The Life of the Bee 



will almost invariably succeed in finding 

 their way back ? 



Do obstacles offer no barrier to their 

 sight; do they guide themselves by cer- 

 tain indications and landmarks; or do they 

 possess that peculiar, imperfectly under- 

 stood sense that we ascribe to the swal- 

 lows and pigeons, for instance, and term 

 the " sense of direction " ? The experi- 

 ments of J. H. Fabre, of Lubbock, and, 

 above all, of Romanes (Nature, 29 Oct. 

 1886) seem to establish that it is not this 

 strange instinct that guides them. I have, 

 on the other hand, more than once no- 

 ticed that they appear to pay no attention 

 to the colour or form of the hive. They 

 are attracted rather by the ordinary ap- 

 pearance of the platform on which their 

 home reposes, by the position of the 

 entrance, and of the alighting-board. But 

 this even is merely subsidiary ; were the 



front of the hive to be altered from top 



240 



