176 Beekeeping 



(4) The queen makes at least two sounds, "teeting" and 

 "quahking." (5) When a queen is "frightened" she emits 

 a pecuhar sound. This author concludes by claiming that 

 the fact that bees do not respond to artificial sounds is no 

 proof of a lack of hearing. 



It need scarcely be pointed out that these statements are 

 not conclusive evidence of a sense of hearing in bees ; in fact 

 most of the phenomena observed are as readily interpreted as 

 evidence of a sense of smell. In earlier chapters it is men- 

 tioned that the phenomena in swarming and in the hiving 

 of a swarm are most plausibly explained as brought about 

 by reactions to odors, v. Buttel-Reepen's statement that 

 "only the dead bee is quiet" may be answered by the state- 

 ment that a totally deaf man often makes more noise in 

 walking and frequently by articulate sounds than does a 

 man with acute hearing. To sum up, we are justified in 

 concluding (1) that no organ or organs of hearing are recog- 

 nized, (2) that the existence of a sense of hearing is doubtful, 

 and (3) that the investigations so far carried out are incon- 

 clusive. 



Temperature sense. 



In the discussion of the activities of bees in winter (p. 90), 

 it is stated that at about 57° F. the bees form a cluster and, 

 if the outer temperature drops below that point, they begin 

 to generate heat. When no cluster is formed the bees are 

 more active at temperatures above 69° F. than at tempera- 

 tures below this. In a discussion of the temperature of the 

 hive at other seasons (p. 60), it is shown that the tempera- 

 ture of the hive while occupied by the bees rarely exceeds 

 97° F. and that during brood-rearing the temperature of 

 the brood chamber is quite constant. This brief summary 

 of the facts of hive temperature indicates that in some manner 

 bees perceive changes in temperature and it may almost be 

 believed that they have a temperature sense superior to our 

 own. The nerve endings or sense organs which function 

 in this response to temperature stimuli are not determined 



