The Red Ants 



from the east and the wet from the west. That 

 is enough meteorological knowledge to tell 

 him the cardinal points and to direct his flight. 

 The Pigeon taken In a closed basket from 

 Brussels to Toulouse has certainly no means 

 of reading the map of the route with his eyes; 

 but no one can prevent him from feeling, by 

 the warmth of the atmosphere, that he is pur- 

 suing the road to the south. When restored 

 to hberty at Toulouse, he already knows that 

 the direction which he must follow to regain 

 his dove-cot is the direction of the north. 

 Therefore, he wings straight in that direction 

 and does not stop until he nears those latitudes 

 where the mean temperature is that of the 

 zone which he inhabits. If he does not find 

 his home at the first onset, it is because he has 

 borne a little too much to the right or to the 

 left. In any case, it takes him but a few 

 hours' search in an easterly or westerly direc- 

 tion to correct his mistake." 



The explanation is a tempting one when 

 the journey is taken north and south; but it 

 does not apply to a journey east and west, 

 on the same isothermal line. Besides, it has 

 this defect, that it does not admit of gen- 

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