Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/60

50 was driven out, or sometimes even killed. The friend, on the contrary, was never attacked, though I am hound to say that I could see no signs of any general welcome, or that she was taken any particular notice of.

I will not trouble you with all the evidence, but will content myself with one case.

On the 12th November last—that is to say, after the ant had been separated for a year and three months—I put a friend and a stranger into one of the divisions. The friend seemed quite at home. One of the ants at once seized the stranger by an antenna, and began dragging her about. At—

11.45.—The friend is quite at home with the rest. The stranger is being dragged about.

12.—The friend is all right. Three ants now have hold of the stranger by her legs and an antenna.

12.15.—Do. do.

12.30.—Do. do.

12.45.—Do. do.

1.—Do. do.

1.30.—Do. One now took hold of the friend, but soon seemed to find out her mistake and let go again.

1.45.—The friend is all right. The stranger is being attacked. The friend also has been almost cleaned; while on the stranger the color has been scarcely touched.

2.15.—Two ants are licking the friend, while another pair are holding the stranger by her legs.

2.30.—The friend is now almost clean, so that I could only just perceive any color. The stranger, on the contrary, is almost as much colored as ever. She is now near the door, and I think would have come out, but two ants met her and seized her.

3.—Two ants are attacking the stranger. The friend was no longer distinguishable from the rest.

3.30.—Do.

4.—Do.

5.—Do.

6.—The stranger now escaped from the nest, and I put her back among her own friends.

The difference of behavior to these two ants was most marked. The friend was gradually licked clean, and, except for a few moments, and that evidently by mistake, was never attacked. The stranger, on the contrary, was not cleaned, was at once seized, was dragged about for hours with only a few minutes' interval, by one, two, or three assailants, and at length made her escape from the nest at a time when no other ant was out.

In most species of ants the power of smell is very keen. I placed ants on a strip of paper, each end of which was supported on a pin,