316 POWER OF DISTINGUISHING COLOURS. 



observed she had nearly lost the use of her antennfB, 

 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 her 

 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 colour, 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 {Ves'pa 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 



