Chapter XII 



SENSE OF DIRECTION 



WE once made a number of experiments to dis- 

 cover in what way the social wasps came back 

 to the nest on returning from their hunting expeditions. 

 Were they endowed with some innate power which 

 made memory of places unnecessary, and enabled them 

 to fly in a straight line to any point they wished to reach, 

 or did their return depend upon the more common- 

 place method of remembering the appearance of the 

 countryside ? 



One morning at half past eight, we placed a wasp 

 cage over the opening of a yellow-jacket hole that had 

 been closed since the night before, and caught fifty- 

 five workers, after which the nest was again closed, one 

 of us taking the cage out on to the lake, while the other 

 remained to watch for their return. 



At seven minutes before nine, twenty of the wasps 

 were liberated an eighth of a mile from shore near the 

 end of the island. All, without exception, flew toward 



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