!66 



THE HUMBLE-BEE 



X 



This was clearly demonstrated by the following in- 

 cident. One evening I was examining a nest in my 

 humble-bee house with the aid of a candle, it being 

 too dark for me to see even to read, when the 

 queen escaped. Instead of flying to the candle 

 she made for the open door. Yet it is plain that 



Fig. 33. How to hold a humble-bee. 

 Grasped in this way by the wings she cannot sting. 



the flame of a candle is faintly perceived because if 

 there is no other source of light a frightened bee 

 will fly to it like a moth, although it is only by 

 exciting her greatly that she can be induced to take 

 wing. 



Several instances, not only of the good eyesight 

 of humble-bees but of the intelligence with which 



