THE WAYS OF LIFE 233 



conclude that the ants learn to find their way. They make 

 many mistakes at first, but gradually improve. They 

 associate different impressions (olfactory, tactile, visual, 

 etc.), and remember certain finger-posts. According to 

 some, there is a ' muscular memory ' of the movements 

 effected and of the amount of work done. But the general 

 view is that the homing of ants is the result of the practised 

 combination of a number of hints. According to Pieron, 

 the way-finding of ants is most frequently due to the 

 combination of diverse sets of impressions. These are often 

 predominantly visual, as in Formica fusca and F. rufibarbis ; 

 they may be mainly olfactory, as in Lasius flavus and 

 L. fuliginosus ; in the very blind Aphcenogaster barbara 

 they are mainly muscular. 



The homing of bees and digger-wasps is even more 

 striking than that of ants so striking that Fabre felt 

 compelled to postulate a capacity more subtle than ordinary 

 memory, ' une sorte d'intuition des lieux '. He caught 

 ten specimens of Cerceris, marked them, put them in a box, 

 took them three kilometres away, and liberated them 

 next morning. Of the ten, five returned to the home. 

 Some specimens of Chalicodoma were taken over hill and 

 dale to a distance of four kilometres, and twenty per cent, 

 returned. Bethe liberated some bees in the middle of 

 Strasburg and others at the same distance from the hive, 

 but in the country ; those from the streets were home (in 

 the suburbs) before those from the country. Professor 

 Yung, of Geneva, made a very interesting experiment. He 

 took twenty bees from a hive near the lake, put them in a 

 box, and took them six kilometres into the country, where 

 they were liberated. Seventeen returned, some in an hour. 

 Next day the seventeen were put back in the box and 



