AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



587 



Intellect aM Instinct of Bees. 



M. T.. HOLBEOOK, M. D. 



My first acquaintance with bees began 

 when I was a little boy. The old log 

 school-house where 1 learned to read 

 and to spell was on the edge of a wood. 

 The cleared ground near the wood was 

 in those days well grown over with 

 thistles, and when they were in full 

 blossom large numbers of bumble-bees 

 collected on them to gather honey, 

 which the greater length of their pro- 

 boscises than that of the honey-bee 

 enabled them to do. 



I took my first lesson in entomology, 

 as far as I can remember, in the study 

 of these bees. One day a number of the 

 school boys indulged in a common sport 

 of seizing bees by both wings and hold- 

 ing them without being stung. 



Naturally I tried the experiment, but 

 secured only one Wing, which left the 

 bee free to turn over and thrust its sting 

 deep into my finger. It was my first 

 experience of this kind, and the pain 

 was very intense ; but not caring to be 

 laughed at by the other boys, I took not 

 the slightest notice of it. 



I have since thought that the control 

 over the feelings which children often 

 exhibit on account of their pride is a 

 valuable discipline preparatory to the 

 greater self-control required in mature 

 years. Be this as it may, I have ever 

 since had a profound respect for every 

 kind of bee, and cultivated their friend- 

 ship whenever I have had an oppor- 

 tunity. 



I have never been able to examine 

 their nervous system as a phrenologist 

 does the brain of man, but under the 

 microscope I have convinced myself 

 that it has a very fine one, that its brain 

 cells or ganglions are of the same kind 

 as those of man, and that in proportion 

 to its weight it has as much nervous 

 tissue, if not more, as human beings. 



I propose to mention some of their 

 intellectual characteristics. In the first 

 place, the bee has an excellent memory, 

 especially of locality. You may carry 

 them miles away from home, and the 

 greater part will find their way bade 

 This experiment has been tried on the 

 bumble-bee. A considerable number 

 were taken three miles from their home, 

 and all came back ; then another lot 

 were taken six miles, and most of them 

 returned, after which they were taken 

 nine miles away, and even then a few 

 found their way to their nests ; and it is 

 more than probable that those which 



failed to do so may not have had physi- 

 cal strength for so long a flight, or pos- 

 sibly they were young bees without 

 experience. 



This memory of places must be of the 

 highest usefulness to the bee, obliged as 

 it is to go far from home to gather suffi- 

 cient food for its needs, and the faculty 

 has without doubt been developed by 

 culture, and transmitted from one gen- 

 eration to another for a great period of 

 time. 



The memory of the bee for the partic- 

 ular plants which furnish it with honey 

 is also very highly developed. I have 

 observed how quickly they recognize 

 those plants which serve their purpose 

 from those which will not, and how 

 little time they waste in trying to gather 

 honey where none is to be found. 



The bee has a very excellent knowl- 

 edge of dietetics so far as the subject 

 can be of service to it; a knowledge, 

 which could only have been acquired by 

 a high order of intellect, or an intelli- 

 gence quick to take advantage of any 

 experience which had accidentally 

 proved serviceable during any period of 

 its existence. 



This is shown by its conduct In the 

 employment of food for different pur- 

 poses. A hive of bees is composed of 

 three kinds— drones, or males, the 

 queen-bee, and female workers, which 

 are all undeveloped queens. It is by the 

 application of their knowledge of the 

 effects of food on development that they 

 are able to produce workers or queens 

 as they wish. A worker is the result of 

 insufficient nourishment. The larvae are 

 fed on food which only develops workers. 

 If during the first eight days of the life 

 of a larva, it is fed on royal 

 reproductive organs and 

 come fully developed, 

 becomes a queen. 



Royal food is a highly nitrogenous 

 diet composed of the pollen of flowers. 

 The insufficient nutrition which develops 

 workers, but not the reproductive in- 

 stincts, is less highly nitrogenous— indeed 

 is largely carbonaceous. 



In case the queen dies, or is lost, the 

 workers at once set about providing for 

 a new queen by feeding a larva at the 

 proper time with this highly nitrogenous 



I think this compels us to believe that 

 they do it consciously, and that the 

 colony of bees also rear workers con- 

 sciously, for it is only by an abundance 

 of workers that the colony can exist. 

 How can they know, except by highly 

 developed intellect and inherited experi- 



food, the 

 instincts be- 

 and the larva 



