LINNEAK SOCIETY OF LONDON. XIX 



1. " Observations on Bees and "Wasps." By Sir John Lub- 

 bock, Bart., M.P., F.E.S. 



The paper commenced by pointing out, with reference to the 

 power of communication with one another said to be possessed 

 by Hymenoptera, that the observations on record scarcely justify 

 the conclusions which have been drawn from them. In support of 

 the opinion that ants, bees, and wasps possess a true language, it 

 is usuaDy stated that if one bee discovers a store of honey, the 

 others are soon aware of the fact. This, however, does not neces- 

 sarily imply the possession of any power of describing localities, 

 or any thing which could correctly be called a language. If the 

 bees or wasps merely follow their fortunate companions, the 

 matter is simple enough. If, on the contrary, the others are 

 sent, the case will be very diiferent. In order to test this, Sir 

 John kept honey in a given place for some time, in order to satisfy 

 himself that it would not readily be found by the bees, and then 

 brought a bee to the honey, marking it so that he could ascertain 

 whether it brought others or sent them, the latter, of course, im- 

 plying a much higher order of intelligence and power of commu- 

 nication. After trying the experiment several times with single 

 bees and obtaining only negative results, Sir John Lubbock 

 procured one of Marriott's observatory-hives, which he placed in 

 his sitting-room. The bees had free access to the open air ; but 

 there was also a small side or postern door, which could be opened 

 at pleasure, and which led into the room. This enabled him to 

 feed and mark any particular bees ; and he recounted a number 

 of experiments, from which it appeared that comparatively few bees 

 found their own way through the postern, while of those which 

 did so the great majority flew to the window, and scarcely any 

 found the honey for themselves. Those, on the contrary, which 

 were taken to the honey, passed backwards and forwards between 

 it and the hive, making on an average, five journeys in the hour. 



Sir John had also in a similar manner watched a number of 

 marked wasps, with very similar results. 



These and other observations of the same tendency appear 

 to show that, even if bees and wasps have the power of inform- 

 ing one another when they discover a store of good food, at any 

 rate they do not habitually do so ; and this seemed to him a strong 

 reason for concluding that they are not in the habit of communi- 

 cating facts. 



c2 



