298 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
enormous heads and powerful jaws, but nas also at 
intervals of about two or three yards light-coloured 
officers which touch the ants with their antennae, 
and seem to give the orders directing the march. 
So the column moves on, each ant probably guided 
chiefly by scent and the other senses of its antennae, 
for these ants are almost and sometimes entirely 
blind. Scouts are sent out on all sides to bring 
intelligence of booty, and the army swarms to the 
right or the left according to information given, 
following the scent of their comrades, 
And now we must take leave of these intelli- 
gent little beings, though we have not even glanced 
at many of their curious habits, such, for example, 
as the storing up of honey in the abdomen of ants 
hanging from the roof of the nest, as is practised by 
the Mexican honey ant. But we have learnt enough 
to be convinced of their intelligence, and it only 
remains to inquire whether, amongst all their work, 
they have any feeling of sympathy for each other. 
The truth is, they seem to care for the members of 
their own nest, but more as parts of the community 
than as individuals. There are many cases in which 
ants have gone to help a comrade, but this is gener- 
ally (though not always) when she is still able to 
share in their work ; as, for example, when Mr. Belt 
tells us that the foraging ants never rested till they 
had released a comrade which he had covered over 
with a lump of clay; Sir J. Lubbock, it is true, 
gives one case of a poor ant born without antennae, 
which was roughly handled by some enemies, and 
was afterwards most carefully carried home by 
a friend. But these incidents seem rare, and upon 
