Losing the Track 13 



In a few seconds one of the exploring parties, making 

 a curve, hit the other end of the path, and the news was 

 quickly spread, for the rest followed almost immediately. 

 Placing a small pebble across the track on another occasion 

 caused almost the same amount of interference with the 

 traffic. Near the hole into which the ants plunged under 

 the border, and on the edge of the bank, so to say, the path 

 they had worn was not visible — the ground was hard and 

 did not take impression : and there, losing the guidance 

 of the groove, they often made mistakes. Instead of hitting 

 the right hole, many of them missed it and entered other 

 holes left by boring worms, and after a short time reap- 

 peared to search again, till, finding the cavern, they hastily 

 plunged into it. This was particularly the case when a 

 solitary insect came along. Therefore it would seem that 

 the ant works its way tentatively, and, observing where it 

 fails, tries another place and succeeds. 



