60 



Special Uses of Hearing and Vision /3 : 4 



some sort of kinesthetic sense. However, if the trail is completely 

 obliterated, the ants still proceed directly to their homes. 



The ants apparently can sense the angle of the sun's rays and use this 

 information to determine directions. If ants are imprisoned while 

 returning to their nests and kept for a period of hours in a darkened 

 container, they start off in the wrong direction when released. The 

 direction chosen makes the same angle with the rays of the sun as did 

 the correct path at the time of their initial imprisonment. 



Feeding 

 Place 



Bee Displaced 

 \in Covered 

 \ Container 



\Bee Displaced 

 I in Covered 

 Container 



Hive 

 (a) 



(b) 



(d) 



Normal 



Confined in 

 Dark until 

 Time, t y 



Figure 3. Flight patterns of bees returning to their hive from a 

 feeding place. Sketch (a) shows the normal flight pattern. 

 The flight patterns of bees displaced from their feeding places 

 are diagrammed in sketches (b) and (c). The change in 

 pattern when the bee is confined is illustrated in sketch (d). 



Similar experiments have been conducted with bees. They, too, will 

 proceed in the wrong direction after release following imprisonment in 

 the dark. After flying in the wrong direction the distance to where 

 their hives should have been, they "recognize an error" and fly in a 

 random fashion over a very small area. Finally using some other sense, 

 perhaps memory of the surroundings, they fly straight to their hives. 

 This is illustrated in Figure 3a. 



If a bee is moved in a darkened container from its feeding place and 



