^98 



September, 191S 



American l^ee Jonrnal 



The automobile is the thing for Eu- 

 rope. It is a pleasure to ride in it. 



C. P. D.\liANT. 



Gergy, July 27, 1903. 



Coinpetitiou 



In Europe as in the United States, 

 we meet bee-keepers who are afraid 

 of the competition of others, wlio con- 

 sider men in the same line as ene- 

 mies. We see dealers in supplies 

 who thinlv they must fight other deal- 

 ers, who consider as a traitor the 

 man who buys imported goods. It 

 seems strange to us. Of course these 

 ideas are not the rule, but we caused 

 great astonishment in some quarters 

 by visiting manufacturers and dealers 

 in comb foundation in a friendly way. 

 Yet is it not best to be on good terms 

 with everybody? There is room for 

 all under the heavens and life is too 

 short to spend any part of it in strife 

 and ill-will to anyone. There is 

 much to gain and nothing to lose in 

 joining hands with others in the same 

 line. 



The world is i)rogressiug and na- 

 tions fraternizing. American Jingo- 

 ism and French Chauvinism have had 

 their day. Progress condemned them. 



The Sense of Direction 



How do bees find their way ? The 

 Journal of Agriculture, in its Jan. 8 

 number, has this to say, quoting the 

 Scientific .•\merican : 



"The directive sense which is pos- 

 sessed by bees is the object of researches 

 made by Mr. Gaston Bonnier, of Paris, 

 and he seems to prove that bees pos- 

 sess a special sense like that of carrier 

 pigeons. Bees can fly for two miles 

 and are then able to return after gather- 

 ing their supply of honey. Langstroth 

 and others suppose that vision comes 

 into play and that bees can see great 

 distances, and can also note objects on 

 the way so as to find the patch. Others, 

 with Dadant, suppose that the bees are 

 guided by the sense of smell, and that 

 they can smell flowers at 1)4 miles." 



The author goes on to explain that 

 Bonnier made experiments by carrying 

 bees in a closed bo.x a distance of one 

 or two miles, and that they found their 

 hive when released. He claims that 

 they even can do so when their hives 

 are covered, so that si^'hl is >iot essen- 

 tial. 



This matter was discussed in con- 

 tinental bee journals two or three 

 years ago. With all due regard for 

 Mr. Bonnier, whose deep erudition we 

 cannot doubt, for he is the author of a 

 treatise on bees and several works on 

 botany, nectaries, etc., we cannot agree 

 upon the assertion that bees have no 



need of eyes to guide themselves to 

 their home. We hold that the experi- 

 ment made to close their eyes when re- 

 leasing them a couple of miles from 

 home was at fault in some particular. 



That bees in normal condition should 

 find their home when released at a dis- 

 tance of two miles has nothing won- 

 derful in it. The wonder would be that 

 they should fail to do so. 



Everybody knows, and Mr. Bonnier 

 himself states in his book, that the bees 

 at their first flight "do not rapidly leave 

 the hive, but circle about with their 

 head generally turned towards the en- 

 trance." They thus recognize the spot. 

 If they do this where we can readily 

 see their actions, it is reasonable to 

 suppose that they do the same thing 

 after they have raised themselves out 

 of our sight. They do exactly what we 

 do when we go in a strange place. We 

 take note of the different points by 

 which we may recognize the spot. 



As bees are known to go two miles 

 and more away from home (some lead- 

 ing apiarists even assert they may go 8 

 miles), and as their sole occupation at 

 that age is to fly about in search of 

 honey, pollen, propolis or water, we 

 must expect them to become as famil- 

 iar with the country around as we are 

 with our own vicinity. Should they 

 be confined and carried away to be re- 

 leased even a mile farther than they 

 have ever gone, it is quite probable 

 that after rising in the air, they will be 

 able to recognize some features of the 

 country in the proper direction. 



To throw a doubt on the necessity 

 of the wonderful organs which they 

 possess, to say that their eyes are not 

 capable of sight at long distances, and 

 to suggest some imaginary additional 

 sense, is in our opinion absurd. Even 

 the so-called sense of direction of car- 

 rier-pigeons who have t-.vo eyes, like 

 us, would probably vanish from our 

 fancy, if we could accompany them in 

 aeroplanes. I dare say that the avia- 

 tors, after flying about a certain sec- 

 tion of country for days, learn to rec- 

 ognize points of direction which would 

 be entirely above the perception of the 

 earth-confined mortals. 



If we give a minute's thought to the 

 eyes of bees, we recognize their impor- 

 tance in the bee's life work. Two of 

 these eyes, the most conspicuous or- 

 gans of the head surface, are composed 

 of facets, which are turned to every 

 direction of the compass. Cheshire, 

 whose microscopic studies have not 

 been disputed, gives the number of 

 facets in the compound eye of a worker 

 at 6300, or 12,600 eyes in a single insect. 

 The studies of Mr. Watson, a photo- 



graph taken of some 240 of these 

 facets, mentioned on page 8, January 

 number, show that in every facet there 

 is a reproduction of the things before it, 

 just as in my eye you can see your pic- 

 ture when I look at you. To deny that 

 these eyes can see far away, and that 

 the bees are many times better fitted 

 than we are for piercing sight, is to 

 deny the evidence. 



But, as bees are in need of both day- 

 light sight and sight in darkness, with 

 quick changes from one to the other 

 as they go to and from the hive, they 

 are provided with three extra eyes, 

 small, round ocelli which evidently 

 serve a different purpose from the com- 

 pound eyes" function. 



Whether we believe in absolute de- 

 sign in Nature, or in evolution and the 

 survival of the fittest, or both, as the 

 explanation of the wonderful structures 

 existing in the world, we must ac- 

 knowledge that nothing could be bet- 

 ter fitted than the eyes of bees for its 

 requirements. 



If any one still insists that there is a 

 sense of direction, and that the eyes of 

 bees cannot see either far or distinctly 

 in the air, let me ask them how the 

 drones see the queen on the wing, in 

 the immense spacer The drones have 

 still more facets to their compound eye 

 than the workers. Cheshire has count- 

 ed approximately 13,U00 on each side 

 of the head of a drone, or over 26,000 

 organs of vision in the head of a single 

 insect. Is this not a proof that their 

 eyes are necessary in the search for 

 the queen, at the time of mating ? 



It may be said that the queen emits a 

 peculiar smell. This is practically 

 proven. But if we are to doubt that 

 bees can smell a field of flowers a mile 

 away, we would certainly also doubt 

 the possibility of a drone smelling the 

 queen a hundred feet away. 



If the so-called sense of direction 

 really existed, independent of the eyes, 

 why should the bees be unable to find 

 their home at greater distances than 

 they usually travel ? Yet, we all know, 

 who have transported bees, that; when 

 carried away 5 or 6 miles, very few if 

 any ever return. The instinct of birds, 

 which induces them to go South in the 

 fall and return in the spring, is an en- 

 tirely different problem. The warm 

 sun in the South and the cold northern 

 winds are the evident prompters of 

 that instinct. 



The question of smell and its influ- 

 ence upon the actions of the beef 

 should be discussed separately. 



Prof. Sanders Contradifts 



Freedom of the press is a good thing, 

 but Prof. J. G. Sanders, of the Univer- 



