THE AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



67 



stance very disagreeable to insects, and pre- 

 sented it to the thorax, the stigmatfe, the abdo- 

 men, the eyes, and the proboscis, without the 

 bee betraying the sliglitest symptom of uneasy 

 feeling. It was otherwise when he held it to 

 the mouth; it started, left the honey by which 

 it had been enticed, and was on the point of 

 taking flight when the pencil was withdraAvn. 

 He next tilled the mouth with flour paste, when 

 the insect seemed to have lost the sense of smell 

 altogether. Honey did not attract it, nor did 

 offensive odors, even the formidable turpentine, 

 annoy it. The organ of smell, tlierefore, ap- 

 pears to reside in tlie mouth, or in the parts de- 

 pending on it. To those who may wish to re- 

 peat this experiment, we would recommend 

 that they previously deprive the bee under ope- 

 ration of a portion of its sting, which may be 

 easily done by forcing the insect to extend it, 

 and then snipping it ofl'with a pair of scissors; 

 the excision will not vitally injure the insect, 

 and will give confidence to the experimenter. 



We cannot conclude this disquisition on the 

 sense of smell in bees, without gratifying our 

 readers by extracting from Dr. Be van's work, 

 a remarkable instance of its acuteness and deli- 

 cacy; and which was communicated to him by 

 the son of the gentleman who was the subject 

 of it. It is generally believed that bees have 

 an antipathy to particular individuals, arising, 

 probably, from some peculiar odor about them, 

 which, though not discernable by or unpleasant 

 to man, may be so to this sensitive insect: "M. 

 de liofer, Aulic Counsellor to the Grand Duke 

 of Baden, had for years been a proprietor and 

 admirer of bees, and rivaled Wildman in the 

 power he posscsed of approaching them with 

 impunity. He would at any time search for the 

 queen, and taking hold of her gently, place her 

 on his hand. But he was unfortunately attacked 

 with a violent fever, and long confined by it. 

 On his recovery he attempted to resume his fa- 

 vorite amusement among the bees, returning to 

 them with all the confidence and pleasure which 

 he had felt on former occasions; when, to his 

 great surprise and disappointment, he discov- 

 ered that he was no longer in possession of their 

 fiivor; and that instead of being received by 

 them as an old friend, he was treated as a tres- 

 passer; nor Avas he ever able after this period 

 to perform any operation with them, or to ap- 

 proach within their precincts, without exciting 

 their anger. Here then it is pretty evident, 

 that some change had taken place in the Coun- 

 sellor's secretions in consequence of the fever, 

 which though not noticeable by his friends, was 

 offensive to the olfactory nerves of the bees. — 

 Ditnbar. 



Color in Insects. 



Waldridge, a German writer, says he saw 

 forty large bee hives filled with houcj', to the 

 amount of seventy pounds each, in one fort- 

 night, by being placed near a large field of buck- 

 wheat in fluwcr. 



On the subject of color, many vague and crude 

 ideas have prevailed, and much that appears 

 very nonsensical has been written. Latreille is 

 the least theoretical Avriter on the subject, and 

 he, for some reason not clearly explained, ex- 

 cludes .(/rct^H from the list of colors. Without, 

 hoAveyer, criticising the vicAvs of others, Ave 

 will, in a fcAV Avords, explain our OAvn. 



Black in all its varieties, appears to proceed 

 from the absence of color, and can be produccnl 

 by the exclusion of light. Diflerent hues of 

 black may be produced by throwing shade on 

 other colors, h. deep shade of broAvn on blue 

 Avill produce an indigo; on red Avill produce 

 a broAvn, &c. Thus blacks and broAvns origi- 

 nate in nature by a deficiency of light. 



White is the presence of light, and the com- 

 pleteness and perfection of color; other colors 

 are subsidiary to it, and component parts requi- 

 site to its perfect developement. 



The component parts of white are six — red, 

 orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. If these 

 colors be arranged around a circle, it will occur 

 at once to persons unaccpiainted Avith optics 

 that this location of colors is in accordance with 

 nature: 



Violet, 



Blue, 



Red, 



^vT^^rE, 



Green. 



OnANGE, 



Telloav, 



Water is an article essentially necessary, in 

 Inrge quantities, for bees during the brooding 

 season. Thej'- cannot subsist and nourish their 

 young if they cannot have access to water. 



In tracing these colors round the circle it 

 will be evident that there is no gap. Neither 

 of the six color.s could be omitted, or its place 

 occupied by another. It Aviil also be noticed 

 that red, yellow, and blue are of greater integ- 

 rity than orange, green, and violet, which are in- 

 debted for their characters to the color on either 

 side of them. Further, it will at once be ad- 

 mitted that a white is equally related to all; it 

 partakes of the characters of all, and is com- 

 posed of all, besides having a perfection and 

 superiority peculiar to itself. 



The folloAving tests of the peculiar variations 

 of these colors, as developed on the surface of 

 insects, will be found useful in reading techni- 

 cal descriptions. 



Blacks — piceous ov piceus, the color of pitch; 

 atrous or ater, the color of liquid ink; it is also 

 occasionally Avritten aterrimus; nigrous or ni- 

 gcr, the color of lampblack; fuliginous or fuligi- 

 nonus, the color of soot; blackish or nigricans^ 

 is an impure black; smoky or fumous, as if 

 tinged with smoke. 



BnoAVNS — fuscous or fuscuD, the color of the 

 otter; bay or badius, and (.'hestnut or castu- 

 ncus, are nearly identical; they both imply a 

 color like that of seasoned mahof^any, or a bay 



