SIE JOHN LUBBOCK ON BEES AND WASPS. 137 



about the house ; my honey was regularly visited by the two 

 marked wasps ; but during the whole day only five others came to 

 it. 



September 22. Again only only one strange wasp came up to 

 one o'clock. 



September 27. Only one strange wasp came. 



October 2 and 3. These days were cold ; a few marked bees 

 and wasps came to my honey, but no strangers. 



October 4. Two strangers. 



October 6. Only one stranger. 



On these days the honey was watched almost without intermis- 

 sion the whole day, and was more or less regularly visited by the 

 marked bees and wasps. 



These and other observations of the same tendency seem to 

 show that, even if wasps liave the power of informing one another 

 when they discover a store of good food, at any rate they do not 

 habitually do so. 



On the whole, wasps seem to me more clever in finding 

 their way than bees. I tried wasps with the glass mentioned on 

 p. 124 ; but they had no difficulty in finding their way out. 



Sounds. — My wasj)s, though courageous, were always en the 

 alert, and easily startled. It was, for instance, much more difficult 

 to paint them than the bees ; nevertheless, though I tried them 

 with a set of tuning-forks covering three octaves, with a shrill 

 whistle, a pipe, a violin, and my own voice, making in each case 

 the loudest and shrillest sounds in my power, I could see no 

 symptoms in any case that they were conscious of the noise. 



I made also a number of experiments with reference to colour, 

 which have satisfied me that wasps, like bees, are capable of 

 distinguishing colours. I am anxious, however, to repeat and 

 extend these observations, and shall then hope to have the oppor- 

 tunity of laying them before the Society. 



The following fact struck me as rather remarkable. The 

 wasp already mentioned at the foot of p. 135 one day smeared 

 her wings with syrup, so that she could not fly. "When this 

 happened to a bee, it was only necessary to carry her to the 

 alighting-board, when she was soon cleaned by her comrades. 

 But I did not know where this wasp's nest was, and therefore 

 could not pursue a similar course with her. At first, tlien, 



