104 THE HONEY-BEE. 



any thoroughly sweet liquid confirms the idea that 

 they taste very readily. 



Smell. Probably of all the senses of bees none 

 is so acute as that of the perception of odours. Not 

 only do they distinguish the citizens of their own 

 hive from those of other communities ; not only do 

 they discriminate between the fragrance of various 

 flowers ; not only can they detect the aroma of honey 

 concealed from their sight, though not from their 

 olfactory nerves, but they show a marked antipathy 

 to certain human individuals, which can only be 

 accounted for by supposing that from these persons 

 proceeds an effluvium disagreeable to the bees, though 

 not perceptible by, or unpleasant to, man. 



A remarkable anecdote in confirmation of this well- 

 known fact is given by Bevan, on the authority of 

 M. de Hofer, Councillor of State to the Grand Duke 

 of Baden. This gentleman's father had for years 

 kept bees, and had devoted much personal attention 

 to them. He had, indeed, attained such familiarity 

 with them, and such skill in their manipulation, that 

 he could, without fear of being stung, search for and 

 find the queen, and take her in his fingers. Unfor- 

 tunately, he fell ill with a severe fever, which kept 

 him for a long time a prisoner to his house. After 

 his convalescence he visited his bees, returning to 

 them with his old confidence and pleasure. Greatly 

 to his surprise and dismay, he found their feelings 

 towards him entirely changed. They would no 

 longer allow him to approach the hives, much less 

 to perform any of his former manipulations ; and 

 that this was not the effect of a change of the popu- 

 lation, through the natural perishing of the workers, 



