12 ON FLOWERS AND INSECTS. [LECT. 



autumn; in summer they make overtime, and work 

 on till late in the evening. 



In order then to test the power of bees to appreciate 

 color, I placed some honey on a slip of glass, and put 

 the glass on colored paper. For instance, I put some 

 honey in this manner on a piece of blue paper, and when 

 a bee had made several journeys, and thus become 

 accustomed to the blue color, I placed some more honey 

 in the same manner on orange paper about a foot away. 

 Then during one of the absences of the bee I transposed 

 the two colors, leaving the honey itself in the same place 

 as before. The bee returned as usual to the place where 

 she had been accustomed to find the honey ; but though 

 it was still there, she did not alight, but paused for a 

 moment, and then dashed straight away to the blue 

 paper. No one who saw my bee at that moment could 

 have had the slightest doubt of her power of distinguish- 

 ing blue from orange. 



Again, having accustomed a bee to come to honey on 

 blue paper, I ranged in a row other supplies of honey 

 on glass slips placed over paper of other colors, yellow, 

 orange, red, green, black, and white. Then I continu- 

 ally transposed the colored paper, leaving the honey on 

 the same spots ; but the bee always flew to the blue 

 paper, wherever it might be. Bees appear fortunately 

 to prefer the same colors as we do. On the contrary, 

 flowers of a livid, yellow, or fleshy color are most 

 attractive to flies ; and moreover while bees are at- 

 tracted by odours which are also agreeable to us, flies, 

 as might naturally be expected from the habits of 

 their larvae, prefer some which to us seem anything 

 but pleasant. 



