ENGINEERING METHODS 



ness) which so strongly marks these insects, and forms 

 an important factor in the feeding of the commune. 



A tree is a veritable bonanza for insects of various 

 sorts at sundry seasons. The sappy exudations of the 

 plant; the opening buds; the bleeding galls; the hosts of 

 insects, as coccids and aphids, that infest various parts, 

 and prey so freely upon its generous bulk that their 

 superabundance yields a rich harvest for many other 

 insects one or more of these may attract our foraging 

 scouts. 



And now, full laden, they are ready for the return 

 journey. Their path down the tree is easily traced by 

 their ascending trail. The real difficulty must arise as 

 they reach the ground and face the home commune. 

 Yonder it lies; the general direction is not hard (for us) 

 to determine. But amid all these involved crossings 

 and recrossings, of their first outgoing trail, how shall 

 they find a straight path home ? 



The author is loath to resort to the supposition of 

 some occult power, although he believes in a divine Over- 

 force as the one intelligent source of all creatures and 

 all their actions. His own explanation (held without 

 positiveness) is that, by means of the odors left during 

 their approach and recognized by the sensitive antennae, 

 assisted, perhaps, in some degree, by visual impressions, 

 the ants discern the general course of their trail. It 

 may be also that a spirit of venture which possesses most 

 living things, and a profiting by happy chances which 

 befall, may aid in giving them the first bent homeward. 

 Moreover (and I am inclined to emphasize this point), 

 the home commune, as the central abode and scene of 

 activity of a vast multitude of ants, must be a huge 

 reservoir of formic fumes that strongly impregnate the 



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