i82 BEES "SENSE" A CAVITY 



would prove beyond all question of doubt 

 that bees are reasoning creatures possessed of 

 minds on a level with human intelligence. For, 

 in this event, the bees must certainly commu- 

 nicate the results of their investigations, and 

 at the time of swarming the said scouts would 

 have to lead the way to the previously chosen 

 spot, always supposing that the bees' sight is 

 such as to enable them to keep the leaders in 

 view. Without individual inteUigence, such 

 a performance must be impossible. 



As, naturally, we are apt to regard animal 

 manifestations from the human standpoint, 

 it is little wonder that we can be deceived 

 by appearances. This " scouting party," for 

 instance, may have quite a different interpre- 

 tation put upon it. The scouts, we will say, 

 are observed busy on the roof of a house. At 

 first they are seen to rove up and down the 

 sloping slates or tiles, evidently in search of an 

 aperture which may or may not exist ; but in 

 any case they have some trouble in finding it, 

 which is due to the bee's very short range of 

 vision. It is not, however, the hole in the roof 

 which first attracts the bees' attention, but 

 the fact that under the roof there is a hollow 

 space. How do they know it ? 



As the water-finder discovers the presence 

 of an underground spring, and the ichneumon- 



