20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 65 



almost ceased eating. They wholly refused to eat candy contain- 

 ing" potassium cyanide but freely ate the mixture containing' potas- 

 sium ferrocyanide, and this salt apparently did not affect them. A 

 detailed account of these experiments is not necessary, because the 

 results are similar to those when the sodium salts were used. 



Table VII is a tabulated summary of the results obtained by 

 feeding bees with foods containing potassium salts. The figures in 

 the third to ninth columns represent the average per cent or number 

 of bees eating a particular food at any one count. 



It is evident from the above tabulated results that bees prefer pure 

 cane-sugar candy to the mixtures containing potassium salts, and that 

 they also show preferences between foods containing these salts. 



8. Summary of Preceding Experiments 



The preceding results clearly demonstrate that bees have likes and 

 dislikes in regard to foods, and it seems that their faculty to dis- 

 criminate between foods is more highly developed than ours, because 

 they can distinguish differences between the foods fed to them better 

 than the writer. The candies containing strychnine and quinine best 

 illustrate this point. Equal amounts of these two bitter salts were 

 used ; but when the writer tasted the candies containing them, little or 

 no difference in bitterness could be detected, although, judging from 

 the number of bees that ate them when the two foods were fed alone, 

 the bees distinguished a marked difference between them. 



As a general rule, foods agreeable to us are also agreeable to 

 bees, but there are a few . marked exceptions. All foods scented 

 with peppermint are pleasant to us, but repellent to bees. The writer 

 does not care for candy containing potassium ferrocyanide, but bees 

 are rather fond of it, and it does not seem harmful to them. 



In regard to the repellents used, the few experiments performed 

 do not warrant definite deductions, but the results indicate that lime- 

 sulphur and kerosene are the strongest of the repellents used, while 

 formic acid repels the least and carbolic acid the most among the 

 acids. That the acids as a rule are not better repellents may pos- 

 sibly be explained by the fact that bees are more or less accustomed 

 to the odors from the acids found in their foods and various 

 secretions. 



The results obtained demonstrate that bees like honey best of all 

 foods and that they are able to distinguish marked differences be- 

 tween various kinds of honeys. Substitutes for honey as food for 

 bees may be better than honey in a few instances, but these investi- 



