Abstract
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, in a paper on the Social Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, and Ants), especially with reference to their habits, senses, and power of communication with one another, pointed out with regard to the latter, that the observations on record scarcely justify the conclusions which have been drawn from them. Thus Messrs. Kirby and Spence say that ants have a language “not confined merely to giving intelligence of the approach or absence of danger, but co-extensive with all their other occasions for communicating their ideas to each other.” The observations, however, on which this statement is based, scarcely seemed to him to be conclusive. The two Hubers, indeed, had clearly shown that ants and bees could make one another cognizant of their state of feeling, could communicate anger, danger, &c., but that was very different from the possession of a true language.
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The Habits of Bees and Wasps*. Nature 9, 409–410 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/009409a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009409a0