The Ant's Highway. 13 



is the prerogative of reason. Ants 'cannot, under 

 certain conditions, distinguish their own special 

 haunts. Across a garden path I frequented there 

 was the track of innumerable ants ; their ceaseless 

 journeyings had worn a visible path leading from 

 the border on one side to the border on the other, 

 where was a tin}' hole, into which they each disap- 

 peared in turn. Happily, the garden was neglected, 

 otherwise the besom of the gardener would have swept 

 away all traces of the highway the}' tad made. 

 Watching the stream of life pouring swiftly along 

 the track, it seemed to me that, like men walking 

 hurriedl}" in well-known streets, they took no note of 

 marks or bearings, but followed each other unhesi- 

 tatingly in the groove. 



When street-pavements are torn up, the human 

 stream disperses and flows out on either side till it 

 discovers by experience the most convenient make- 

 shift passage. What would be the result if this 

 Watling-street of the ants were interrupted ? With a 

 fragment of wood I rubbed out three inches of the 

 path worn in the shallow film of soil deposited over 

 the old gravel, smoothing that much down level. 

 -Instantly the crowd came to a stop. The foremost 

 ant halted at the edge where the groove now termi- 

 nated, turned round, and had an excited conversation 

 with the next b} r means of their antennse ; a third 

 came up, a fourth and fifth a crowd collected, in 

 fact. Now, there was no real obstruction nothing 

 to prevent them from rushing across to the spot 

 where the path recommenced. Why, then, did they 

 pause ? Why, presently, begin to explore, right and 

 left, darting to one side and then to the other exam- 



