ANTS— SPECIAL SENSES. 
33 
the glass sides of their artificial nests to enjoy the light of 
a lamp. Possibly, therefore, the scale of preference to 
lights of different colours would be found in this genus to 
be the reverse of that which Sir John Lubbock has found 
in the case of the British species. 
As regards hearing, Sir John Lubbock found that 
sounds of various kinds do not produce any effect upon 
the insects. Tuning-forks and violin notes, shouting, 
whistling, &c., w T ere all equally inefficient in producing the 
slightest influence upon the animal^ ; and experiments 
with sensitive flames, microphone, telephone, &c., failed to 
yield any evidence of ants emitting sounds inaudible to 
human ears. 
Lastly, as regards the sense of smell, Sir John Lubbock 
found that on bringing a camel’s-hair brush steeped in 
various strong scents near where ants were passing, some 
went on without taking any notice, but others stopped, 
and evidently perceiving the smell, turned back. Soon, 
however, they returned, and passed the scented pencil. 
After doing this two or three times, they generally took 
no further notice of the scent. This experiment left no 
doubt on my mind.” In other cases the ants were observed 
to wave about and throw back their antennae when the 
scented pencil was brought near. 
That ants track one another by scent was long ago 
mentioned by Huber, and also that they depend on this 
sense for their power of finding supplies which have been 
previously found by other ants. Huber proved their 
power of tracking a path previously pursued by their 
friends, by drawing his finger across the trail, so oblite- 
rating the scent at that point, and observing that when the 
ants arrived at that point they became confused and ran 
about in various directions till they again came upon the 
trail on the other side of the interrupted space, when they 
proceeded on their way as before. The more numerous 
and systematic experiments of Sir John Lubbock have 
fully corroborated Huber’s observations, so far as these 
points are concerned. Thus, to give only one or two of 
these experiments ; in the accompanying woodcut (Fig. I j 
A is the nest, B a board, n f g slips of paper, h and m 
