430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 8 



they do not attract new worker bees to their feeding-place. Just the 

 same is true of flower-visiting bees. They only dance if they find 

 plenty of food. As soon as the flowers are visited by so many bees 

 that all nectar produced by the flowers can be easily collected and 

 taken away, there is no longer plenty of food, the dances stop, and no 

 more worker bees are attracted. This makes it possible that there is 

 always a correct proportion between the number of collecting bees 

 and the quantity of food offered by a certain kind of flowers. 



But one more thing still — the dances depend not only on the 

 quantity of food but also on its sweetness. If we feed the bees with 

 sugar water of a very high concentration the dances are very vigorous. 

 If the concentration is diminished, the dances are continued, but less 

 vigorously. If the concentration is still further diminished to a 

 certain point, the collection of food is still continued, but there are no 

 dances in the hive, although there is plenty of food. In natural 

 conditions this is very important. For when various kinds of flowers 

 with different concentrations of nectar begin to bloom at the same 

 time, and are discovered by scout bees belonging to the same hive, 

 the bees discovering the flowers with the best nectar dance most 

 vigorously, and attract the largest number of worker bees for the best 

 flowers. That is the role of the sense of taste in the language of bees. 



But there is a word in the bee language not yet mentioned. The 

 bees have a scent organ on their abdomen located in a pocket of skin 

 containing glands. Usually the scent organ is closed and cannot give 

 out scent. But bees which have discovered a good feeding-place put 

 out the scent organ on returning to the place, and thus they give out 

 a scent that is very attractive to other bees. It can be concluded 

 from special experiments that the scent of this scent organ is much 

 more intensive for bees than for us. It tells the questing bees with 

 special emphasis where the good place is, as soon as they are in the 

 vicinity, and attracts them from quite a considerable distance. 



It may be that some of my statements seem to be a little hypo- 

 thetical. But all the results I have mentioned have been obtained 

 from long series of experiments. To deal more thoroughly with the 

 experimental methods here is impossible. 



To sum up: If a new kind of flower begins to bloom in a certain 

 region, it is discovered after some time by scout bees. The first 

 bees find the flowers full of nectar. They find plenty of food and 

 after homing they report the discovery by dancing, and in addition 

 indicate the species of flowers by means of the scent adhering to 

 their bodies. The bees communicated with fly out and look for the 

 flowers with this specific scent. Flying out in all directions, they find 

 out in the shortest time the plant which has commenced to bloom, 

 wherever it is in the entire flying district. Where there are already 

 collecting bees, the scent of the scent organ makes it easier for fresh 



