236 SIE JOHN LUBBOCK ON BEES, "WASPS, AKD ANTS. 



after a lapse of time will she consume it eagerly. Two weeks 

 elapse before she readily eats honey; and nearly three weeks pass 

 before the ^o^Ae««y-impulse is sufficiently developed to impel her 

 to fly abroad and seek for honey and pollen among the flowers"*. 

 In my first memoir I alluded to the difficulty which bees expe- 

 rience in finding their way about. In this respect they certainly 

 difi'er considerably. Some of the bees which came out through 

 the little postern door (already described) were able to find their 

 way back after it had been shown to them a few times. Others 

 were much more stupid ; thus, one bee came out on the 9th, 11th, 

 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, I7th, 18th, and 19th, and came to the honey ; 

 but though I repeatedly put her back through the postern, she 

 was never able to find her way for herself. 



I often found that if bees which were brought to honey did not 

 jeturn at once, still they would do so a day or two afterwards. 

 For instance, on July 11, 1874, a hot thundery day, and when the 

 bees were much out of humour, I brought twelve bees to some 

 honey ; only one came back, and that one only once ; but on the 

 following day several of them returned. 



My bees sometimes ceased work at times when I could not 

 account for their doing so. Oct. 19 was a beautiful, sunshiny, 

 warm day. All the morning the beesVere fully active. At 11.25 

 I brought one to the honey-comb, and she returned at the usual 

 intervals for a couple of hours ; but after that she came no more, 

 nor were there any other bees at work. Tet the weather was 

 lovely, and the hive is so placed as to catch the afternoon sun. 



I have made a few observations to ascertain, if possible, whether 

 the bees generally go to the same part of the hive. Thus, 



Oct. 5. I took a bee out of the hive, fed her and marked her. 

 She went back to the same part. 



Oct. 9. At 7.15 I took out two bees, fed and marked them. 

 They returned ; but I could not see them in the same part of the 

 hive. One, however, I found not far oS. 



At 9.30 brought out four bees, fed and marked them. One 

 returned to the same part of the hive. I lost sight of the others. 

 Since their extreme eagerness for honey may be attributed 

 rather to their anxiety for the commonweal than to their desire 

 for personal gratification, it cannot fairly be imputed as gree- 

 diness ; still the following scene, one which most of us have wit- 

 nessed, is incompatible surely with much intelligence. " The sad 

 * ' Hive- and Houey-Bee,' Langstroth, p. 195. 



