SOME SOCIAL WASPS 273 



breeze, so gentle as to be almost imperceptible, came from 

 the south. All of the wasps were from places at the railroad 

 level, the same elevation as the point of release, excepting 

 those from nests 2, 19 and 26; these were hill-top nests, at 

 an altitude of 150 feet higher. The Meramec River inter- 

 sected their course of flight near home. 



These twenty-four wasps, many of which had records of 

 successful flights (see footnote, page 272) were liberated at 

 8 a. m. On account of the distance, we expected that none 

 would return; hence we were almost shocked to find that 

 one from nest 26 had come back. It was the queen which 

 had finished in the preliminary flight in Experiment XI. A 

 distance of 2.7 miles plus an elevation of 150 feet is indeed 

 an astonishing feat for so small a creature. At 6: 10 that 

 evening, one queen appeared on nest 25. This wasp had 

 already made two successful flights, Experiments X and 

 XV. Subsequently, the nests were watched for a week, but 

 out of the abundance used in this experiment only these two 

 ever returned. It seems that the oldest and most experienced 

 ones were the most expert in finding their way home, 

 or the most successful under adverse circumstances. If 

 magic or some impelling power drew the wasps to their 

 nests, as Bethe thinks of the bees, then surely a different 

 type of behavior would be manifested. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



To summarize, then, we find (table A) that out of 33 

 queens which were taken for various distances from one- 

 eighth mile to two and seven-tenths miles, 24 returned 

 to the nest. 



Of the 22 taken out for the first time, 17 reached home; of 

 the ii which had made previous test flights, 7 successfully 

 returned. 



