An ear to hear ants’ talk Premium

A remarkable sound-magnifying device has been produced says a correspondent. It is known as the radio phone, and is stated to be the most powerful sound-amplifier known. By means of it sounds that are just audible to the human ear are intensified many thousands of times, as is necessary in wireless telephony, but the instrument also enables sounds whose frequency is too high to affect our ear-drums, and which we consequently do not hear, to be so modified and magnified that they are audible. Hence, the radiophone should prove of great value to botanists and etymologists in enabling them to listen to the noises made by insects, which, although normally inaudible, are nevertheless made, since the microscope has shown the presence of soul-producing organs. It may even be possible to detect some definite means of communication between ants, bees, and other insects who live in highly organised communities. It is known that such insects communicate by touch, but this does not entirely negativise the chance that they “speak” as well.