1 26 SIE JOHN LrBBOCK ON BEES AND WASPS. 



Some days, indeed, the bees did not seem to care about honey. 

 Thus, September 19, I placed eleven bees one by one on some 

 honey not far from the hive ; they all fed weU and returned 

 quietly to the hive, but not one came back to the honey. 



Indeed, under such circumstances, though the bees almost 

 invariably fed with every appearance of enjoyment, comparatively 

 few returned to the honey, even when it was not above 20 or 

 30 yards from the hive. 



As regards time, the examples given above may be taken as fair 

 illustrations ; and on the whole it seems that, if honey is easily 

 procurable and near the hive, a bee will on an average make about 

 five excursions in the hour. 



Sometimes, however, a bee will stay for hours inside the nest, 

 even when the day is suitable and other bees are out ; for instance, 

 on the 24th August a marked bee remained iu the hive all the 

 morning. 



Burmeister, in the passage already quoted (ante p. ll-'i), says 

 that bees have a sign which serves to prevent any strange bee 

 from intruding into the hive without being immediately detected 

 and killed, This seems to rest on a statement of Gelien, who 

 believed that in each hive the bees had some common sign or 

 pass-word. As evidence of this, he mentions * that one of his 

 hives had been for some days robbed by the bees from another ; 

 "et je desesperais de conserver cet essaim, lorsqu'un jour, sur 

 le soir, je le vis fort inquiet, fort agite, comme s'il eut perdu sa 

 reine. Les abeilles couraient en tout sens sur le devant et le 

 tablier de la ruche, se flairant, se tatant mutuellement, comme si 

 elles eussent voulu se dire quelque chose. C'etait pour changer 

 leur signe de reconnaissance, qu' elles changerent en effet pendant 

 la nuit. Toutes les pillardes qui revinrent le lendemain, furent 

 arretees et tuees. Plusieurs echapperent aux gardes vigilantes 

 qui defendaient I'entree, avertirent sans doute les autres du 

 danger qu'elles avaient couru, et que Ton ne pouvait plus pillar 

 impunement. Aucuue de celles qui voulurent recommencer 

 leur depredation, ne penetra dans la ruche dont elles avaient fait 

 leur proye, et qui prospera merveilleusemeut." 



Dujardin, however, has suggested another explanation of this 

 case. He thinks that the behaviour of the bees indicated not a 

 change of sign or password, but an alteration in the state of the 



* Le Conservateur des Abeilles, p. 143. 



