31 G POWER OF DISTINGUISHING COLOURS. 



observed she had nearly lost the use of her antennae, 

 though the rest of the body was as usual. She would 

 take no food. Next day I tried again to feed her ; but 

 the head seemed dead, though she could still move lier 

 legs, wings, and abdomen. The following day I offered 

 her food for the last time ; but both head and thorax 

 were dead or paralysed ; she could but move her tail, 

 a last token, as I could almost fancy, of gratitude and 

 affection. As far as I could judge, her death was quite 

 painless ; and she now occupies a place in the British 

 Museum. 



Power of distinguishing Colours. 



As regards colours, I satisfied myself that wasps are 

 capable of distinguishing colom*, though they do not 

 seem so much guided by it as bees are. 



July 25. — At 7 a.m. I marked a common worker 

 wasp {Vesjpa vulgaris), and placed her to some honey 

 on a piece of green paper 7 inches by 4|. She worked 

 with great industry. After she had got well used to the 

 green paper I moved it 18 inches off, putting some 

 other honey on blue paper where the green had pre- 

 viously been. She returned to the blue. I then replaced 

 the green paper for an hour, during which she visited 

 it several times, after which I moved it 18 inches, as 

 before, and put brick-red paper in its place. She returned 

 to the brick-red paper. But although this experiment 

 indicates that this wasp was less strongly affected by 



