PHYSIOLOGY. 291 



THE LANGUAGE OF BEES. 



All creatures that live in society seem to possess 

 the power of communicating intelligence to one 

 another. "Brutes," says MR. KNIGHT, "have lan- 

 guage to express sentiments of love, of fear, and of 

 anger ; yet they seem unable to transmit any im- 

 pression they have received from external objects. 

 But the language of bees is more extensive : if not 

 a language of ideas, it is something very similar." 

 This faculty has been very remarkably illustrated 

 by HUBER in his Treatise on Ants ; and the bee 

 exhibits many strong evidences of it. HUBER 

 clearly shows that the communications of Ants are 

 made through the medium of their antennae ; he 

 has also proved very satisfactorily, that these 

 organs serve the same purpose in bees. 



Being desirous of ascertaining whether when 

 a queen was removed from a hive, (a circumstance 

 which is communicated to the whole family within 

 an hour,) they discovered their loss by means of 

 smell, touch, or any unknown sense ; he accord- 

 ingly divided a hive into two portions, by means 

 of a grating which admitted a free circulation of 

 air, but denied a passage to the bees, or even to 

 their antennae : the consequence was, that the bees 

 contained in the half that had no queen, after they 

 had recovered from the agitation * always pro- 



* This agitation usually continues two or three hours, 

 sometimes (though but seldom) four or five, never longer. 

 o 2 



