1908 GI.KANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 223 



ARE BEES REFLEX MACHINES ? 



Experimental Contribution to the Natural History [of the Honey-bee by 

 H. V. Buttel-Reepen, Ph. D. Translated by Mary H. Geisler. 



PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. "'"-'''"^rrTZfJ^ZIZ 

 For the English edition some additional references have been made to the important lit- 

 erature which has appeared on the subject since the publications of the German editions. On 

 the whole, our knowledge has not materially changed since then. Modern animal psychology 

 tends to discredit Bethe's reflex theory. Although the contradiction of this theory was taken 

 as a basis for this paper, nevertheless it is concerned chiefly with the statement of experimen- 

 tal contributions to the natural history of the honey-bee; these contributions discuss the life 

 and instincts of the community of bees, and incorporate some of the results gained by prac- 

 tical bee-keeping. 



May this little paper gain friends on the other side of the ocean. 



May, I906. Br. H. v. Buttel-Reepen, Oldenburg, i. Gr., Germany. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following obsi .ations are submitted after fifteen years' study, and are further to 

 be used for a General Biology of the Honey-bee; but this larger work can not be completed 

 until later, because of the heavy demands on my time at present. It seems desirable to 

 publish this much of the investigation now, however, and I wish specially to consider the 

 most vigorously debated qLiestion of the day, that of the psychical faculties of social insects, 

 because of Bethe's ' interesting study of this question with regard to ants and bees. I shall 

 take up bees only, as there are many scientific observations on ants * and as especially the 

 great myrmicologists Aug. Forel " and Wasmann ^ have already overthrown many of Bethe's 

 conclusions. 



That I do not accept Wasmann's definition of Instinct will be apparent from what 

 follows. I refer to the discussion of instincts in my "Stammes-geschichtlichen Entstehung 

 der Bienenstaates, Leipzig, 1903, as well as to Forel's excellent paper, "Gehirn und Seele," 

 5. u. 6. Aufi., Bonn, 1899, pp. 34 and following. 



As early as 1872, Dohrn * recognized that it would benefit science if more biological * 

 investigation were carried on, and the results made useful practically. It seems to me that 



* Albrecht Bethe, Durfen wir Ameisen und Bienen psychische Qualitaten ruschreibcn? Arch. f. di^ 

 ges. Physiologic, Bd. 70, 1898. (Also appears as a separate with other paging.) 



* Wasmann, Die psychischen Fahigkeiten der Ameisen. Stuttgart, Erwin Negele, 1899. 



• Forel, Fourmis de la Suisse. Nouveaux memoires de la societe Helvetique. Zurich, 1874. Expe- 

 riences et remarques critiques sur les sensations des Insectes. Rivista di Scienze Biologiche. Como, 

 1900, 1901. The Psychical Faculties of Ants and some Other Insects. Smithsonian Report for 1903, 

 pp. 587-599. Washington, 1904, etc. 



Lubbock. Ants, Bees, and Wasps. International Scientific Series. New York, 1883; German trans- 

 lation, Leipzig, 1883. 



Janet, fitudes sur les Fourmis, les Guepes, et les Abeilles. Limoges, 1897, etc. 



Emery. Die Entstehung und Ausbildung des Arbeiterstandes bei den Ameisen, Uebcr Entstehung 

 des Soziallebens bei Hymenopteren. Biol. Centralbl., Bd. XIV., 1894. Le Polymorphisme des Fourmis 

 et i' alimentaire. Compt. rend. III. Congr. internat. d. Zool. Leyden, 1896, etc. 



Wm. Morton Wheeler. The Compound and Mixed Nests of American Ants. American Naturalist, 

 Vol. XXXV., 1901. Some Remarks on Temporary Social Parasitism and the Phylogeny of Slavery 

 among Ants. Biolog. Centralbl., 1905. Ethological Observations on an American Ant. Journal fiir 

 Psychologic und Neurologic. Leipzig, 1903, etc. K. Escherich. Die Ameise. Braunschweig, 1906. 



Bethe, 1. c. 



•A. Dohrn. Der gegenwartige Stand der Zoologie, etc.; XXX. Bd. Preuss. Jahrb., 1872. 



• The German word Biologic refers particularly to the study of life-history and habits rather than to 

 «li phases of animal and plant life — the sense in which it is used in English. — E. F. P. 



