These statements are most interesting; and it is much to be regretted that he has not given us in detail the evidence on which they rest. In another passage, indeed, he himself says, "If they have a language, I cannot give too many proofs of it.' Unfortunately, however, the chapter which he devotes to this important subject is very short, and occupied with general statements rather than with the accounts of the particular experiments and observations on which those statements rest. Nor is there any serious attempt to ascertain the nature, character, and capabilities of this antennal language. Even if by motions of these organs Ants and Bees can caress, can express love, fear, anger, &c., it does not follow that they can narrate facts or describe localities.

The facts recorded by Kirby and Spence are not more explicit. It is therefore disappointing to read in the chapter especially devoted to this subject, that, as regards the power possessed by Ants and Bees to communicate and receive information, it is only necessary to refer you to the endless facts in proof, furnished by almost every page of my letters on the history of Ants and of the Hive Bee. I shall therefore but detain you for a moment with an additional anecdote or two, especially with one respecting the former tribe, which is valuable from the celebrity of the narrator.'

The first of these anecdotes refers to a Beetle

(Ateuchus pilularius) which, having made for the

1 Loc. cit. p. 205.

reception of its eggs a pellet of dung too heavy for it to move, 'repaired to an adjoining heap and soon returned with three of his companions. All four now applied their united strength to the pellet, and at length succeeded in pushing it out, which being done, the three assistant Beetles left the spot and returned to their own quarters.' This observation rests on the authority of an anonymous German artist; and though we are assured that he was a 'man of strict veracity,' I am by no means satisfied that`his explanation of what took place is correct. M. Fabre, in his interesting Souvenirs Entomologiques,' records a similar observation, but explains it in another manner, and thus places the facts in a very different light.

The second case is related by Kalm, on the authority of Dr. Franklin, but again does not seem to me to justify the conclusions drawn from it by Messrs. Kirby and Spence. Dr. Franklin having found a number of ants in a jar of treacle, shook them out and suspended the jar by a string from the ceiling. By chance one ant remained, which, after eating its fill, with some difficulty found its way up the string, and, thence reaching the ceiling, escaped by the wall to its nest. In less than half an hour a great company of ants sallied out of their hole, climbing the ceiling, crept along the string into the pot and began to eat again; this they continued until the treacle was all consumed, one swarm running up the string while another passed

down. It seems indisputable that the one ant had in this instance conveyed news of the booty to his comrades, who would not otherwise have at once directed their steps in a body to the only accessible route.'1

Elsewhere, Messrs. Kirby and Spence say: 2-If you scatter the ruins of an ants' nest in your apartment, you will be furnished with another proof of their language. The ants will take a thousand different paths, each going by itself, to increase the chance of discovery; they will meet and cross each other in all directions, and perhaps will wander long before they can find a spot convenient for their reunion. No sooner does any one discover a little chink in the floor through which it can pass below than it returns to its companions, and, by means of certain motions of its antennæ, makes some of them comprehend what route they are to pursue to find it, sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till all know which way to direct their steps.'

Here, however, Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not sufficiently distinguish between the cases in which the ants were guided, from those in which they were directed to the place of safety. It is obvious, however, that the power of communication implied in the latter case is much greater than in the former.

A short but very interesting paper by Dujardin on this subject is contained in the Annales des Sciences' for 1852. He satisfied himself that some bees which

Loc. cit. p. 422.

2 Introd. to Entomology, vol. ii p. 6.

came to honey put out by him for the purpose 'avaient dû recevoir dans la ruche un avertissement porté par quelques-unes de celles qui étaient venues isolément, soit à dessein, soit par hasard.' That no doubt might remain, he tried the following experiment, which he says, 'me paraît tout-à-fait concluante. Dans l'épaisseur d'un mur latéral à 18 mètres de distance des ruches A et B, se trouve une niche pratiquée, suivant l'usage du pays, pour constater la mitoyenneté, et recouverte par un treillage et par une treille, et cachée par diverses plantes grimpantes. J'y introduisis, le 16 novembre, une soucoupe avec du sucre légèrement humecté; puis j'allai présenter une petite baguette enduite de sirop à une abeille sortant de la ruche. Cette abeille s'étant cramponnée à la baguette pour sucer le sirop, je la transportai dans la niche sur le sucre, où elle resta cinq ou six minutes jusqu'à ce qu'elle se fut bien gorgée; elle commença alors à voler dans la niche, puis deçâ et delà devant le treillage, la tête toujours tournée vers la niche, et enfin elle prit son vol vers la ruche, où elle rentra.

'Un quart d'heure se passa sans qu'il revînt une seule abeille à la niche; mais, à partir de cet instant, elles vinrent successivement au nombre de trente, explorant la localité, cherchant l'entrée de la niche qui avait dû leur être indiquée, et où l'odorat ne pouvait nullement les guider, et, à leur tour vérifiant avant de retourner à la ruche, les signes qui leur feraient retrouver cette précieuse localité ou qui leur permet

traient de l'indiquer à d'autres. Tous les jours suivants les abeilles de la ruche A vinrent plus nombreuses à la niche où j'avais soin de renouveler le sucre bumecté, et pas une seule de la ruche B n'eut le moindre soupçon de l'existence de ce trésor et ne vint voler de ce côté. Il était facile, en effet, de constater que les premières se dirigeaient exclusivement de la ruche à la niche, et réciproquement.'

It is of course clear from these observations that the ants and bees accompanied their fortunate friends to the stores of food which they had discovered, but this really does not in itself imply the possession of any great intelligence.

That ants and bees have a certain power of communication cannot, indeed, be doubted. Several striking cases are mentioned by M. Forel. For instance, on one occasion an army of Amazon ants (Polyergus rufescens) was making an expedition to attack a nest of F. rufibarbis. They were not, however, quite acquainted with the locality. At length it was discovered :—' Aussitôt,' he observes, 'un nouveau signal fût donné, et toutes les amazones s'élancèrent dans cette direction.' On another occasion he says:'Je mis un gros tas de T. caspitum d'une variété de grande taille à un décimètre d'un des, nids d'une colonie de Pheidole pallidula. En un clin d'œil l'alarme fut répandue, et des centaines de Pheidole se jetèrent au-devant de l'ennemi.'

The species of Camponotus, when alarmed, 'non