SENSE OF DIRECTION 



distance from home, they are unable to find their way 

 back, and perish, while those that have passed beyond 

 the nursing stage and have begun to do outside work 

 may be carried long distances away and still readily 

 regain the nest. 



With the solitary wasps we attacked the problem 

 from the other end. We observed what the social wasps 

 did in attempting to return to the nest ; with the soli- 

 taries, we watched them when, after making the nest, 

 they prepared to leave it to go out into the fields or 

 woods in search of food or prey, thinking that the pro- 

 cedure of different species under these circumstances 

 would afford a clue to the faculty upon which they de- 

 pended to find their way about. If they were furnished 

 with an innate sense of direction they would not need 

 to make a study of the locality of the nest in order to 

 find the way back, but if they were without this sense 

 it would be only common prudence to take a good 

 account of their bearings before going far afield. 



The sight of a bee or a wasp returning to its home 

 from some far distant spot, without hesitation or un- 

 certainty, is indeed marvelous. When we saw our first 

 Ammophila perform this feat we were filled with won- 

 der. How was it possible for her to hunt for hours, in 

 all directions, far and wide, and then return in a direct 



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