The Nervous System and the Senses 



173 



If the queen is removed from a colony and a strange queen 

 is placed among the bees in a cage, after a day or so she has, 

 according to the current belief, acquired the hive odor and 

 she will be accepted if 

 released. If a strange 

 bee attempts to enter a 

 hive, it is usually recog- 

 nized at once and re- 

 pelled, this being con- 

 sidered as due to the 

 possession of a different 

 hive odor, but if a field 

 bee returns to its own 

 hive, it is admitted, be- 

 cause it has the hive 

 odor. These responses 

 may vary according to 

 the honey-flow and other 

 environmental factors. 

 In these cases and many 

 others, there is evidence 

 of the importance of re- 

 sponses to odors in the 

 behavior of bees, so that 

 there is justification for 

 believing that the sense 

 of smell is of primary 

 importance. It must be 

 admitted that the belief 

 in this importance is 

 based chiefly on the ac- 

 cumulated experiences of 

 beekeepers rather than 

 on careful experiments, which are sorely needed in an examina- 

 tion of these data in order to eliminate complicating environ- 

 mental factors. Additional evidences of odor influences are 

 given in the discussion of swarming. 



FIG. 91. Antennal organs: A, antennal 

 joint of drone, showing a few pore plates 

 (PorPl) and a group of ForeJ's flasks 

 (FFl) ; B, pore plates and Forel's flasks 

 from drone's antenna ; C, pore plates 

 (PorPl), pegs (Pg) and tactile hairs 

 (THr) from worker's antenna ; D, struc- 

 ture of pore plate and tactile hair ; 

 E, structure of peg ; F, structure of 

 tactile hair ; G, structure of Forel's flask ; 

 H, structure of pit peg. 



