178 



SIR J. LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



tened at the centre by a pin d ; e is some food. "When the ants 

 had come to know their way so that they passed straight over 

 the paper disk on their way from a to e, I moved the disk round 

 with an ant on it, so that/came to^ and g tof. As before, the ants 

 turned round with the paper. 



As it might be possible that the ants turned round on account 

 of the changed relative position of external objects, I next sub- 

 stituted a box 12 inches in diameter and 7 inches high (in fact a 

 hat-box) for the flat paper, cutting two small holes at / and y, 

 so that the ants passing from the nest to the food went through 

 the box entering at/and coming out at g. The box was fixed at 

 d, so that it might turn easily. I then, when they had got to 

 know their way, turned the box round as soon as an ant had 

 entered it, but in every case the ant turned round too, thus re- 

 taining her direction. I then varied the experiment as shown in 



figs. 3 and 4. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



I replaced the white disk of paper, but put the food e at the 

 middle of the board. "When the ant had got used to this arrange- 

 ment I waited till one was on the disk (fig. 3) and then gently 

 drew it to the other side of e, as shown in fig. 4. In this case, how- 

 ever, the ant did not turn round, but went on to g, when she 

 seemed a good deal surprised at finding where she was. 



