20 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



arrives at the conclusion, that Bees do not communicate 

 intelligence of discovered food one to the other, and that 

 they do not readily discover honey. Probably Sir John's 

 experiments were conducted in summer, when Bees are 

 perfectly indifferent to exposed stores. I think the same 

 experiments carried on in Autumn, after all natural 

 supplies had ceased, would have shown the experiment- 

 alist the desperate eagerness of the Bees for plunder ; 

 that they have means of communicating intelligence of 

 a discovery I have little doubt. In my Apiary I have 

 seen a bottle of syrup, placed on the top of a hive con- 

 taining Ligurian Bees, surrounded and emptied in a few 

 hours, by an only stock of Black Bees standing in the 

 midst of ten hives of Ligurians, scarcely one of the 

 latter ever being seen in the crowd ; how else than the 

 power of communication can we account for the Black 

 Bees from the solitary hive taking possession, unless 

 they had been led thither by the first discoverers, their 

 compatriots ? 



That Bees can see of course does not admit of doubt. 

 When a Bee leaves her hive for the first time, she flies 

 backwards and forwards several times with her head* 

 turned towards it — evidently taking its bearings- for 

 recognition ; and then, however far she flies, returns 

 straight home ; now if before her return the appearance 

 of the hive be altered, she becomes evidently confused, 

 but eventually enters ; if the hive be moved biit a few 

 inches, she gives the same indication of doubt, and will, 

 if possible, alight on the old spot several times before 

 she discovers her home ; the acuteness of her sight does 

 not, as we should think would be the case, direct her at 

 once to the hive she has been accustomed to, but I 

 should rather say it is instinct that guides her to the 

 old spot. Sir John Lubbock, who has experimented 



