296 • N. E. McINDOO 



were burned off with a red-hot needle, removing their antennal 

 cleaners. About one-fourth of the bees so mutilated died with- 

 in 12 hours, but the remainder appeared quite normal in every 

 other way. On the second day eleven joints or the entire fla- 

 gellum of each antenna was coated with liquid glue. Since the 

 antennal cleaners were removed, these bees could not remove the 

 thick coating of glue. They were quite abnormal and most of 

 them did not live long. However, after gluing the flagella of 

 many bees, 21 were finally obtained that were fairly normal and 

 they responded to the odors of the above oils without failure. 

 The general response was either to arise and move away quickly 

 or to vibrate their antennae. Often when one had fallen down 

 apparently lifeless the odor was placed under it; it arose almost 

 instantaneously and moved away quickly. After 3 or 4 days all 

 the surviving bees had succeeded in cleaning their antennae but 

 most of them died before this time. However, some lived 12 to 

 14 days. The average reaction time to oil of peppermint was 

 3.1 seconds, to oil of thyme 3 seconds, to oil of wintergreen 2.8 

 seconds, and for all three oils 2.9 seconds. 



To ascertain if the odor of the glue itself affected these re- 

 sults in any way, glue was placed on the top of the thorax. This 

 dried in a few minutes and the bees were not able to get it off. 

 They were entirely normal and were tested with the foregoing 

 odors. The average reaction time to oil of pepermint was 2.4 

 seconds, to oil of thyme 2.8 seconds, to oil of wintergreen 3.1 

 seconds, and for all three oils 2.7 seconds. The workers tested 

 were 19 in number. 



From all the experiments performed on the antennae of bees 

 it is evident that when these appendages are mutilated in the 

 slightest degree, the bees are never entirely normal, even though 

 they apparently recover from the effect of the shock. The 

 greater the number of joints removed or covered, the greater 

 the abnormality. Furthermore, there is no reason to assume the 

 presence of the olfactory organs on the antennae, because when 

 these appendages were burned off, the general average of the 

 reaction time for the three oils was 4 seconds; when glued, 2.9 

 seconds; and when unmutilated, 2.6 seconds. This slight in- 



