52 



PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



If you scatter the ruins of an ant's nest in your apartment, 

 you will be furnished with another proof of their language. 

 The ants will take a thousand different paths, each going by 

 itself, to increase the chance of discovery ; they will meet and 

 cross each other in all directions, and perhaps 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 com- 

 panions, and, by means of certain motions of its antennae, 

 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. 1 



It is 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 noble- 

 man's garden discovered a closet, many yards within the house, 

 in which conserves were kept, which they constantly 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 pur- 

 sue a differ ent route. 2 



Here may be related an amusing experiment of Gould's. 

 Having deposited several 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, he fastened small threads to the upper part of 

 the pots, and extending them over 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 fro. 3 



i Huber, 137. 



2 Bradley, 134. 



3 Gould, 85. 



