242 PRINCIPLES AND CONCLUSIONS. 



ily to flowers without it when these occupied the same place, although 

 they were unable to find honeyed leaves. Lovell noted visits to showy 

 nectarless flowers and was able to increase these by the addition of sugar 

 sirup with odor, thus negativing Plateau's assumption. In the case of 

 petunias, honey-bees continued to come for several days after the honey 

 was gone, while with geranium they not only behaved similarly, but also 

 went to a bed of Portulaca, which is regularly ignored, and inspected the 

 flowers repeatedly. 



Thus, it is evident that the positive response to dull flowers with nectar 

 and the negative one to showy nectarless blossoms are largely matters of 

 experience and habit, in the case of adult insects. The nectar or pollen 

 reward being equal, bright flowers are visited more than green ones, and, 

 conversely, the size and color being equal or approximately so, flowers are 

 visited in proportion to the amount and accessibility of their nectar, the 

 nectarless ones, no matter how showy, receiving no visits after the bees 

 have determined the absence of nectar. Here, as elsewhere, it is desirable 

 to work with flowers of each sort that are entirely unknown to a particular 

 insect community, and with newly hatched bees, which are necessarily 

 without experience. 



Color preference. — The view that bees do not discriminate between 

 colors has been advanced by Bonnier, Bulman, Plateau, Forel, MacLeod, 

 and others. Bulman stated that "it matters not one iota to a bee whether 

 the flower is blue, red, pink, yellow, white or green; so long as there is honey, 

 that is sufficient," a statement approved by both Plateau and Forel. They 

 have failed to reckon with intelligence and habit, however, as well as with 

 the fact that odor and form doubtless enable the bee to recognize that the 

 difference in color is immaterial to him. Darwin appreciated the significance 

 of this when he said, "humble and hive bees are good botanists, for they 

 know that varieties may differ widely in the color of their flowers and yet 

 belong to the same species" (1876:416), and Lovell in particular has con- 

 firmed the view of Lubbock and Mueller that bees easily distinguish colors 

 and go to some in preference to others. Mueller (1883:275) pointed out 

 that it is necessary to keep in mind certain characteristics of the honey-bee 

 in connection with its color preferences, if one is to avoid hasty conclu- 

 sions. Chief among these are their shyness and lack of cleverness in unac- 

 customed surroundings. However, their shyness and desire for freedom 

 are overruled by the all-powerful impulse for honey. The shyness and lack 

 of skill of bees in unaccustomed places are in marked contrast to their prompt 

 decisions and shrewdness at flowers. On flowers to which they are not 

 especially adapted, various individuals often behave very differently, and 

 they also show great individual differences in their color preferences. 



Bonnier decided that bees exhibited no choice between red, yellow, 

 green and white, but his results were regarded as inconclusive by Lubbock, 

 since his squares were largely covered by the bees, and since he omitted blue 

 and used no uncolored checks. Lubbock made most extensive experiments, 

 which disclosed a decided choice for blue, with white and yellow usually 

 next. To avoid artificial colors, Mueller employed detached petals, but 

 obtained similar results. While there were marked individual differences, 

 there were but few cases in which one or more individuals reversed 



