36 Beekeeping 



the words "think," "know," "suppose" and the like applied 

 to bees. As a figure of speech such a form of expression may 

 perhaps be admissible, but if used in its absolute sense then 

 it is not warranted. It would result in a marked diminution 

 of the literature on bees, and a great improvement therein, 

 if such material could be wiped out of existence. 



Danger from -poor work. 



There is but one source of erroneous theory more danger- 

 ous than those mentioned and that is the observer who makes 

 false observations and unwarranted deductions. Here too 

 the bee has not escaped. Because of the wide interest in 

 bees there has been a demand for scientific information 

 concerning them and this has induced several untrained or 

 poorly trained men to imdertake observations on the struc- 

 ture or behavior of bees, for which they were not equipped. 

 Such work, being frequently presented in a more popular 

 and attractive form than genuine scientific work, has had 

 much influence among beekeepers so that, in attempting to 

 present the results of thorough work, it is first often neces- 

 sary to show the inaccuracies of work done by unqualified 

 writers. 



Advantage of experience in behavior investigations. 



It must not be supposed that our present knowledge of 

 the behavior of the bee is complete. It is, in fact, woefully 

 meager. It is probably true, however, that a well-informed 

 beekeeper has a wider and more accurate knowledge con- 

 cerning bees than have many students of animal behavior 

 concerning the species with which they work. The intimate 

 acquaintance of the beekeeper with these insects results in a 

 knowledge of their activities which, while faulty at times 

 due to a lack of training in observation, is as a whole quite 

 accurate. While this information is often fragmentary and 

 is usually acquired without any special realization of the 

 general principles of behavior, at the same time the data 

 acquired through years of contact with the bees are perhaps 



