AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



585 



Queries and Replies. 



Reason or Instinct in Bees. 



Query 791. — I desire to know the 

 views of the prominent bee-keepers of 

 America on this question: "Do bees 

 reason ?" — Mass. 



No. — G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Not that I know of. — C. C. Miller. 



I do not think it can properly be said 

 that bees reason. — R. L. Taylor. 



It appears from some of their actions, 

 that they do. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



We think they do ; and proportionally 

 much more than many human beings. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



I think not ; but some of their actions 

 would almost lead one to think that they 

 did. — C. H. DiBBERN. 



No. If they did the last few thousand 

 years would have improved their prac- 

 tices. — Eugene Secor. 



There is something akin to reason in 

 many of their manoeuvers. Yet, like Dr. 

 Miller, "I don't know."— J. M. Ham- 



BAUGH. 



Who can tell where to draw the line 

 between instinct and reason ? I believe 

 that every animal that thinks, reasons. 

 An argument on this question would fill 

 pages. — James Heddon. 



Bees may recognize their keeper from 

 strangers, and may get so accustomed 

 to persons passing near them as to sel- 

 dom or never sting them. This is about 

 as near to the reasoning faculty as they 

 appear to get.— G. L. Tinker. 



Sometimes it is very difficult to draw 

 the line of demarkation between reason 

 and instinct. They do not always work 

 by invariable law. Yet the same in- 

 stinct that prompted " Samson's bees " 

 in the lion's carcass, prompts to action 

 the bees of to-day. — J. P. H. Brown. 



That depends somewhat on what is 

 meant by reason. They do reasonable 

 as well as unreasonable things. Some 

 of their operations seem very much like 

 results of reason. But as no man has 

 had experience of a bee's mental pro- 

 cesses, if it has such processes, how can 

 we tell? — M. Mahin. 



Why not write to " the prominent bee- 

 k'pepers *" and ask thpm. Tf it is instinct 



that leads bees to do as they do, it is a 

 pity that a great many people do not 

 have instinct to guide them ; and if it is 

 reason that guides people, it is a good 

 thing for the bees not to be directed by 

 such an erratic concern. — A. B. Mason. 



I think they do in a way. They use 

 bee reason. I go up to the hive quietly, 

 they are amiable. Do they not reason 

 thus: "His intentions are friendly. 

 ' Let us have peace.' " I go to the hive 

 rudely, they resent it. Do they not rea- 

 son : "An enemy has come. We will 

 drive him hence?" At least they do, or 

 act very much as we do when we act 

 from reason. — A. J. Cook. 



Well ! Well ! Is not this rather get- 

 ting into the realms of fancy ? Why 

 not ask, does a horse, cow or dog rea- 

 son ? The difference between instinct 

 and reason, in some cases, seems slight, 

 but instinct always and invariably does 

 the same thing in the same way, and 

 that way is the same as from the be- 

 ginning, while reason guides us to the 

 path of invention, and we improve. The 

 bee stores honey, or builds cells after the 

 old rule. We guide and direct, so that 

 the honey is so stored as is most advan- 

 tageous to us. Discussion here is of no 

 value, as the matter is wholly one of 

 surmise ; and really whether it is reason 

 or instinct that causes the bees to build 

 their cells in just that form that uses 

 the least material, to fill the greatest 

 space, is of no great consequence, es- 

 pecially when, after all is done, it is 

 only a matter of surmise. — J. E. Pond. 



O, no ! Bees are governed by instinct. 

 How often have you seen bees thumping 

 th£ir brainless heads against a pane of 

 glass when a little "reasoning" would 

 teach them that the glass was harder 

 than their heads. Bees are endowed by 

 Nature with a high order of instinct, 

 but they do not "reason." Glass and 

 other human inventions are not natural 

 to bees, and, therefore, their instinct 

 fails them, and they have no reasoning 

 powers to help them out of the dilemma. 

 Bees never, iiever "send out scouts," as 

 some superstitious old fogies blindly 

 assert and believe. They find their 

 homes by the echo produced by the 

 sound of their wings from any hollow 

 place when passing it. Just like bumble- 

 bees will pounce into an open mouthed 

 jug, when set near their nest. How 

 often I have seen a swarm of bees pass 

 good homes and enter a worthless dilapi- 

 dated hole because the sound of their 

 wings acted in the one case and not in 

 the othpr. Tf bees reasoned they would 



