GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 13 
29. Girard reports, as follows, an experiment on the ol- 
factory organs of our little insects: 
“While a bee was intently occupied sucking honey, we brought 
near her head a pin dipped in ether. She at once showed symp- 
toms of a great anxiety; but an inodorous pin remained entirely 
unnoticed.” 
30. Whatever be the location of their olfactory organs, 
they are unquestionably endowed with a marvelous power of 
detecting the odor of honey in flowers or elsewhere. 
One day we discovered that some bees had entered our 
honey-room, through the key-hole. We turned them out, 
and stopped it up. Some time after, more bees had entered, 
and we vainly searched for the crevice that admitted them. 
Finally a feeble hum caused us to notice that they were 
coming down the chimney to the fire-place, which was closed 
by ascreen. The wedge which held this screen having be- 
come somewhat loose, the motion of the screen in windy 
weather opened a hole just large enough for a bee to crawl 
through. <A few bees were waiting behind the screen, and 
as soon as its motion allowed one to pass, she manifested 
her joy by the humming which led to the discovery. These 
bees, escaping with a load, when the door was opened, had 
become customary and interested visitors. 
31. Every bee-keeper has noticed that their flight is 
guided by the scent of flowers, though they be a mile or more 
away. In the city of Keokuk, situated on a hill in a curve 
of the Mississippi, the bees cross the river, a mile wide, 
to find the flowers on the opposite bank. 
32. “Not only do bees have a very acute sense of smell, but 
they add to this faculty the remembrance of sensations. Here is 
an example: We had placed some honey on a window. Bees 
soon crowded upon it. ‘Then the honey was taken away, and the 
outside shutters were closed and remained so the whole winter. 
When, in Spring, the shutters were opened again, the bees came 
back, although there was no honey on the window. No doubt, 
they remembered that they got honey there before. So, an inter- 
