The Orientation of Ants

Abstract

1. Von Frisch has shown that in the honey-bee orientation established in relation to one directional stimulus (light) can be transferred to another directional stimulus (gravity or polarized light). In the present work the orientation of ants has been studied in experiments in which one type of directional stimulus has been replaced by another. Light, gravity and polarized light have been used as stimuli. 2. When light and gravity are interchanged, the ant's successive orientations to the two stimuli are correlated. The angle between the track and the stimulus is the same for both orientations. 3. When light and polarized light are interchanged, the ant's successive orientations are again correlated. The actual relationship depends on the experimental conditions. 4. When polarized light and gravity are interchanged there is no significant correlation between successive orientations. 5. It is suggested that in bees and ants there is a single taxis mechanism for orientation to light, polarized light and gravity, and that the ‘setting’ of this mechanism during an orientation to one stimulus persists and partially determines the subsequent orientation to another stimulus.