A Curious Contest. 199 



The very able observer, F. Miiller, states an observa- 

 tion of his own, which must be considered as alone 

 sufficient to prove that bees are able to communicate 

 information to one another : — 



" Once " (he says, " Letter to Mr. Darwin," published 

 in Nature, vol. x. p. 102), " I assisted at a curious 

 contest which took place between the queen and the 

 other bees in one of my hives, which throws some 

 light on the intellectual faculties of these animals. 

 A set of forty-seven cells have been filled 'eight on 

 a newly completed comb, thirty-five on the following, 

 and four around the first cell of a new comb. When 

 the queen had laid eggs in all the cells of the two older 

 combs, she went several times round their circumference 

 (as she always does, in order to ascertain whether she 

 has not forgotten any cell), and then prepared to retreat 

 into the lower part of the breeding-room. But as she 

 had overlooked the four cells of the new comb, the 

 workers ran impatiently from this part to the queen, 

 pushing her in an odd manner with their heads, as 

 they did also other workers they met with. In con- 

 sequence, the queen began again to go round on the 

 two older combs, but as she did not find any cell 

 wanting an egg, she tried to descend, but everywhere 

 she was pushed back by the workers. This contest 

 lasted for a rather long while, till the queen escaped 

 without having completed her work. Thus the workers 

 knew how to advise the queen that something was as 

 yet to be done, but they knew not how to show her 

 where it had to be done." * 



Mr. John Burroughs has some very exquisite obser- 

 vations of bees. Here are two : — 



" When a bee brings pollen into the hive, he advances 

 * Romanes' "Animal Intelligence," p. 157. 



