The Return to the Nest 



once darts away vigorously towards the 

 south. And it was from the south that I 

 brought them; it is in the south that their 

 burrows are. Nine times, with nine prison- 

 ers, freed one after the other, I had this 

 striking instance of the way in which the in- 

 sect stranded far from home takes without 

 hesitation the right direction for returning 

 to the nest. 



I myself was at the burrows a few hours 

 later. I saw several of yesterday's Cer- 

 ceres, recognizing them by the one white 

 spot on the thorax; but I saw none of those 

 whom I had just let loose. Had they not 

 been able to find their home again? Were 

 they hunting? Or were they hiding in their 

 galleries to recover from the excitement of 

 such a trial? I do not know. Next day, I 

 paid a fresh visit; and this time I had the 

 satisfaction of finding at work, as active as 

 though nothing out of the way had hap- 

 pened, five of the Cerceres with two white 

 spots on the thorax. A journey of quite two 

 miles, the town with its houses, its roofs, its 

 smoky chimneys, all things so new to these 

 utter rustics, had not prevented them from 

 going back to the nest. 



When taken from his brood and carried 

 335 



