ANTS — SENSE OF DIRECTION. 
37 
then to x, and not finding the food at either place, set to 
work to look for it at random, and was only successful 
after twenty-five minutes’ 
wandering. 
And, as evidence how 
much more dependence 
they place upon scent in 
finding their way than 
upon any other of their 
faculties, it is desirable to 
quote yet one further ex- 
periment, which is of great 
interest as showing that 
when their sense of smell is made to contradict their 
sense of direction, they follow the former, notwithstanding, 
as we shall presently see, the wonderful accuracy of the 
information which is supplied to them by the latter. 4 If, 
when F, niger were carrying off larvae placed in a cup on a 
piece of board, I turned the board round so that the side 
which had been tinned towards the nest was awav from it, 
and vice versa , the ants always returned over the same 
track on the board, and, in consequence, directly away 
from home. If I moved my board to the other side of my 
artificial nest, the result was the same. Evidently they 
followed the road, not the direction.’ 
There can be little doubt that ants have a sense of 
taste, as they are so well able to distinguish sugary sub- 
stances ; and it is unquestionable that in their antennas 
they possess highly elaborated organs of touch 
Sense of Direction . 
As evidence of the accuracy and importance of the 
sense of direction in the Hymenoptera, we must here 
adduce Sir John Lubbock’s highly interesting experiments 
on ants — leaving his experiments in this connection on 
bees and wasps to be considered in the next chapter. 
He first accustomed some ants ( Lasius niger) to go to 
and fro to food over a wooden bridge. When they had 
got quite accustomed to the way, he watched when an ant 
was upon a bridge which could be rotated, and while she 
