84 



March, 1916. 



American ^^e -Journal 



key, etc., and judging from these ex- 

 periments "we are certainly safe in 

 saying that the bees avoided the foods 

 containing repellents on account of 

 the odors emitted from these sub- 

 stances." 



The results obtained demonstrate 

 honey best of all foods, and that they 

 are able to distinguish marked differ- 

 ences between various kinds of hon- 

 eys. Substitutes for honey as food 

 may be better in a few instances, but 

 these investigations indicate that no 

 substitute can be had which will be 

 liked by bees as well as the best pure 

 honey. 



In order that bees may show prefer- 

 ences between foods emitting weak 

 odors, it is first necessary for them to 

 eat a little of the foods, which would 

 seem to indicate that bees may have a 

 true sense of taste. Yet Dr. Mclndoo 

 prefers to consider it merely as a phase 

 of the olfactory sense, and he calls this 

 faculty olfactory-gustatory. No or- 

 gans have been found that are anatomi- 

 cally adapted for receiving gustatory 

 stimuli, and it is Dr. Mclndoo's opin- 

 ion that bees do not have a sense of 

 taste. 



It would be nothing strange to hear 

 a practical beekeeper say, " It doesn't 

 seem reasonable to think bees don't 

 taste. We know there are many things 

 that have a distinct taste, and yet have 

 no smell; sugar, for instance. Quinine 

 has no color, yet no one would call it 

 tasteless. Now if bees have no taste 

 how can they decide about things that 

 have no smell ? How can they tell 

 sugar from quinine? Even Dr. Mc- 

 lndoo's own statement contradicts his 

 opinion. He says that " when bees are 

 given foods with weak odors they first 

 eat a little to decide whether they like 

 the food or not." Wliat is that but 

 tasting ? 



Dr. Mclndoo's reply to this is in- 

 teresting. He says : 



" As Parker has already said for ver- 

 tebrates, and as we well know for our- 

 selves, it is almost impossible to deter- 

 mine whether we taste or smell certain 

 substances when we eat them. To us 

 sometimes a food, before being eaten, 

 emits only a faint odor or no odor at 

 all ; but when we eat it, we perceive a 

 pronounced odor. In such a case the 

 odorous particles are not given ofT un- 

 til the food is taken into the mouth 

 and mi.xed with saliva. 



"The same principle is certainly ap- 

 plicable when bees eat candies which 

 contain undesirable substances emit- 

 ting extremely weak odors. As quickly 

 as the saliva has dissolved the candy 

 and has had time to effect a chemical or 

 physical change, the odorous particles 

 are given off, and since the olfactory 

 pores on the mouth-parts are nearest 

 the food, they are the first ones to re- 

 ceive the odorous particles. For this 



reason the so-called gustatory sense 

 in insects is only a phase of the olfac- 

 tory sense." 



Dr. Mclndoo has slightly modified 

 his opinions concerning the olfactory 

 organs of the bee. In his paper on 

 "The Olfactory Sense of the Honey- 

 bee," in the Journal of Experimental 

 Zoology, kindly sent to us by him and 

 mentioned in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal in June, 1914, Dr. Mclndoo doubted 

 the existence of olfactory organs in 

 the antennae, where practically all 

 scientists before him located them. In 

 that number of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, page 199, 1911, he wrote : " It seems 

 that the antennae have nothing to do 

 with the sense of smell." We were 

 loath to accept this view, as were most 

 of our practical beekeepers and as was 

 Dr. Bruennich, of Zug, who wrote, in a 

 review of the Mclndoo study, page 382, 

 November, 1914, the following state- 

 ment as his own conclusion : 



" The sense for fine odors, for dis- 

 covering honey sources, perceiving 

 foreign individuals, sexual odors, etc., 

 /s situated in the antennae." 



