118 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL [April, 1837. 
At 9:47 
“ 9:50 
“ 9:52 
“ 9:52} 
“ 9:54 
“ 9:55 
“ 9:56 
“ 9:56} 
“ 9:58 
“ 10:00 
1 arrived 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
2 
These were not killed, but attempted to 
enter, and remained about the hole so that they 
| were all there at the same time. The mistake 
of counting one wasp thirteen times was not 
made. 
None of these wasps were loaded. 
Of the fifty-five wasps that we set free thirty-nine returned to 
the nest by ten o’clock ; five were of those that flew toward the 
island ; they evidently soon found their bearings and came di¬ 
rectly home, reaching the nest before the wasps of the second lot 
were liberated. 
Of the thirty-five wasps that were set free at the second point 
at least twenty started in wrong directions ; adding these to the 
first twenty, we have left only fifteen that appeared to know 
where to look for their home, and yet thirty-nine reached the 
nest in a little more than an hour from the time the first wasps 
were set free. It therefore seems quite clear that wasps have no 
sense of direction as understood by either of the definitions sug¬ 
gested above. They apparently fly around and around, as did 
Bates' wasp, until they recognize some object, and then make 
that the starting point for their return to the nest. 
On the evening of August 23d, we closed the entrance to the 
nest as before. On the morning of the 24th we caught thirty- 
eight workers. Leaving a third person behind to note the time 
of their return to the nest, we took them to a boat-house which 
was due west of the nest on the shore of the lake. The second 
story of t h e boat-house was simply a large room with two good 
sized windows, both wide open ; one looked west over the lake 
and a W from the . the ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
™r i ghter ’ bUt the ° ther was light, for, 
although the woods made a darker background they still al- 
W,T Tf *° °°" e intone y 
We placed the cage in the middle of t hi. room, and at 9:10 
