OLFACTORY SENSE OF THE HONEY BEE 339 



creased its rate only slightly, and after 40 minutes it moved a 

 little faster when tested. 



One worker: During the first 3 minutes it did not increase 

 its rate, but later was easily excited. 



Five workers: During the first 5 minutes they increased their 

 rate only slightly, but later were easily excited. 



Two workers: At first, as well as later, they were easily 

 excited. 



A control was used by applying water in the same manner as 

 the anesthetic, with another pencil brush. In all,* 10 workers 

 were used, and each one without failure was easily excited at 

 first as well as later. It may be suggested that only a relatively 

 small amount of any liquid is able to reach the ends of the sense 

 fibers, for two reasons: (1) On account of the dense coat of 

 hairs, and (2) because the liquid must replace the air in the 

 mouths of the funnel-like apertures. 



Stings extracted 



For this experiment 20 of the 100 bees with their stings ex- 

 tracted, as mentioned on page 278, were used. In most respects 

 these bees appeared normal, but they lived only 30 hours on an 

 average. They responded to odors normally. The average reac- 

 tion time to oil of peppermint was 2.6 seconds, to oil of thyme 

 3 seconds, and to oil of wintergreen 3 seconds. The average 

 was 2.8 seconds. This is 0.2 second more than the average for 

 the same odors when unmutilated bees were used. 



SUMMARY 



Bees with their antennae mutilated in the slightest degree, 

 either by "amputation or by varnishing them, are never absolutel}^ 

 normal. The more joints of the antennae severed, the more 

 abnormal the bees are. There is nothing in the results of these 

 experiments to indicate that the antennae play any part in olfac- 

 tion. The maxillae, labial palpi, proboscides, mandibles, and 

 stings may receive odor stimuli in a limited degree but this is 

 not certain. Neither the mouth cavity nor the epipharynx plays 



