Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-19
NATURES GREATEST MYSTERY
Some Remarkable ways In Whics
Animals Find Their Way
Home.

Every evening about 5 O'Clock tii 10 many
thousands Of people stream out Of town
by tram and train and sort themselves
out into their separate homes. A visitor
from Mars might wonder how we do II.
1t is the tame with nature; every day and
night millions OF creatures find their way
home over long distances with unerring
accuracy, and some Of us marvel how 1t is
done.
Imagine what would be the effect II the
whole of London Nere struck blind at b
o'clock. A few minutes awful silence
during which everybody would be groplns
about in wild stupefaction; then a vast
stampede; thousands would perish by fall
ing down areas and trampling on each
other, and hardly a soul would find his
house. This means that human beings de-
pend chiefly on their sight for getting
about from place to place.
with natures creatures things vary
An ant, for instance, could find his way
to the nest II he were struck blind or not
Trailing out from an ants nest are many
tiny ant tracks branching out into tribu-
taries. Along these tracks thousands OF
ants crawl daily to and fro. Some of the
ants travel into the forest distances equal
by comparison to a mans twenty-mle
walk. They find their way back BY their
sense of smell.
Caterpilars as a rule rely entirely upon
light and gravitation. A caterpillar fallen
from a tree detects the presence OF the
trunk by its shadow and attraction
This is not nearly so good a guide as
the ants sense Of smell, for IL another
tree happens to be growing opposite, I'M
suitable to feed upon, It will crawl to that
-. - I.1.a al ta 1nrnnN for nntninR-
Also, IL a brick wall happens to be nearer
than the tree 1t will make for the brick
wall.
But some caterpiIlars are much %cleverer
than this.
The caterpillar OF the Purple Emperor
butterfly chooses in it's infancy specially
selected leaves to sleep upon. At dusk and
dawn 1t crawls away over an apparently
traekless waste Of branches to some IA
vored spot to have supper and breakfast.
When the meals are over 1t invariably
finds its way back to its home, because II
has left a thin trail OF silk all along the
branches. This silk forms a kind Of guild
ing string. such as sometimes assists ex-
plorers to retrace their way back out of
catacombs.
But when we come to bees. the homing
faculty is much more mysterious, since
bees can neither leave tracks of scent nor
web. How is it that a bee can fly al
, over a town and yet inva riably come home
; to the hive in the evenln &c
There can be little doubt that so intelli-
: gent an insect as a bee has a long mem
DRY and a keen eye for landmarks. This
is testified to by the fact that almost al
> bees fly by day, whereas such creatures
> as moths-of no fixed home or occupa'
tion-fly in the darkness. A bee would
be lost at~midnight because 1t could moi
recognize its surroundings.
The same method is practiced by birds
although naturalists differ widely upon thlt
subject. There can be little doubt thai
- a migrating bird knows the difference be
| tween north-and SOUTH so that when tht
Y nightjar, for instance, IN leaving Africa fol
5 England, it begins it's homeward journey
by going due north.
Now, ii does not follow that any night.
jar ever Intentionally flew straight from
Africa to, EnglaHds% ~
He may easily nuke a mistake and FIND
y himself in Frames. But France, being JUS
as suitable to him. decides the question
and he may drop down in the woods neaI
. Paris.
In short, the hominG instinct in tnigrat
ing birds consists Of their wonderful ability
. in detecting changes IN climate and direc
ton of the compass, for their home ma!
y cover a large area.AAThe rest is all don
" by landmarks.
% Most animals, such as the fox, the VOL
e and the rabbit find their way back t
h their lairs by a combination Of sight
memory and smell. The fox could smel
his way home II he was suddenly strucl
blind.
But there are extraordinary instance
of cats. dogs and pigeons travelling owe
vast distances where 1t seems impossibl
for either sight or scent to be Of mucI
use. For Instance, a terrier sent 10
new home in Birmingham, returned o.
foot to it's old matter in High Wycombe
a distance of e srly 100 miles. n
collie sent from a town in Oxfordshire I
Leeds turned up three or four days late
in Oxfordshire. having throug
four counties over a distance of 200 mile'
In all Instances like these memory an
sight are of hardly any use except In tn
Immediate neighborhood of home. Z
what service can their sense OF smell b
either, when the track they traverse
A. new and strange?
1t is the same with homlng pigeons. An
= we are forced to conclude that some an
:. mails possess the sense OF direction /
highly developed that, no matter how {
kwhere they are taken, they are able
retrace their steps as though they hs
left trails behind them like the silk ira
of a acknowledgements Weekly.
=
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