RECENT INVESTIGATIONS. 195 



Lovell has also repeated the experiments of Mueller with colored co- 

 rollas, making use of the yellow rays of sunflower, the blue perianth of 

 larkspur, and the red corolla of balsam. A bee accustomed to the sun- 

 flower yellow made 9 visits to it and one to blue, and in other experiments 

 with these slides the bees discriminated readily between the colors. When 

 bees trained to red were given a choice between a red slide and a plain 

 one, they made 46 visits to the one and but 8 to the other. To determine 

 the effect of habit in this case, a blue slide was substituted for the plain one; 

 the first visits were 8 to red and 2 to blue, but at the end this had changed 

 to 3 for red and 7 for blue, the respective totals being 22 and 24. A number 

 of instances are cited from the experience of practical apiarists to show 

 that bees distinguish colors readily, and it is stated that "it may well be 

 doubted whether they would ever have been capable of making long journeys 

 afield for nectar and pollen, if this visual power had been wanting." 



When a bee trained to blue was given a choice between seven or eight 

 colors, it remained constant to blue or purple for several visits, but its 

 fidelity to them was weakened by repeated transpositions, until similar- 

 ity of form, honey, and odor prevailed over the difference in color and 

 visits were then made indiscriminately. In nature a bee usually finds 

 in one flower only a part of a load of nectar and is compelled to go to other 

 blossoms; if these are alike in form they will then be visited regardless 

 of differences in color, especially when a number of bees are present. In 

 conclusion, Lovell states that bees easily distinguish colors whether arti- 

 ficial or natural and are more strongly attracted by a colored than a plain 

 slide. Bees trained to a certain color tend to return to it habitually, but they 

 quickly learn to ignore the color differences when it is to their advantage. 



The pollination of green flowers. — Lovell (1912:83) discusses the re- 

 lation of insects to green flowers and points out that the phylogeny of 

 such flowers as developed by Bessey (1897, 1907) strongly supports the 

 view that they are not well adapted to pollination by insects. He ad- 

 mits that bees will collect sweet liquids from green or dull-colored sur- 

 faces, after they have once been found, but states that this does not prove 

 that bright colors are not an advantage to flowers. When a bouquet of 

 Gerardia purpurea was placed in front of a hive, it received little attention, 

 but when two clusters, one normal and the other decorollate, were provided 

 with honey, the former received many visits and the latter none, until 

 later, when the bees discovered the honey on them. In order to vary the 

 conditions under which the objects were exposed, bees were trained to 

 visit a small dull-gray board bearing a small quantity of honey, raised 

 on a support 2 feet high. A slide prepared from the blue perianth of a 

 larkspur and provided with honey was placed on the grass 3 feet from the 

 support and honey was also placed on a dandelion leaf 5 feet away and 3 

 feet from the support. As soon as the honey on the feeder was exhausted, 

 the bees began to circle in the air. In a few minutes 1 bee had found the 

 blue slide and in 25 minutes 5 bees found it, though none had discovered 

 the honey on the leaf. Two days later the experiment was repeated, 3 

 bees finding the blue slide within 2 minutes after the honey had disappeared 

 from the feeder. In 7 minutes there were 8 bees on the slide and none on 

 the green leaf, 1 bee finding the latter 5 minutes later. Two poles 4.5 feet 



