128 SIR JOHN LUBBUCK ON BEES AND AVASPS. 



May 20. Between 6 and 7 I marked a bee and transferred her to 

 another hive. 



May 21. "Watched from 7.30 to 8.9 in the morning without 

 seeing her. At half past six went down again, directly saw 

 and fed her. She was then in her new hive ; but a few minutes 

 after I observed her on the lighting-stage of her old hive ; so I again 

 fed her, and when she left my hand she returned to the new hive. 



May 22. 8 o'clock. She was back in her old hive. 



May 23. About 12.30 she was again in the new hive. 



As far as my experience goes, bees which have stung and lost 

 their sting always die ; not, however, immediately. On August 

 25 a bee which had come several times to my honey was startled, 

 flew to one of the windows, and had evidently lost her way. 

 "While I was putting her back, she stung me, and lost her sting in 

 doing so. I put her in through the postern, and for twenty minutes 

 she remained on the landing-stage ; she then went into the hive, 

 and after an hour returned to the honey. After this, however, I 

 did not see her any more. 



As regards the affection of bees for one another, it is no doubt 

 true that when they have got any honey on them, they are always 

 licked clean by the others ; but I am satisfied that this is for 

 the sake of the honey rather than of the bee. On the 27th of 

 September, for instance, I tried with two bees : one had been 

 drowned, the other was smeared with honey. The latter was 

 soon licked clean ; of the former they took no notice whatever. 

 I have, moreover, repeatedly placed dead bees by honey on which 

 live ones were feeding, but the latter never took the slightest 

 notice of the corpses. 



Dead bees are indeed usually carried out of the hive ; but if 

 one is placed on the alighting-stage, the others seem to take no 

 notice of it, though it is soon pushed off by the movements 

 of the others. I have even seen the bees sucking the juices of 

 a dead pupa. 



Light. — Though bees do not come out at night, they seem to 

 be much affected by light. One evening I lit a small covered 

 lamp to go down to the cellar. A bee which was out came to it, 

 and, flying round and round like a moth, followed me the whole 

 of the way there. 



Colour. — I have also made a number of experiments with refer- 

 ence to colours, on which, however, I will not now dwell. I will 

 only say that it seems clear that bees can distinguish colours. For 



