OLFACTORY SENSE OF THE HONEY BEE 335 



of uninjured bees, but always much slower. They often failed 

 to respond at all, although they were otherwise as active as 

 unmutilated bees. A failure to respond within 60 seconds after 

 an odor was held under them was regarded as entirely negative 

 for that odor. The most general responses were to move away 

 slowly and to vibrate and stroke the antennae. The average 

 reaction time to oil of peppermint was 18.8 seconds, to oil of 

 thyme 20.6 seconds, to oil of wintergreen 27.3 seconds, to 

 honey and comb 28.8 seconds, to pollen 38.5 seconds, and to 

 leaves and stems of pennyroyal 28.8 seconds. The average was 

 27.1 seconds. Twenty-eight workers were tested. For unmuti- 

 lated bees with the same odors the general average reaction time 

 was 3.4 seconds; therefore by removing the pores on all four 

 wings the average reaction time is increased eight times. 



Bases of wings glued 



For fear that the bees with their wings pulled off were abnormal 

 in some unknown way, the bases of all four wings of many work- 

 ers were glued by applying a small amount of liquid glue to each 

 side of the wing near the articulation. Wlien the glue was thor- 

 oughly dry these workers were put into observation cases. The 

 glue caused the wings to be stiff so that they could not be vibrated, 

 but judging from their behavior and longevity the bees were 

 normal in all other respects. They lived as long as unmutilated 

 bees, and when strange workers were put among them they w^ere 

 always accepted without much hostility. The responses were 

 the same as for the wingless bees. The average reaction time 

 to oil of peppermint was 12.5 seconds, to oil of thyme 15.6 sec- 

 onds, to oil of wintergreen 27.5 seconds, to honey and comb 38.8 

 seconds, to pollen 36.8 seconds, and to leaves and stems of penny- 

 royal 38.8 seconds. The average was 28.2 seconds. Twenty 

 workers were tested. Thus by covering all the pores on the 

 wings with glue the reaction is increased eight times. That the 

 odor of this glue does not affect the results is shown on page 296. 



