BLACK TERMITE OF CEYLOK. 409 



It is of course possible to cite instances in which, contrarj^ to 

 that described above, the selection of the path shows a lack of 

 aim. In one case the procession, on leaving the tree on which 

 they had been gathering food, passed for a short distance along 

 the ground in the direction directly opposite to that in which 

 the nest was situated, then climbed an Acalypha to a height of 

 nine feet, then along an arching branch and down a Codiaeum to 

 within two feet of the ground, and thence down a Maranta leaf ; 

 by this round they had advanced three feet in the direction 

 of the nest. Yet even this will not appear so aimless if it is 

 remembered that the track was originally made in the reverse 

 direction, and that the climb over the Acalypha represented an 

 attempt to reach the feeding ground which overshot the mark. 



Road To MusEu>t 



Fig. 1. 



Another example of imnecessary travel is given m the 

 accompanying diagram. The nest was situated in the tree A, 

 the collecting ground bemg tree B. Both trees stand in short 

 grass near the edge of a road, the distance between them being 

 17 yards. The termites left A m a straight line for B, but. 

 meeting a shallow (dry) drainage channel, they travelled along 

 it for a distance of 18 yards, until they met another similar 

 channel which led, in 24 yards, to the neighbourhood of B. 

 Thus they travelled 42 yards, when 17 would have sufficed, 

 probably influenced in their choice by the fact that the 8i<les 



