SECTION II.-BEES AND WASPS. 



I. 



I. ORIGINALLY I had intended to make my 

 experiments principally with bees, but soon found 

 that ants were on the whole more suitable for my 

 purpose. 



In the first place, ants are much less excitable, 

 they are less liable to accidents, and from the ab- 

 sence of wings are more easy to keep under con- 

 tinuous observation. 



Still, I have made a certain number of obser- 

 vations with bees, some of which may be worth 

 recording here. 



As already mentioned, the current statements 

 with reference to the language of social insects 

 depend much on the fact that when one of them, 

 either by accident or in the course of its rambles, 

 has discovered a stock of food, in a very short time 

 many others arrive to profit by the discovery. This, 

 however, does not necessarily imply any power of 

 describing localities. If the bees or ants merely 

 follow their more fortunate comrade, the matter is 

 comparatively simple ; if, on the contrary, others 

 are sent, the case becomes very different. 



