THE HOMING OF THE MUD-DAUBER. 



C. H. TURNER. 



Introduction. 



In my paper on " The Homing of Ants " ^ there is recorded evi- 

 dence that ants find the way home neither by a homing instinct 

 nor by reflex action nor merely by kinesthetic responses ; but by 

 utiHzing landmarks. In this paper I propose to record experi- 

 mental evidence that the same is true of the common mud-dauber 

 wasps. 



It has long been recorded by keen observers that both the 

 social and the solitary wasps, on leaving their nests for the first 

 time, carefully examine the surroundings before flying away. It 

 is also stated by some that any alteration in the immediate sur- 

 roundings of the nest will render it difficult, or even impossible, 

 for the wasp to find its way back again. 



Mr. and Mrs. Peckham, who have devoted much time to the 

 study of both the social and the solitary wasps, say : - " 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. . . . In reading much of the popular natural history 

 of the day one might suppose that the insects seen flying about 

 on a summer's day were a part of some great throng which is 

 ever moving onward, those that are here today being replaced by 

 a new set tomorrow. Except during certain seasons the exact 

 opposite is true. The flying things about us abide in the same 

 locality and are the inhabitants of a fairly restricted area. The 

 garden in which we worked was, to a large extent, the home of 

 a limited number of certain species of wasps that had resided 

 there from birth or, having found the place accidentally, had settled 



^Jour. of Comp. Neiir. and Psy., Vol. XVII., pp. 367-434, PL II. -IV. 

 2 G. W. and E. G. Peckham, " On the Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps," 

 Madison, Wis., 1898, pp. 212, 213. 215. 



215 