In the present exhaustive work on 

 the sense organs of the mouth. Dr. Mc- 

 lndoo says, page 28 : " Olfactory pores 

 were found on the mandibles, maxilla, 

 labial palpi, tongue, side of head, in the 

 buccal cavity, on the cervical plate and 

 on the bases of the scapes of the an- 

 tennae." (Italics ours ) This makes us 

 feel a great deal better on the subject, 

 for we have been unable to fully ac- 

 cept the statements advanced locating 

 the organs of smell mainly on the legs, 

 on the wings and on the sting. How- 

 ever scientific and careful a study may 

 be, there are so many minute organs to 

 consider, that no positive deduction 

 may be made, unless it apparently fully 

 agrees with the testimonials of practice. 

 The practical beekeeper has long ago 

 noticed that the bee uses its antenna 

 most actively to recognize the queen, 

 or the bees of its own hive from stran- 

 gers, to scent honey, to care for the 

 brood, to visit the flowers, in fact in 

 every motion that it makes. We would 

 welcome, as a confirmation of our con- 

 victions, a statement that the most sen- 

 sitive, though perhaps also the least 

 visible olfactory organs of a bee had 

 been discovered at the very tip of each 

 antenna. 



Di. Mclndoo has promised us some 

 articles, explanatory of his studies, to 

 be published shortly. They will be wel- 

 comed by our readers in both hemis- 

 pheres. 



accept new things. Here is a very 

 neat pamphlet issued by the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station of the Uni- 

 versity of Missouri, intended to show 

 the farmer how to become a practical 

 beekeeper. It would be difficult to put 

 more information in 40 pages than is 

 contained in this Bulletin No. 138. It 

 is written by E. E. Tyler and L. Hase- 

 man, and contains some 20 cuts, most 

 of which are original, and may be had 

 by addressing the Experiment Station 

 at Columbia, Mo. 



We would suggest that in the next 

 edition they add a chapter on how to 

 recognize and cure foulbrood. It is 

 necessary knowledge these days. 



Farm Beekeepiug^— Missouri 



We are told that the Missouri farmer 

 "wants to be shown " before he will 



Fertile Workers Laying in Drone 

 Cells 



Why do fertile workers lay eggs in 

 drone-cells by preference? Once and 

 only once, I saw a laying worker in 

 what I supposed the act of laying in a 

 worker-cell. Her wings were pushed 

 up about her ears in such an uncom- 

 fortable manner that I have always 

 supposed she preferred the larger cell 

 because more comfortable, which no- 

 tion is strengthened by the fact that 

 she prefers the still larger queen-cell 

 to a drone-cell. c. c. m. 



Sixth Annual Apiculture Short Course 

 in Oittario — This Short Course was 

 held at the Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Guelph, Jan. 11 to 22. 



Fifty-nine lectures and demonstra- 

 tions were given, covering the different 

 phases of beekeeping. Typewritten 

 copies of each lecture outline were dis- 

 tributed to the class so the main points 

 could be followed closely and carried 

 home for future reference. As far as 

 possible the lectures were illustrated 

 with stereopticon views and the actual 

 objects under discussion. Members of 

 the class were also given laboratory 

 practice in hive construction, and a 

 visit was made to the apiary of a suc- 

 cessful beekeeper in the neighborhood 

 of the college. 



In conducting this course, the Pro- 

 vincial Apiarist, Mr. Morley Pettit, 

 was assisted by F. W. L. Sladen, Api- 

 culturist. Central Experimental Farm, 

 Ottawa ; F. E. Millen, B. S. A., Lecturer 

 in Apiculture and State Inspector of 

 Apiaries for Michigan; F. W. Krouse, 

 President of the Ontario Beekeepers' 

 Association; James Armstrong, Sel- 

 kirk, Vice-President of the Ontario 

 Beekeepers' Association ; also some of 

 the apiary inspectors of Ontario. Lec- 

 tures on allied subjects were given by 

 other members of the college staff. Mr. 

 Frank C. Pellett, State .Apiarist of Iowa, 

 paid the class a visit and lectured on 

 beekeeping conditions in his State. 



It is proposed to hold a summer 

 school for beekeepers at the Ontario 

 Agricultural College some time in June 

 when bees are active and apiary prac- 

 tice will be possible. Persons inter- 

 ested should write at once for particu- 

 lars to Morley Pettit, Provincial Api- 

 arist, Guelph, Ontario. 



