144 . ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



after whicli, out of thirty-two visits, twenty-two were to 

 the orange and yellow. Another colour to which a similar 

 preference is shown is blue. 



As regards scent, Sir John found that on putting a few 

 drops of eau de Cologne at the entrance of a beehive, 

 ' immediately a number (about 15) came out to see what 

 was the matter.' Other scents had a similar effect ; but 

 on repetition several times the bees became accustomed 

 to the scent, and no longer came out. 



As in ants, so in bees. Sir John's experiments failed to 

 yield any evidence of a sense of hearing. But in this connec- 

 tion we must not forget the well-known fact, first observed 

 by Huber, that the queen bee will answer by a certain sound 

 the peculiar piping of a pupa queen ; and again, by making 

 a certain cry or humming noise, will strike consternation 

 suddenly on all the bees in the hive — ^these remaining for 

 a long time motionless as if stupefied. 



Sense of Direction, 



The following are Sir John Lubbock's observations 

 upon this subject in the case of bees and wasps : — 



Every one has heard of a ' bee-line.' It would be no less 

 correct to speak of a wasp-line. On August 6 I marked a 

 wasp, the nest of which was round the corner of the house, so 

 that her direct way home was not out at the window by which 

 she had entered, but in the opposite direction, across the room 

 to a window which was closed. I watched her for some hours, 

 during which time she constantly went to the wrong window, 

 and lost much time in buzzing about at it. For ten consecutive 

 days this wasp paid numerous visits, coming in at the open 

 window, and always .trying, though always unsuccessfully, to 

 return to her nest in the ' wasp-line ' of the closed window — 

 buzzing about that window for hours at a time, though 

 eventually on finding it closed she returned and went round 

 through the open window by which she always entered. 



This observation shows how strong must be the instinct 

 in a wasp to take the shortest way home, and how much 

 the insect depends upon its sense of direction in so doing. 

 It also shows how long a time it requires to learn by indi- 

 vidual experience the properties of a previously unknown 



