WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



the island and away from the nest. Whether they set- 

 tled could not be determined. The boat was then 

 moved an eighth of a mile beyond the island to the 

 north, where, at ten minutes after nine, the remaining 

 wasps were set free. They seemed a good deal con- 

 fused, and flew in all directions. Many returned to the 

 boat and alighted, but soon flew away again. Two that 

 settled on the boat were knocked into the water; but 

 they instantly rose and circled up into the air until out 

 of sight. 



Of the fifty-five wasps that we set free, thirty- nine 

 returned to the nest by ten o'clock, five of them belong- 

 ing to the lot that flew to the island, since they soon 

 found their bearings and came directly home, reaching 

 the nest before the wasps of the second lot were liberated. 



Of the thirty-five wasps that were set free at the sec- 

 ond point, at least twenty started in wrong directions. 

 Adding these to the first twenty, we have left only fif- 

 teen that appeared to know where to look for their 

 home, and yet thirty-nine reached the nest in a little 

 more than an hour from the time the first wasps were 

 set free. 



On another morning we caught thirty-eight workers 

 and took them to a boat-house on the shore of the lake, 

 in the second story of which was a large room with two 

 276 



