SELBORNIANA 
169 
larvae, and eggs. At 8.30 three-quarters of the pupae were 
under and about 200 ants. At 9 p.m. all the pupa* were under 
and all (250) the ants. At 10.15 P->r>- there were two ants under 
only. 
On repeating these experiments many times I found that the 
results were nearly always identical under the same conditions. 
These last few experiments conducted in a dark cupboard 
clearly prove that the ants do feel a difference of temperature 
each time the warm cell is placed on the nest and do not go 
under from instinct. 
That ants (some at any rate) feel a rise in temperature of not 
more than -3° C., may easily be proved by any one possessing an 
accurate thermometer. 
In my own experiments I never found that more than ten 
ants w'ent under for a rise of less than *4° C., but that for a rise of 
•5° up to 1° C. never less than ten did so. 
As regards the effect of the ultra-violet rays, it has already 
been proved by Lord Avebury that they must affect the ants as 
true light rays. This being so, in all probability these ultra- 
violet rays appear to the ants as a colour of which the human 
mind can form no idea. I think we are now justified in saying 
that the ants are not affected by these rays chemically, but that 
they change their positions when placed in the light of the 
spectrum by reason of their dislike to the colour of the 
ultra-violet rays, and also by the reason of the smaller amount 
of heat transmitted through this end of the spectrum. 
From the foregoing experiments which I have taken as being 
the average of more than si.xty observations, I think we may 
draw the following general conclusions : — 
(1) That ants feel changes of temperature. 
(2) That they feel very small changes of temperature. ' 
(3) That their sensations of heat must be much m.ore 
delicate than our own. 
Oscar C. Silverlock. 
SELBORNIANA. 
Lord Stamford’s Accident. — The Sheffield Daily Telegraph 
writes as follows anent the recent accident to our esteemed Vice- 
President. As Gilbert White was — as most people know — a 
bachelor. Lord Stamford is not, of course, a “ lineal ” descendant. 
“The Earl of Stamford, who has just narrowly escaped being drowned while 
feeding some swans in the grounds of Dunham Massey Hall, ought least of all 
men to have suffered as the result of his kindness to the dumb creation, seeing 
that he is a lineal descendant of Gilbert White, the fine old naturalist of Selborne. 
How this comes about his Lordship once took the trouble to e.^plain to a meet- 
ing of the Selborne Society. Kis Lordship's son and heir, little Lord Grey of 
Groby, who will be 1 1 years old in a few weeks, takes his title from the dis- 
tinguished military commander, who was the cousin of Lady Jane Grey. Another 
Lord Grey was one of King Charles’s judges, and was among the signatories to 
the Monarch’s death warrant, while his father, the first Earl of Stamford, com- 
manded for the Parliament in the west country.” 
