264 WHIRLING BEES. 



a roundabout route of over five miles ; the other fifteen 

 marked blue he sent straight to the rendezvous, about 

 one and a half miles from home. All the thirty were 

 let out at noon ; by five in the evening seven " rose " 

 bees and six "blue" bees had returned, so that the 

 long detour had made no appreciable difference. 

 These experiments seem to M. Fabre conclusive. ** La 

 demonstration," he says, " est suffisante. Ni les mouve- 

 ments enchevetres d'une rotation comme je I'ai decrite; ni 

 I'obstacle de collines a franchir et de bois a traverser ; ni 

 les embuches d'une voie qui s'avance, retrograde et revient 

 par un ample circuit, ne peuvent troubler les Chali- 

 codomes depayses et les empecher de revenir au nid." * 

 I am not ashamed to confess that, charmed by M. 

 Fabre's enthusiasm, dazzled by his eloquence and 

 ingenuity, I was at first disposed to adopt this view. 

 Calmer consideration, however, led me to doubt, and 

 though M. Fabre's observations are most ingenious, 

 and are very amusingly described, they do not carry 

 conviction to my mind. There are two points specially 

 to be considered — 



1. The direction taken by the bees when released. 



2. The success of the bees in making good their 

 return home. 



As regards the first point, it will be observed that the 

 successful bees were in the following proportion, viz. : — 



3 out of 10 



4 „ 10 

 17 „ 49 



7 „ 20 

 9 „ 40 

 7 „ 15 



Or altogether 47 „ 144 



* J. H. Fabre, " Nouveaiix Souvenirs Entomologiques." 



