Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



ALBION, N. Y., FEB. 23, 1895. 



No. 4 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



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 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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Is There a Sense of Direction? 



By Dr. Morris Gibbs. 



I am led to offer a few observa- 

 tions on what you may reasonably 

 call the "Sense of Direction," or 

 we may boldly adopt or resurrect 

 that formerly much used, but now 

 neglected word "instinct." Wheth- 

 er the following instance points to 

 reasoning, instinct, as formerly ac- 

 knowledged but now often disput- 

 ed, or a gift, or "sense," I will not 

 undertake to say. 



In our front yard is a a burr oak, 

 Quercus macrocarpa which has been 

 sadly infested the past few seasons, 

 by the larva of Edema albifrons. 

 Thousands of caterpillars were de- 

 stroyed in their earliest stages and 

 tens of thousands of eggs were strip- 

 ped from the tree during June and 

 July, but the vast majority of cater- 

 pillars were out of reach, and con- 

 tinued to thrive. In late August 

 and early September, immense 

 numbers dropped from the limbs 

 to the ground. Of these, many 

 were intent on performing their 

 transformation, and therefore anx- 

 ious to leave the tree, but over 

 two-thirds of them were of only 

 half to three-quarters size, and re- 

 quired from five to fifteen days 

 more of feeding, and probably fell 

 from the limbs accidently. It was 

 a very easy matter to tell if a cater- 

 pillar had reached the ripe stage 

 for metamorphosis, by returning 

 it to the tree trunk; when if ready 

 for the prospective change, it im- 

 mediately dropped from the bark 

 or turned about and descended, and 



again sought a place where it could 

 enter the chrysalis state. If, how- 

 ever, it was less than full size, it 

 would immediately pass up the 

 tree and out upon the first limb it 

 came in contact with, where it pro- 

 ceeded to feed from the first heathy 

 leaf. The one object of the full 

 size caterpillar, was to get away 

 from the tree, and they could be 

 seen travelling in every direction 

 from a common center. The small- 

 er individuals, however, were only 

 anxious to reascend the tree, and 

 here the instinct or sense of up- 

 ward direction, was not accompa- 

 nied by knowledge or reason, for 

 they swarmed up the columns of 

 the veranda, the stone foundation 

 and the house, and as well, up the 

 trumpet-creeper and other plants, 

 shrubs and trees. As might be ex- 

 pected, more found the trunk of 

 the tree from which they fell, than 

 all other uprights together, because 

 it was much nearer, but I repeat- 

 edly saw individuals pass within a 

 few inches of the oak tree trunk, 

 and going on in a straight line, 

 reach and ascend a small elm tree. 

 There is a good sized sugar maple, 

 Acer saccharinum, at sixty feet dis- 

 tance, and this they also ascended 

 in numbers, and I have seen as 

 many as twenty-eight on the trunk 

 below the first limbs at one time. 

 Of course the foliage of the maple 

 and elm would in no way answer 

 the requirements of this oak-feeder, 

 and as a matter of course, the cat- 

 erpillers, sooner or later, not finding 

 proper food, descended to the 

 ground again or died. In several 

 instances I know that they drop- 

 ped from the limbs of the maple 

 and again made off for new fields, 

 but in no case did I find an indi- 

 vidual crawling down the trunk. 

 This method of reaching the ground 

 by dropping, is the one generally 

 adopted. 



The partly grown caterpillars, 

 which were ever anxious to ascend 

 any object, with a "sense," "in- 

 stinct," or "reason" of direction, 

 in order to secure food, were so 

 determined "to go up," that all my 

 efforts to the contrary could avail 

 nothing. One which had crawled 

 upon my sleeve, was made to turn 

 about all of twenty times, by ele- 

 vating and again lowering my hand 

 and arm. They cannot be made 

 to crawl down when bound to as- 

 cend. If, however, when crawl- 

 ing upward, a horizontal object 

 meets their course, the caterpillars 



will at once leave the perpendicu- 

 lar and adopt the horizontal, which 

 clearly shows that they are looking 

 for a limb in order to reach the 

 leaves. 



It is so easy for us to admit of 

 any animal's comprehending the 

 distinction between ascent and 'de- 

 scent, that many will not think the 

 above instance at all remarkable. 

 But when we begin to discuss plane 

 direction, if we may use the term 

 to simplify the meaning, we are 

 surprised at the exhibition of "rea- 

 son," "instinct" or "sense of di- 

 rection," shown by this caterpillar. 

 Yet it is fair to assert that it is as 

 easy for the caterpillar, blind though 

 it is, to pick out and maintain a 

 direct line of travel on a plane, re- 

 gardless of interference and obsta- 

 cles, as it is to credit it with per- 

 ceptions of gravitation. The cat- 

 erpillar does not know east from 

 west, but it is as equally susceptible 

 to an influence which governs its 

 actions, as are the migratory birds to 

 the behests of northward and south- 

 ward impulses. 



Noticing that many caterpillars 

 were moving apparently aimlessly 

 in various directions over a cement 

 walk in front of the house, I selected 

 a few individuals and turned them 

 end for end, or several times about. 

 In a large number of instances the 

 slowly moving creatures, would, 

 after recovering themselves, start 

 directly ahead and maintain the 

 direction no matter which way 

 they were pointing. But a num- 

 ber of them seemed to have an ob- 

 jective point for which they were 

 aiming. 



These individuals could not be 

 made to change their courses. 

 Placing one on a door mat, found 

 handy for the purpose, it was spun 

 round on the cement walk ten to 

 twenty times, after which the cat- 

 erpillar immediately headed in the 

 diirection in which it was found 

 travelling. There did not appear 

 to be any reason for the chosen 

 objective point, for it often led to- 

 wards the house, and quite as of- 

 ten away from the tree as toward 

 it. After whirling some of them 

 about, right and left, they were al- 

 lowed to take their courses, and 

 each would bend around and take 

 its original route. I do not claim 

 that all would do this, but only a 

 small proportion, and the percent, 

 is not offered. Very few of the 

 largest sized ones would thus 

 maintain their courses, the best in- 



