INSTINCT 153 



those of man. Red is not visible as such to the bee but is 

 seen as a tone of gray; at the other end of the visible spec- 

 trum, however, the bee sees ultraviolet, to which human 

 eyes are blind. In addition to violet the bee clearly distin- 

 guishes blue, blue-green, and yellow. The fact that the bee, 

 one of nature's most active plant pollinators, cannot see red 

 explains the rareness of exclusively red flowers. 



Von Frisch was able to demonstrate that bees can quite 

 definitely distinguish betw^een a solid pattern and a broken 

 one. Their sense of smell is not keen but is equal to that of 

 man. Bees depend on sight to find the flower, but once 

 alighted on it, they can detect the delicate perfumes which 

 lead to the nectar cup. Most flowers have a "scent spot" 

 that the bee feels for with its antennae, on which are located 

 the organs of smell. In taste bees are sensitive to the quality 

 of the nectar— a Rvq per cent sugar solution is of no interest 

 because such weak nectars would spoil in the hive before 

 they could be brought up to the high concentration of stor- 

 age honey. A solution of about 20 per cent sugar is satisfac- 

 tory, but it takes upwards of 40 per cent to make the bee 

 really excited about its find. Once the flower is found, a 

 scout bee sucks up some of the nectar and then marks the 

 flower (stakes out a claim) with its own very strong scent 

 gland located on its abdomen. Then she heads straight back 

 to the hive to tell of her discovery, and von Frisch has been 

 able to demonstrate very thoroughly that the "telUng" is 

 completely and accurately carried out. 



The returning^ scout bee can tell her sister workers what 

 kind of flower contains the honey treasure, how rich it is, in 

 what direction it lies, and how far away. Could a human 

 messenger, for all his language, tell more? As soon as the 

 scout bee enters the hive other foraging bees gather around, 

 particularly if the scout shows excitement. They caress her 

 with their antennae. In this way they get the scent of the 

 flower from the incoming scout's body and will know what 

 to look for. At the same time workers receive the nectar 



