In conjunction with Dr. Sandias, whose name must be understood as accompanying Grassi’s—for the most part—when the latter is referred to. Footnote 3: Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vols. 39 and 40. Footnote 4: A nymph is the free-moving active equivalent of the chrysalis amongst moths and butterflies. Footnote 5: Nests built in chemical glass tubes and thus under close observation. Footnote 6: Chambers’s Encyclopædia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II Ant language—Stridulatory organs—How white ants communicate—Conversation through convulsions—Nests in tubes—Detection of a “crepitus”—Mutual recognition—Cannibalistic propensities—Royal jealousy—Loyal assassins—A kingly feast—Methods of feeding—Foundation of colonies—Swarming habits. IT used to be supposed that such communication as ants are capable of holding with one another took place entirely, or almost entirely, through the mutual stroking of the antennæ, and Sir John Lubbock (now Lord Avebury) was unable to satisfy himself, after numerous experiments, that they could either hear or utter any sound. It is now known, however, that not only can some ants emit various sounds at their pleasure—as, indeed, is sufficiently obvious in the case of one or two species—but also that they possess special structures enabling them to do so, and the existence of which is inconceivable, except on the supposition that they both hear and attach a meaning to the notes thus evolved. Thus at a meeting of the Entomological Society held in the year 1893, Dr. David Sharp (author of the “Insects” portion of _The Cambridge Natural History_) declared that “examination revealed the existence in ants of the most perfect stridulating or sound-producing organs yet discovered in insects, these being situated on the second and third segments of the abdomen in certain species. The sounds produced were of the greatest delicacy, and it appeared doubtful whether the microphone would be able to assist the human ear in their detection”—which, indeed, it has not yet done.[7] Later, in the work above mentioned, Dr. Sharp remarks, “In many ants these parts”—that is to say the abdominal segments—“bear highly developed stridulating organs, and the delicacy and perfection of the articulations allow the parts to be moved, either with or without producing stridulation.”[8]