flees and Wasps. 6$ 



beginning with a below the ledger line. I also 

 tried with my voice, shouting, &c., close to the head 

 of a bee ; but, in spite of my utmost efforts, the 

 bees took no notice. I repeated these experiments 

 at night, when the bees were quiet ; but no noise 

 that I could make seemed to disturb them in the 

 least. 



4. The consideration of the causes which have led 

 to the structure and colouring of flowers is one of 

 the most fascinating parts of natural history. Most 

 botanists are now agreed that insects, and especially 

 bees, have played a very important part in the 

 development of flowers. While in many plants, 

 almost invariably with inconspicuous blossoms, the 

 pollen is carried from flower to flower by the wind, 

 in the case of almost all large and brightly coloured 

 flowers this is effected by the agency of insects. In 

 such flowers the colours, scent, and honey serve to 

 attract insects, while the size and form are arranged 

 in such a manner that the insects fertilise them with 

 pollen brought from another plant. 



5. There could, therefore, be little doubt that bees 

 possess a sense of colour. Nevertheless, I thought 

 it would be desirable to prove this, if possible, by 

 actual experiment, which had not yet been done. 

 Accordingly, on July 12, I brought a bee to some 

 honey which I had placed on blue paper, and about 

 3 feet off I placed a similar quantity of honey on 

 orange paper. After she had returned twice I trans- 

 posed the papers ; but she returned \o, the honey on 



F 



