XXI EXPERIMENTS 303 



with their wings ? If they try it they must keep 

 close to the ground, as I saw those Hymenoptera 

 doing which continued to work, but it appeared out 

 of the question to soar into the high regions where 

 they might obtain a clear acquaintance with the 

 surrounding country. It was therefore with great 

 apprehension as to the success of my experiment 

 that I returned to Orange after again trying to learn 

 some secret from the bees on the Aygues pebbles. 



Hardly had I entered my house when I saw 

 Aglae, flushed with excitement. " Two," she cried — 

 "two came at twenty minutes to three, all laden 

 with pollen ! " A friend chanced to have come in — 

 a grave legal personage, who, hearing what was on 

 hand, forgot the Code and stamped paper, and 

 insisted on also watching for the arrival of my 

 homing pigeons. The result interested him more 

 than did the lawsuit about the partition wall. In a 

 Senegalian sun and furnace heat reflected from the 

 wall, every five minutes did he mount the ladder bare- 

 headed, with no other protection against sunstroke 

 than his thick, gray locks. Instead of the single 

 watcher whom I had posted I found two good pairs 

 of eyes watching the bees' return. I had freed them 

 about two o'clock, and the first two returned to the 

 nest at twenty minutes to three, so that three-quarters 

 of an hour had sufficed for travelling four kilometres, — 

 a very striking result, especially if we remember that 

 the bees worked on the road, as was proved by the 

 pollen on their bodies, and besides they must have 

 been hindered by having the wind against them. 

 Two more came back under my eyes, and they had 

 signs of having worked on the way by their load of 



