DR. MtJLLER'S OBJECTIONS. 197 



A recent number of Kosmos contains a very courte- 

 ous and complimentary notice of these observations by 

 Dr. H. Miiller, which, coming from so high an authority, 

 is especially gratifying. Dr. Miiller, however, criticizes 

 some of the above-mentioned experiments, and remarks 

 that, in order to make the test absolutely correct, the 

 seven glasses should have been arranged in every 

 possible order, and that this would give no less than 

 5040 combinations. I did not, however, suppose that 

 I bad attained to mathematical accuracy, or shown the 

 exact degree of preference ; all I claimed to show was 

 the existence, and order, of preference, and I think 

 that, as in my experiments the position of the colors 

 was continually being changed, the result in this respect 

 would have been substantially the same. 



Dr. Miiller also observes that when a bee has been 

 accustomed to come to one place for honey, she returns 

 to it, and will tend to alight there whatever the color 

 may be ; and he shows, by the record of his own 

 experiences, that this has a considerable influence. 

 This is so. Of course, however, it applies mainly to 

 bees which had been used for some time, and were 

 accustomed to a particular spot. I was fully alive to 

 this tendency of the bees, and neutralized it to a 

 considerable extent, partly by frequently changing the 

 bee, and partly by moving the glasses. While, how- 

 ever, I admit that it is a factor which has to be taken 

 into consideration, I do not see that it affords any 

 argument against my conclusions. The tendency would 

 be to weaken the effect of preference for any particular 

 color, and to equalize the visits to all the glasses. This 

 tendency on the part of the bees was, as my experiments 

 show, overborne by the effect produced upon them 



