THE HONEY-BEE. 55 



purpose/' The same author gives an anecdote of 

 another insect, which goes to prove that the antennse 

 are indeed the organs of this sense : " A little moth 

 was reposing on my window ; I made a quiet^ not 

 loud, but distinct noise ; the nearest antennse imme- 

 diately moved towards me; I repeated the noise at 

 least a dozen times, and it was followed every time 

 by the same motion of that organ, till at length the 

 insect being alarmed, became agitated and violent in 

 its motions. In this instance it could not be touch) 

 since the antennae were not applied to a surface, but 

 directed towards the quarters from which the sound 

 came, as if to listen/' 



Smelling. Of all their senses, that of smell in Bees 

 is the most acute. Attracted by the fragrance of the 

 flowers, we see them winging their eager way to a 

 very considerable distance, in a straight undeviating 

 course, and in the very teeth of a strong wind,* in 

 search of those plants which promise an abundant 

 * It has been said that Bees ballast themselves with sand 

 or gravel when in danger of being blown away by the wind. 

 The notion was first entertained by Aristotle, and repeated by 

 Virgil, to whose poetic imagination such a trait in the habits 

 of his favourite insects would be highly grateful : 



Saepe lapillos 



Ut cymbae instabiles, fluctu jactante saburram 

 Tollunt : his sese per inania nubila librant. 



Pliny has also lent his aid to the currency of this notion ; and 

 it is found in Dissertations on the Natural History of Bees, 

 as a surprising instance of bee-instinct, notwithstanding the 

 corrections of Swammerdam and Reaumur, both of whom have 

 shewn that the Mason-Bee has been mistaken for the Honei* 

 Bee, the former of whom is often seen hastening through feht 

 air, loaded with sand and gravel, the materials of its nest. 



