THE FLIGHT ACTIVITIES OF THE HONEYBEE 35 



normally. The hesitancy mentioned above was greater when there 

 were fewer bees on the alighting board, as, for example, before or 

 after the main flight of the day or on dull, overcast days. On leav- 

 ing the tunnel some of the bees would stop to fan their wings, and 

 many others might simply clean their antennae or perform some 

 minor movement and then fly away, as if everything were normal. 



At the beginning of the experiment the binding posts on the in- 

 struments were exposed. Bees in walking over these could short- 

 circuit the current, getting an electric shock to which they reacted 

 in an interesting manner. They did not cause a record to be made 

 by the cyclometers when this occurred. The excitement of the first 

 bee to get a shock soon drew others to the scene of the phenomenon. 

 Some would approach the binding posts with apparent caution and 

 on getting a shock would retreat and then return to repeat the op- 

 eration again, and again, until finally a few superinfuriated ones went 

 to war against, this invisible enemy by attempting to deposit their 

 darts in the brass work. The stings usually found a final lodging 

 place in the rubber insulation on the wires. These efforts being of 

 no avail, other bees proceeded to propolize the instruments, thus per- 

 haps utilizing for the first time the insulating value of propolis. 

 This abnormal behavior was discontinued when the binding posts 

 were covered with cotton wool. 



The light penetrating the outgoing gates through the glass win- 

 dows attracted the bees so strongly that two bees sometimes attempted 

 to enter the tunnel at one time, thus retarding or preventing its drop 

 and their egress from the hive. By darkening the glass, thus re- 

 ducing the intensity of the light, a satisfactory action was brought 

 about, which increased the former capacity of the instruments by 

 about four times. This behavior was entirely contrary to all ex- 

 pectations, for in the design of the instruments an attempt was made 

 to get the maximum of light to enter the outgoing tunnels. In actual 

 practice, to promote a correct action of the instruments, this light 

 was almost completely shut out by the black paint placed on the glass. 

 It is interesting to note that the bees used the tunnels with no ap- 

 parent hesitation, although the light intensity was far below normal. 



During the hot weather following the main honey flow a large 

 number of bees, instead of returning to the entrance apertures as 

 normally, collected on the platform of the scales under the hive. 

 This occurred especially about midday and in the early afternoon 

 and they would remain in this place all night, apparently held there 

 by the hive odor which emanated from the ventilator in the bottom 

 of the hive about 14 inches directly above them. With the exception 

 of the above incidents, all of which were eventually avoided, at no 

 time, so far as could be determined, did these instruments produce 

 any abnormality in the behavior of the colony. 



The highest rate at which the instruments ever worked was in one 

 quarter of an hour preceding a storm, when each ingoing gate ad- 

 mitted in these 15 consecutive minutes an average of 14 bees a minute. 



CONCLUSIONS 



A satisfactory device for counting bees as they journey to and from 

 the hive would open up a new field of apicultural research. In addi- 

 tion to throwing light on many interesting questions, its most prac- 



