re finally recognized, however, and the paint
removed from their bodies by the busy little tongues of their kindred.

This would seem to indicate that _Lasius niger_ had a better memory than
_Lasius flavus_; whether the failure of the latter to recognize their
friends at once was due, however, to faulty memory or not, is a
psychical problem that will, probably, never be solved.

Lubbock's experiments with _Myrmica ruginodis_ clearly demonstrate that
these ants can recognize their kin. Says he:--

"On August 20, 1875, I divided a colony of _Myrmica ruginodis_ so that
one half were in one nest, A, and the other half in another, B, and were
kept entirely apart.

"On October 3, I put into nest B a stranger and an old companion from
nest A. They were marked with a spot of color. One of them immediately
flew at the stranger; of the friend they took no notice.

"October 18.--At 10 A.M. I put in a stranger and a friend from nest A.
In the evening the former was killed, the latter was quite at home.

"October 19.--I put one in a small bottle with a friend from nest A.
They did not show any enmity. I then put in a stranger, and one of them
immediately began to fight with her."[37]

[37] Lubbock, _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, p. 121 _et seq._

These experiments show that _Myrmica ruginodis_ recognize their kin at
sight, and that they are able to remember and recognize one another
after long separations.

Lubbock states that _Lasius flavus_ accept others of the same species as
their friends, no matter how great a distance lies between the nests.
His experiments were made with ants taken from contiguous nests as well
as those located some distance apart, and, in one instance, with ants
taken from a nest in another part of the country. He states that, in
the last-mentioned experiment, "in one or two cases they seemed to be
attacked, though so feebly that I could not feel sure about it; but in
no case were the ants killed."[38]

[38] Lubbock, _loc. cit. ante_, p. 124.

My experiments and observations with this ant are directly the reverse.
As long as the individuals experimented with belonged to contiguous
nests, and were, probably, derived from the same root-stock, there was
no fighting; but, in the case of ants taken from opposite sides of the
house, which, probably, sprang from two different sources, there was,
invariably, much fighting, in which not a few of the combatants lost
their lives. Whether or not the American s