236 THE BEE NATION. 



sunny, in company with her husband, the drones, and it lasts 

 for two or three hours. The fertilising act itself is performed 

 high up in the air, and always in the air : never, as with 

 ants, in or on the dwelling. It has, therefore, not yet been 

 accurately observed, and it seems as though a feeling of 

 modesty prevented the queen from performing this act before 

 the eyes of the crowd. Its results, on the other hand, are 

 easily recognised by the condition of the sexual organs, in 

 which, as a rule, the intromittent organ of the male with 

 the adjacent sexual parts remain. 



The working bees left behind know very well that the 

 whole future existence of the colony hangs on the success of 

 the wedding-flight, and the uncertainty makes them so 

 restless that during this time no one can approach 'the hive 

 without being attacked or stung. Perhaps they are afraid 

 also, that any stranger approaching may place some difficulty 

 in the way of the happy return of their queen. They there- 

 fore dance continually round the hive and its vicinity in 

 narrow and wide circles, always keeping their heads turned 

 towards the hive. They cannot well have any object? in this 

 save to impress as deeply as possible on their memory the 

 whole aspect of the place, its appearance, scent, etc., so that 

 they may be able to find it again with certainty on the now 

 imminent flights. Perhaps also they wish to afford the 

 returning queen a mark or guide for refinding the hive. 

 Even when a number of single or of many hives together 

 are on a bee-stand, every single bee is able to at once find 

 its own hive, after they have impressed on their memory by 

 carefully walking over the board, flying round the hive, etc., 

 the appearance, smell, form of the mouth, and so on. Other 

 insects also do the same. Bates several times saw the sand- 

 wasps living by the Amazon (Bernbex ciliata, Monednla 

 signata), which make holes for their young in the sandy 

 banks, go round the place several times before flying away, 

 in order to imprint the locality deeply on their memory so as 

 to find it again. Their ability of refinding the place seems 

 the more wonderful, as the hole itself becomes so filled up 

 with the shifting of the sand that the human eye can see 

 absolutely nothing there ; the fact, therefore, speaks very 

 highly for the wonderful acuteness of sense of these insects. 

 We can observe that when our own native wasps are leaving 

 a place which they wish to revisit, as for instance a half- 



