A PRELIMINARY NOTE ON ANT BEHAVIOR. 



C. H. TURNER. 



There is a wide-spread belief among living entomologists that 

 ants slavishly follow the odor trail and Bethe insists that ants are 

 mere reflex machines. For something over three years I have 

 been conducting a series of experiments on the behavior of ants, 

 the results of which do not harmonize with the above view. 

 These experiments, which were performed upon a large number 

 of southern species and a few northern species, show conclusively : 



1. That the movements of worker ants are not controlled by 

 tropisms. 



2. That ants are not guided by a homing instinct. 



3. That ants are enabled to take long trips by learning, by ex- 

 perience, the way and retaining what they have thus acquired. 

 They learn the way in the same manner that vertebrates learn to 

 open problem boxes and to run mazes. 



4. That ants do not as slavishly follow the odor trail as is 

 supposed. 



5. That Sir John Lubbock was right when he said: "In de- 

 termining their course ants are greatly influenced by the direction 

 of the light." 



6. The color of the pathway has little or no effect upon the 

 home-going of ants. 



7. That Dr. Wheeler is right in stressing the high develop- 

 ment of the female ; for the winged females often take part in 

 the regular duties of the nest. I have had them learn the way 

 home from new situations and assist the workers in carrying the 

 pupae home. 



8. That the males are stupid and seem unable to solve even 

 the simplest of problems. They seem to be more or less 

 heliotropic. 



9. The major workers of PJieidole, which Ernest Andre claims 

 function as soldiers and do not take any active part in the ordin- 

 ary work of the nest, frequently assist the workers in making 



