New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1881-02-09
The Sense Of Direction In Animals.

"A GENTLEMAN writes 10 Cle 1Op2<l04'
Science Monthly:
was very much interested in the
account, published in your July num-
Der, of the experiments with the INTEL
igent Cincinnati dog, and I think the
facts there developed tend strongly to
the proof of a theory that have long
believed to be correct, viz: that some
of the lower animals are endowed with
sense of location aud direction which at
most is only fundamentally possessed
by man. do not think that the feats of
the carrier-pigeon can be accounted for
on the theory of any finite development
of the sense of sight, smell or hearing,
and the action of honey-bees presents
the same difficulties to persons familiar
with the habits of these interesting in
sects. In searching for wild honey, the
bee-hunter provides himself with a
small box with sliding door; inside
of this box he puts some sweet sub
stance as a bait for the bees. When
several bees have collected in the box,
he closes the lid. As soon as they have
finished eating, he releases a bee,
which, after ascending high enough to
clear the surrounding trees, makes a
"bee-line'' for it's hive. The hunter
marks this direction and carries his box
off at right angles to the line made by
the first bee, and releases another bee;
he carefully marks the direction taken
by this second bee, and if they are both
the same swarm, the hive will be found
at the point where these two lines
meet.
might cite well-authenticated cases
of cats, pigs and dogs finding their way
home, where such a feat would seem
impossible to man under like circum-
stances; my object, however, was not
to theorize, but simply to record what
I consider some interesting observa-
tions bearing upon this subject.
Last spring, 1 built trout-pond in
my garden, on the west side of run
uing brook discharging about six hun
dred cubic feet of water per minute.
The brook is quite rapid where it passes
the pond, and the surface of the pond
lis some five feet higher than the sur
face of the brook. The pond IS supplied
with water brought two thousand feet
in underground pipes and discharged
in fountain in the center of the pond.
Common bull-frogs (Rana pipiens) oc-
casicnally find their way into this
pond. On the 18th of last July I found
three frogs in the pond, and shot all of
them with a pistol. I dipped them up
with a scoop-net, and found two of
them shot through the body, and the
other, little fellow, weighing about
two ounces, was shot across the back.
the bullet just raising the skin and
leaving white streak across its dark
green surface. 1 Tempted the three
frogs out of the net into the swift
running water of the brook, and they
tleatsd down stream out of sight. On
the 10Th of July, the day following,
found the wounded frog in the pond
again, and readily recognized it by the
scar from the bullet. I found no diff
Guilty in catching it in the scoop.net,
and, fearing that the scar might disap-
pear from its back, cut off the center
toe OF it's right foot. put the frog into
paper bag, carried it down the brook
across a brid ge, and finally threw it
into the stream some one hundred yards
below the pond.
On the Oath of July found the frog
back again, caught it, and. 50 as to leave
no doubt about its identification, 1 cut
off the middle toe of the left foot.
then put the frog in the paper bag,
started from the pond in a northeast
course, stopped and whirled the bag
around so as to confuse any ideas that
it might have had of direction, and then
changed my course, and finally released
the frog on the opposite side of the
brook in an oat-field about an eighth of
a mile in an easterly direction from the
pond. To prevent the frog from get
ting any idea from watching me, I
passed on after releasing it, and did not
60 back again to the pond for several
hours. Three days afterward saw the
frog in the pond again, but it was so
wild that could not catch it with my
scoop-net, and I afterward tried various
devices to capture 1t alive, but the mo-
ment it saw me approach the pond it
would jump in and remain hidden in the