28 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



panion sixty feet from the entrance to the formicary. 

 After taking up the body, it struck off in a westerly 

 direction ; the other members of the community never 

 moved west, as the harvest was being transported 

 along a line running due south. Nevertheless, this 

 ant maintained a true westerly course. All kinds of 

 obstacles confronted it : large stones forced it to dellect 

 either to the right or to the left ; it had frequently to 

 rest its burden on the ground and seize it in some 

 more favourable manner in order to raise it over an 

 obstruction ; sometimes it was forced to carry the body 

 up the stems of plants or to make wide deviations 

 to avoid some difficulty; at other times it had to cease 

 its endeavours to carry the corpse and was compelled 

 to turn about and drag it irreverently over the ground. 

 As the ant moved away sixty feet distant on the 

 unfrequented side of the nest, it must have been 

 travelling over unknown ground ; all landmarks must 

 have been strange ; every obstacle forced the ant to 

 turn in various directions, yet it always returned to a 

 true westerly course. Other ants followed with more 

 corpses though not on the direct track of the pre- 

 ceding ant, yet the course was always a true one ; it 

 never deviated from a due west. I am unable to 

 understand how an ant can maintain a true course 

 over unknown ground unless it possesses some peculiar 

 directive sense beyond our limited comprehension. I 

 expected that the ant, after the disposal of the corpse, 

 would return back along its own track, using its 

 powers of scent, or possibly the landmarks on the 

 route, as a guide to its return journey. I carefully 

 marked the outward track, but, though the ant made 

 a straight course for home, it did not retrace its actual 



