CH. II.] THE HIVE BEE. 45 



The honey-rattel, a quadruped, is equally saga- 

 cious with this biped honey-seeker. Near sunset, 

 the rattel will sit and hold one of his paws over his 

 eyes to get a distinct view of the bees which, at this 

 hour, he knows are bound to their nest, and thither 

 he follows. 



The antennae are supposed to be the organ of 

 touch. Certain it is that these organs alone enable 

 the bee to work in the darkness of the hive. 



The sense of taste is, according to Huber, not 

 very refined, for it matters little to what neighbour- 

 hood the bee goes to gather honey, or from what 

 flower. Hence the quality of honey varies in dif- 

 ferent hives, and in some it is said even to be poi- 

 sonous. 



The sense of smell, no doubt, is also acute. Some 

 honey being placed behind a shutter by Huber, 

 so that it could not be seen, in a quarter of an hour 

 four bees, a butterfly, and some house-flies, dis- 

 covered it. Huber placed honey in boxes with 

 small cord valves ; and put them two hundred yards 

 from the apiary. In a quarter of an hour, some 

 bees had pushed against the valves, and entered. 

 Here the emanation from the honey was almost pent 

 up within the boxes, and the sense of sight could 

 not have assisted them. 



Huber thinks that the sense of hearing is very 

 obtuse in bees. He says, that thunder, or the report 

 of a gun, has little or no effect upon them. It 

 would, therefore, seem that the popular notion, that 

 they are affected by the sound of a tin kettle, is not 

 well founded; however, it cannot be denied that 

 sounds are made by the flapping of the wings and 

 other movements of the body which are distinctly 

 heard and understood by bees. 



Instances have been stated in which bees recol- 

 lected their queen. Another may be adduced which 

 appears to prove that the faculty of recollection em- 

 iraced a considerable lapse of time. " In autumn,'* 



