AXT COMMUNITIES 



so swiftly and surely between points on the established 

 route. 



The sense of sight, it will be observed by the reader, 

 is not here considered. It is probably a negligible 

 factor, or at least does not appear to play a considerable 

 part in determining results. The visual organs of ants 

 are good as far as appearances show, and as compared 

 with those of the winged hymenoptera, as bees and 

 wasps, ought to contribute something effective toward 

 a visual memory of the localities over which their owners 



*/ 



operate. They may do so here. But myrmecologists 

 seem at one in the opinion that the vision of ants is 

 extremely limited; and if so, it could hardly have ef- 

 fectively directed them in laying out trails of such 

 length as here considered. 



Moreover, the great ferns referred to as closely en- 

 closing and overhanging the ant-hills and the whole 

 surrounding region would probably have hindered the 

 effective exercise of vision, unless we suppose that 

 the course of the trails was fixed in the early spring 

 before vegetation began and the vicinage was quite 

 open. 



Suppose we indulge in a bit of speculation? Let us 

 imagine that when the winter has so far broken as to 

 allow the insects full liberty of out-door life, a group of 

 workers start out from the parent commune to explore 

 the neighborhood for food. After the fashion of their 

 kind, we see them passing to and fro in zigzag lines, in 

 arcs and parabola. They are thus storing their mem- 

 ories with impressions by which to localize their route 

 and insure their return. Farther and farther, and by 

 gradual recessions, they reach an oak-tree. To ascend 

 it is a part of the natural inquisitiveness (and acquisitive- 



62 



