OLFACTORY SENSE OF THE HONEY BEE 273 



They quite often clean and feed each other and stroke with 

 their antennae the antennae and other parts of the body of the 

 other bees in the case. They frequently crawl over the piece of 

 comb and into the cells. Fanners and guards are often noticed ; 

 the former sometimes create air currents that can be easily de- 

 tected, and the latter always stand at the edge of the group of 

 bees ready to jump at any intruder. 



When the nine bees introduced are from the same hive, no 

 fighting is ever observed among them, unless one acts "crazy" by 

 whirling around and around, in which event the others are apt 

 to attack it. When a second lot of bees from the same colony, 

 taken three or four days later, is introduced among an old lot, 

 fighting is quite common. In case the second lot is introduced 

 in less than three days there is little or no fighting. In all in- 

 stances in which strange bees are introduced fighting occurs; the 

 strange bee invariably tries to escape, but it never fights until 

 firmly seized, when it fights by biting and trying to sting. In 

 the majority of cases the stranger is stung first, although at 

 times the combatants seem to sting each other at the same 

 instant. In most cases the stranger loses its life, while the at- 

 tacking bee escapes unhurt, except for bites on the legs and wings. 



Forty fanners were removed from the alighting board of a hive 

 and were put into an observation case somewhat larger than those 

 described on page 271, into which candy, a piece of comb, and a 

 piece of cotton soaked in water had been placed. Forty fanners 

 from another hive were introduced into a similar case. Fan- 

 ners are readily distinguished because they stand facing the en- 

 trance and fan with their wings. Nearly every one of the 80 

 was a middle-aged worker. When introduced into the cases 

 most of these bees busied themselves in eating candy, a few be- 

 gan to fan, a few acted as guards, and the remainder wandered 

 about aimlessly. On the next day several were seen eating, a 

 few fanned, some acted as guards, but the majority ran about. 

 Some of these carried bits of cotton and comb, having become 

 cleaners. 



The experiment was repeated with the same number of guards. 

 These workers are also easily distinguished, for they guard the 



