Table 1.

Number of ants of four colonies of Myrmica ruginodis counted on the food site at five successive times during five consecutive days, the food being delivered during 15 min at a given time “t” which was delayed for 20 min each day.

Days, food delivery times, and counting times (t1–t5)	Colonies				Mean
	A	B	C	D
Control 1, no food
t1	0	15	5	5	6.3
t2 = t1 + 20′	1	0	10	6	4.3
t3 = t1 + 40′	3	2	7	5	4.3
t4 = t1 + 60′	8	2	3	10	5.8
t5 = t1 + 80′	4	4	4	7	4.8
Control 2, food present
t1	10	0	5	10	6.3
t2 = t1 + 20′	10	0	5	3	4.5
t3 = t1 + 40′	5	0	5	5	3.8
t4 = t1 + 60′	5	4	5	3	4.3
t5 = t1 + 80′	10	0	5	5	5.0
Day 1, food given at t1 and retrieved at the end of t1
t1	10	7	6	0	5.8
t2 = t1 + 20′	2	4	22	5	8.3
t3 = t1 + 40′	0	2	3	7	3.0
t4 = t1 + 60′	2	7	5	0	3.5
t5 = t1 + 80′	1	4	7	1	3.3
Day 2, food given at t2 and retrieved at the end of t2
t1	5	0	4	2	2.8
t2 = t1 + 20′	11	13	26	6	14.0
t3 = t1 + 40′	5	9	8	8	7.5
t4 = t1 + 60′	0	13	10	0	5.8
t5 = t1 + 80′	0	2	11	5	4.5
Day 3, food given at t3 and retrieved at the end of t3
t1	0	9	3	8	5.0
t2 = t1 + 20′	3	4	2	5	3.5
t3 = t1 + 40′	15	11	31	13	17.5
t4 = t1 + 60′	10	7	9	8	8.5
t5 = t1 + 80′	2	7	10	4	5.8
Day 4, food given at t4 and retrieved at the end of t4
t1	1	7	7	5	5.0
t2 = t1 + 20′	6	4	5	2	4.5
t3 = t1 + 40′	1	9	11	6	6.8
t4 = t1 + 60′	18	14	18	27	19.3
t5 = t1 + 80′	1	10	4	18	8.3
Day 5, food given at t5 and retrieved at the end of t5
t1	7	0	8	3	4.5
t2 = t1 + 20′	5	2	6	6	4.8
t3 = t1 + 40′	1	7	9	2	4.8
t4 = t1 + 60′	6	3	7	12	7.0
t5 = t1 + 80′	15	18	27	27	21.8