THE SENSES OP BEES. 4~ 



them." The communication made by these means 

 _s quickly disseminated, and in a few minutes the 

 whole colony is in a state of agitation and distress. 

 Of the antennae being employed as instruments of 

 recognition, the same naturalist gives a striking in- 

 stance, which our limits prohibit us from giving in 

 his own words ; suffice it to say here, that by means 

 of a wire grating, wide enough only to admit the cir- 

 culation of air, inserted in the middle of the hive, he 

 separated the queen from the half of her subjects, 

 and ascertained that neither sight, hearing, nor smell 

 made the near neighbourhood of their sovereign known 

 to them, for they proceeded to rear a new queen from 

 the larva of a worker, as if the other were irrecoverably 

 lost. But when he substituted a grating wide enough 

 to allow the transmission of the antennae, all went on 

 as usual, for the bees soon ascertained by these organs 

 the existence of their queen. 



Another important use which the bees make of this 

 organ of touch deserves notice. " Let us follow their 

 operations by moonshine, when they keep watch at 

 the opening of the hive to prevent the intrusion of 

 moths then on the wing. It is curious to observe how 

 artfully the moth knows to profit to the disadvantage 

 of the bees which require much light for seeing objects, 

 and the precautions taken by the latter in reconnoitering 

 and expelling so dangerous an enemy. Like vigilant 

 sentinels, they patrole around their habitations with 

 their antennae stretched out straight before them, or 

 turning to right and left ; woe to the moth if it can- 

 not escape their contact; it tries to glide along bet ween 



