions from their nest. When they had been accustomed some days 
to this imprisonment, be fastened small threads to the upper part of the 
pots, and extending them oyer the water-pans fixed them in the ground. 
‘The sagacious ants soon found out that by these bridges they could escape 
from their moated castle. The discovery was communicated to the whole 
society, and in a short time the threads were filled with trains of busy 
workers passing to and firo.5 
Ligon’s account of the ants in Barbadoes affords another most convincing 
1 Huber, 133. 2 Ibid. 167. 217. 287, 5 Ibid, 187. 
4 Bradley, 184, 5 Gould, 85, 
