230 



BIE JOHN LTTBBOCK ON BEES, -WASPS, AND ANXS. 



A strange bee came, which I tUled. At 9.59 No. 11 went away ; 

 at 10. 5 she returned to the honey, „ 10. 8 » 



„ 10.55 a strange bee came which I killed. No. 11 returned to 

 the honey regularly; and went on coming. 



Oct. 13. 6.28 a.m. she came, but, as before, flew away again 

 without alighting. 



At 6.32 she came to the honey, at 6.36 she went away ; 



„ 6.42 



„ 6.51 



„ 7.10 



„ 7.26 



„ 7.46 



„ 7.55 



„ 8.12 



„ 8.20 



„ 8.30 



„ 8.37 



„ 8.50 

 and BO on. 



Oct. 14. She came for the first time at 8.15 a.m., and went on 

 visiting the honey at the usual intervals. After this day I saw 

 her no more ; she had probably met with some accident. But 

 these facts show that some bees, at any rate, do not communicate 

 with their sisters, even if they find an untenanted comb full of 

 honey, which to them would be a perfect Eldorado. This is the 

 more remarkable because these bees began to work in the morn- 

 ing before the rest, and continued to do so even in weather which 

 drove all the others into the shelter of the hive. That the few 

 strange bees which I have recorded should have found the honey 

 is natural enough, because there were a good many bees about in 

 the room. 



The following fact is mentioned by P. Miiller as seeming also to 



show a limited power of communicating facts on the part of bees : 



■ — " Once," he says*, " I assisted at a curious contest, which took 



place between the queen and the worker bees in one of my hives, 



* 'Nature,' June 11, 1874. 



