EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 669 



are at fault here and scarcely a bee journal appears that does not contain 

 some such statements. 



As another example of this, allow me to quote from one of the more 

 recent works, the author of which may perhaps remain unmentioned. 



"The antennae, in some mysterious way, afford means of communica- 

 tion. By them the bee says all it feels to its friends and relatives. 



"Watch two bees meet on a window frame; they instantly cross feelers, 

 and if they come from the same hive there ensues such an outpouring of 

 bee talk, such a tremor of crossed antennae, such an evident condition of 

 excitement all through their bodies, as might well fill the most practised 

 gossip with envy. 



"One can imagine the graphic terms in which they relate the recent 

 awful experience of their capture, how they were suddenly and rudely 

 jerked from a sweet blossom, and after indescribable shaking about in 

 a strange thing made of bands too close together for them to get through 

 and too tough for them to bite through, finally found themselves, as they 

 supposed, free. 



"The joy after the fear! but alas, their happiness was of short dura- 

 tion; for when they attempted to return to the clover field visible in the 

 distance, they found themselves suddenly checked in mid-career by what 

 seemed a wall of thickened air, a strange, hard, cold, transparant night- 

 mare or a barrier which they could see through but could not pass. 



"Poor little bees. No wonder their antennae fly in the discussion of 

 such strange facts, and how fortunate that the ears of the ogre, their 

 captor, are not attuned to the remarks of their antennae, as they express 

 their opinion concerning him morally, mentally and physically." 



Truly this author has wandered far afield in the realm of the unverl- 

 flable! I am not one of those who would eliminate all the poetic from 

 our daily life, nor would I fetter the imagination as long as it leads to 

 the truth, but to put such an array of obvious fabrication into a book 

 which is intended to instruct us on bees is far from justifiable. It is 

 just this sort of thing which has caused many persons to look with dis- 

 favor on much of the so-called "Nature Study" of our schools. It is 

 really a pity that this author did not discover that there are more won- 

 derful facts concerning the bee which were verifiable than any which 

 were concocted to fill the book. 



The three things which I have mentioned are difficulties which even 

 men have who are well trained in observation. It takes much practice 

 before the observations made by any person are of any value, and if 

 we could but prevent people from publishing their results until they really 

 know how to observe, what a blessing it would be to apiculture. There 

 are other obstacles which we continually meet, such as the tendency to 

 generalize from one or two observations, and the drawing of wrong con- 

 clusions because of bad logic. "We may find examples of these later, but 

 there is one other grave fault of which I wish to speak before leaving 

 this subject. I refer to the use of the word "instinct." 



I have no desire at this time to go into a discussion of the causes and 

 nature of insTincts. An instinct may be defined as a natural impulse, 

 leading animals, even prior to all experience, to perform certain actions 

 tending to 'the welfare of the individual or the perpetuation of the 



