50 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
merely deals in general statements as to 4 contact of 
antennae/ without narrating any particulars of his observa- 
tions. Therefore, until within the last few years there 
was really no sufficient evidence to sustain the general 
opinion that ants are able to communicate with one 
another; but the observations which I shall now detail 
must be regarded as fully substantiating that general 
opinion by facts as abundant and conclusive as the most 
critical among us can desire. I shall first narrate in his 
own words the more important of Sir John Lubbock’s 
experiments in this connection: — 
I took three tapes, each about 2 feet 6 inches long, and 
arranged them parallel to one another and about 6 inches 
apart. An end of each I attached to cne of the nests ( F niger ), 
and at the other end I placed a glass. In rhe glass at the end 
of one tape I placed a considerable number ^300 to 600) of 
larvae. In the second I put two or three larvae only, in the 
third none at all. The object of the last was to see whether 
many ants would come to the glasses under such circumstances 
by mere accident, and I may at once say that scarcely any 
did so. I then took two ants, and placed one of them to the 
glass with many larvae, the other to that with two or three. 
Each of them took a larva and carried it to the nest, returning 
for another, and so on. After each journey I put another 
larva in the glass with only two or three larvae, to replace that 
which had been removed. Now, if several ants came under the 
above circumstances as a mere matter of accident, or accom- 
panying one another by chance, or if they simply saw the larvae 
which were being brought, and consequently concluded that 
they might themselves find a larva in the same place, then the 
numbers going to the two glasses ought to be approximately 
equal. In each case the number of journeys made by the ants 
would be nearly the same ; consequently, if it was a matter of 
scent, the two glasses would be in the same position. It would 
be impossible for an anfc, seeing another in the act of bringing 
a larva, to judge for itself whether there were few or many 
left behind. On the other hand, if the strangers were brought, 
then it would be curious to see whether more were brought 
to the glass with many larvae than to that which only contained 
two or three. I should also mention that every stranger was 
imprisoned until the end of the experiment. 
The results of these experiments were that during 
