OLFACTORY SENSE OF THE HONEY BEE 337 



Wings pulled off and pores on legs covered 



For this experiment 33 of the 150 wingless bees mentioned on 

 page 334 were used. The pores on the legs were covered with 

 the mixture of vaseline and beeswax four days after the wings 

 had been pulled off. When put into observation cases, these 

 workers were quite hostile to each other, they bit and pulled 

 one another's legs and wings for at least three hours, after which 

 they cleaned and fed each other as usual. They were otherwise 

 normal in all respects and lived on an average 9 days and 5 

 hours. When strange bees were put among them, they were 

 quickly attacked and were soon killed. In reacting to odors 

 their behavior was similar to that of unmutilated bees, but much 

 slower. The reaction was at times entirely negative to all the 

 six odors. The average reaction time to oil of peppermint was 

 27.3 seconds, to oil of thyme 44.1 seconds, to oil of wintergreen 

 39.3 seconds, to honey and comb 41.7 seconds, to pollen 44.5 

 seconds, and to leaves and stems of pennyroyal 42.9 seconds, 

 and the average of all was 40 seconds. The workers tested 

 numbered 20. By removing all the pores on the wings and by 

 coating most of them on the legs the time of response to the six 

 odors was increased 12 times. 



The experiment just described may be criticised on the ground 

 that the removal of the wings of bees causes an abnormal con- 

 dition which is brought about by the injury of the operation, 

 and that the reaction time is affected on account of the injury. 

 When the behavior of bees thus mutilated and their longevity 

 are considered it will be clear that the injury itself does not cause 

 the slow responses. It may also be urged that any substance 

 which is used to cover the pores comes in contact with the pe- 

 ripheral ends of the sense fibers and this contact might make the 

 insect abnormal, so that even if these organs were not olfactory, 

 the bee would not respond to odor stimuli. Such a contact is 

 scarcely possible for two reasons: (1) Since the parts of the bee 

 where the pores are located are covered with a dense coat of 

 hair, the liquid glue or mixture of vaseline and beeswax probably 



