22 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



they could have free communication with her by means 

 of their antennae. 



That the antennae of insects are organs of intelligence 

 is generally admitted, but in what manner intelligence 

 is communicated has never been determined, probably 

 through a sense of which we know nothing, and never 

 shall, any more than light can be comprehended by those 

 born blind. The olfactory sense is highly developed in 

 Bees ; by it they discover food, and know one another. 

 But the sense of hearing is, probably, not very acute. 

 The piping of an imprisoned Queen appears to be heard 

 by the reigning monarch, as she seems to answer it ; but 

 Sir John Lubbock, in relating his experiments, tells us 

 that with the utmost efforts he could make with tuning- 

 forks, whistles, violin, or shouting close to the head of the 

 ^ Bee, when all around was still, he never could obtain the 

 slightest indication that the sounds were heard. 



Messrs. Kirby and Spence, in their admirable work, 

 thus describes a Bee's operations on a flower when 

 gathering nectar: — 



" Observe a Bee that has alighted upon an open flower. 

 The hum produced by the motion of her wing ceases, 

 and her employment begins. In an instant she unfolds 

 her tongue, which was before rolled up under her head ; 

 ' with what rapidity does she dart this organ between the 

 petals and the stamens! At one time she extends it to 

 its full length, then she contracts it; she moves it about 

 in all directions, so that it may be applied both to the 

 concave and convex surface of a petal, and wipe them 

 both, and thus, by a virtuous theft, robs it of all its 

 nectar. All the while this is going on, she keeps herself 

 n a constant vibratory motion. The object of the 

 industrious insect is not like the more selfish butterfly, 

 to appropriate this treasure to herself It goes into the 



