150 JOHN H. LOVELL 



only prove that the odor of honey exercises a great power of 

 attraction which has long been known. It is only necessary to 

 place honey anywhere to secure the immediate appearance of 

 numerous insects which are fond of it."» To this criticism, 

 Plateau replied: 



' Quelle pauvre argumentation! Knuth ne s'apercoit pas qu'il 

 me donne pleinement raison. En effet, s'il a suffi de l'introduc- 

 tion d'un peu de miel dans des fleurs habituellement negligees 

 pour y amener les Insectes, c'est que l'eclat des corolles ne compte 

 guere et que le perfum de la substance que ces animaux recher- 

 chent avidement a constitue seul l'excitant determinant leurs 

 actes. J'avais done demontre ce que je voulais demontrer."i° 

 Plateau's conclusion that certain conspicuous flowers, which 

 are devoid of nectar and pollen, or nearly so, are neglected because 

 insects fail to notice their colors, it is believed, can readily be 

 shown to be fallacious. The flowers are neglected not because 

 they escape attention, but because anthophilous insects have 

 learned from experience their inability to procure food materials 

 from them. They do not neglect them entirely, but visit them 

 occasionally, > > although they do not often repeat their futile 

 visits since ' ' memory appears to replace both odor and color 

 as the directive stimulus of first importance. > = In his experi- 

 ments with odoriferous essences, that is, odors without a sweet 

 syrup, Plateau recognized the fact that if they are employed 

 alone a Hymenopteron or Dipteron entering the corolla and 

 finding nothing will not return again. 13 This statement is 



9 Knuth, Paul, " Handbook of Flower Pollination," translated by J. Ainsworth 

 Davis, 1:206. 



" Plateau, F., " Recherches experimentales sur les fleurs entomophiles," etc., p. 8. 



" This statement will be supported later by a large number of observations. 



12 Coulter, Barnes and Cowles, " Textbook of Botany," 2 (Ecology by H. C. 

 Cowles) :850. On the memory of honey-bees cf. Forel, A., "Ants and Some Other 

 Insects," translated by W. M. Wheeler, p. 28; and on the memory of place in bees 

 cf. Buttel-Reepen, H.V., "Are Bees Reflex Machines," translated by M. H. Geisler, 

 pp. 19-39. In the autumn of 1912 I placed a dish containing fragments of comb 

 honey in a secluded spot nearly surrounded by a steep bank and willow bushes. A 

 few bees were brought to the honey and it was soon visited by a large number. 

 After they had been fed several times the dish was removed and everything left as 

 at first. Two weeks later I examined the place but failed to discover a single bee. 

 The weather was, moreover, growing colder and they were no longer flying freely. 

 I now placed on the same spot as previously another dish of comb honey; and two 

 hours afterwards I found it swarming with bees. During two weeks they had 

 evidently kept this locality under constant surveillance, inspecting it from time to 

 time, although there was nothing to attract their attention. 



i» Plateau, F., " Recherches experimentales," etc., p. 10. 



