INSECT VISITORS 143 



We are indebted to Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock) for the discovery that 

 insects are able to distinguish colours. He accustomed (Kolbe, ' Einfiihrung,' p. 479) 

 bees to search for honey on paper of a particular colour. He put a honey-bee 

 to some honey on green paper, and after it had made the journey to the hive 

 twelve times, substituted a red paper for the green paper, and placed the latter 

 at some distance. The bee returned, however, to the honey upon the green paper. 

 He then carefully brought back the green paper with the bee upon it to the former 

 situation, and replaced it when the insect had flown away again by a yellow paper, 

 again removing the green paper. The bee this time once more returned to the 

 green paper. The same thing happened when he replaced the green paper by 

 orange-red, white, and blue papers: the bee returning each time to the green 

 one. The experiment was repeated on other bees with the same result. 



According to Hermann Muller's numerous (2,686) experiments (Kosmos, xi, 

 1882, pp. 414-25) bright yellow is less agreeable to the honey-bee than any other 

 colour. Yellowish-white and white are visited at least as readily, or even more 

 readily than some shades of purple, but less readily than blue and violet. The 

 blue of bee flowers is preferred to the red, or is liked equally, but, on the other 

 hand, red in bee flowers is preferred to yellow. Next to blue, violet takes 

 first place. 



Were one to attempt the construction of a scale of bee-flower colours, the 

 following would represent their order: bright yellow, white, red, violet, and blue, 

 in special shades, for some reds act like certain blues, e. g. rose-red like sky-blue and 

 beautiful purple like cornflower-blue. 



Glaring floral colours, especially brilliant yellow, do not appeal to the honey- 

 bee, and leaf-green is less agreeable to it than the hues of bee flowers. 



Hermann Miiller deduced the following results with regard to colour preference 

 in the honey-bee from often repeated experiments carried out at a later date. 

 For each of these he used only two glass plates provided with honey, and with 

 floral leaves of particular colours placed beneath them. 



1. Whenever a glaring colour (e.g. the yellow of Ranunculus, the orange 

 of Calendula, the fiery-red of Tropaeolum, or the scarlet of Papaver Rhoeas, 

 Canna, and so forth) lay beside a bee-flower colour for choice, the latter was 

 much more frequently visited than the former. 



2. Of all bee-flower colours bright yellow is least agreeable to the honey-bee. 



3. Pale yellow and white are visited by the honey-bee at least as readily, 

 or even more readily, than some shades of purple, but less readily than blue and 

 violet. 



4. Blue is either preferred to bee-flower red by the honey-bee, or is visited 

 equally, according to the shades which are contrasted. 



5. Pure saturated blue attracts the honey-bee even more than violet does. 



6. Violet has a stronger influence on the honey-bee than any other floral 

 colour contrasted with it, blue excepted. 



The following series, therefore, gives the colours which are appreciated by 

 the honey-bee in the order of preference saturated blue, violet, blue, red, white 

 and pale yellow, pure green, glaring red, and glaring yellow. 



