122 OBSERVATION OF BEES. 



come to some honey, which he put upon a small 

 piece of glass, placed upon some coloured paper. 

 After the bee, which he marked with paint, had be- 

 come well accustomed to go backwards and for- 

 wards, carrying some of the honey to its hive — and 

 while it was away — he arranged near the glass first 

 one and then several other pieces of glass, each with 

 honey, but each with a different-coloured piece of 

 paper underneath. Thus, when the bee came back 

 from time to time, there were pieces of glass with 

 honey looking different to its first original piece — 

 perhaps blue, or red, or yellow. But, although all 

 might be tempting, the bee knew its own colour, and 

 went to its old place. 



But now further to test it, — while it was away — the 

 paper under its own piece of glass was removed, and 

 made to exchange place with another bit of paper ; 

 so that in the old place, although glass and honey 

 were the same, they appeared of a different colour. 

 And now what did the bee do ? Soon it came back, 

 and was going straight to its old place, but saw at 

 once that things were altered ; and so stopped and 

 hovered for a moment, but soon caught sight of its 

 own colour, and went straight to it. In other words, 

 colour was, to a certain extent, its guide to the food. 

 This experiment, after it had been tried again and 

 again, and in various ways, was conclusive that bees 

 do know something of colour ; and therefore can 

 distinguish one flower from another by colour. 



By a series of further experiments he found out 

 that if bees have any preference to one colour more 

 than another, it is to blue. 



