30 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



nest. After the ant had progressed a little further, 

 I again took it up and brought it back six inches. 

 This time the ant was more confused and wandered 

 about for a longer time before it found itself able to 

 strike a direct course. After it had discovered the 

 true direction and was travelling in confidence towards 

 home, I again brought it back six inches. This time, 

 though much nearer the nest, its confusion was still 

 greater ; it repeatedly crossed and recrossed over its 

 own track, wandered about in all directions, and, even 

 after it appeared to have formed a hazy idea of the 

 position of its nest, it continued to deviate widely from 

 its course and often wandered some distance backward. 

 For the fourth time, and when only two feet from the 

 nest, I brought it back six inches. Its confusion was 

 now intense ; it seemed hopelessly lost ; it hurried 

 hither and thither, passed and repassed the entrance 

 of its nest, and only after a long and laborious search 

 did it happen by chance to fall upon its home. 



I have not the faintest conception of how this sense 

 of direction works. It is certainly not in the power of 

 the ants to command it at all times. I took an ant 

 from the opening of its nest, placed it in a dark tube, 

 removed the tube to a point ten inches distant and 

 then released the ant. The little creature was com- 

 pletely lost ; it wandered aimlessly about in every 

 direction ; not a square inch of ground on either side 

 but it vainly explored again and again until at length 

 it came fortuitously on its nest. Other specimens 

 removed to a similar distance wandered as far as 

 fifteen feet away from the nest, and others found 

 themselves so hopelessly astray that they gave up the 

 search and hid themselves beneath the stones. 



