WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 27 



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, dart- 

 ing to one side and then to the other examining ? Was 

 it not because an old and acquired habit was suddenly 

 uprooted ? Surely infallible instinct could have car- 

 ried them across the space of three inches without 

 any trouble of investigation ? 



In a few seconds one of the exploring parties, mak- 

 ing a curve, hit the other end of the path ; and the news 

 was quickly spread, for the rest followed almost im- 

 mediately. Placing a small pebble across the track 

 on another occasion caused almost the same amount 

 of interference with the traffic. Near the hole into 

 which the ants plunged under the border, and on the 

 edge of the bank, so to say, the path they had worn 

 was not visible the ground was hard, and did not 

 take impression ; and there, losing the guidance of 

 the groove, they often made mistakes. Instead of 

 hitting the right hole, many of them missed it and 

 entered other holes left by boring worms, and after 

 a short time reappeared to search again, till, finding 

 the cavern, they hastily plunged into it. This was 

 particularly the case when a solitary insect came along. 

 Therefore it would seem that the ant works its way 

 tentatively, and, observing where it fails, tries another 

 place and succeeds. 



