SOME SOCIAL WASPS 269 



from nest 10 which, with one antenna, had been successful 

 in Experiment XI. When the nest was examined at 4 : 30, 

 one of these had already returned; the other did not arrive 

 home. 



To summarize, then : the wasps in this lot which had been 

 previously successful in the flight with only one antenna, 

 now proved themselves equally capable with both antennae 

 amputated. These were subjected to all the confusion that 

 the others endured, i.e., the darkness and the turning 

 about. The time in which they made the flight was a 

 little longer than the time required by the first lot of queens 

 in Experiment I; the minimum time for these workers was 

 40 minutes, and two were out about 20 hours. 



We had planned to experiment upon these wasps, entirely 

 or partly antennaless, with flights of greater distance, but 

 were called away from July 25 to 30. We thought, further- 

 more, that a rest for these overworked individuals would 

 eliminate the factor of fatigue from the results of long 

 flight experiments. We assumed that, since most of them 

 returned very properly to the nest even under handicap, they 

 would of course continue their normal activities until our 

 return. But at the end of the week, when the various nests 

 were examined, not one of either the partly or entirely mu- 

 tilated wasps was to be found. Whether they had per- 

 ished, or had been driven from the nests by the normal 

 inhabitants, or had lost themselves in foraging expeditions, 

 we do not know. Thus ended the plans for their long dis- 

 tance flights under handicap. 



Experiment XIII 



July 30. In Experiment X, the wasps in normal condi- 

 tion were taken from their outbuilding at the foot of the 

 hill and carried to the crest of it, whence they all speedily 



