46 The Honey-Makers 



extremities of the antenna, which are supposed to be highly 

 specialized feeling-organs. 



On the lower, outer part of the last six or seven joints, 

 and more abundant towards the end of the antennae, are 

 microscopic circular depressions which are 

 believed to be organs of hearing, ear- 

 openings, so to speak. 



Besides the special organs already no- 

 ticed, there are what Cheshire calls the 

 " smell hollows." 



These are oval in form, larger and far more numerous 

 than the ear-holes, and are found between the touch hairs 

 on the front of the last eight joints of the antennae. 



There is the amazing number of 2400 of these oval 

 depressions on each antenna, which well accounts for 

 the very acute sense of smell which bees undoubtedly 

 possess. 



These little antennae are only about ^ of an inch long, 

 and their lower specialized portion is only ^ of an inch 

 long in the worker bee, and j^ij of an inch in diameter, 

 yet this lower part is possessed of thousands of highly 

 specialized sense-organs. 



That bees hear has been a matter of faith from the time 

 of Aristotle, and, after having been denied in very scientific 

 and learned terms in recent times, is now again an accepted 

 belief. They do hear. Or at least they possess a sense 

 equivalent to what in us is hearing. 



They do not notice all sounds, but then, neither does 

 any one else, and Sir John Lubbock's tuning-forks, whistles, 

 and violins that failed to elicit any response from his bees 

 may, as Cheshire has so well pointed out, be due to the 

 fact that bees are not interested in the sounds of these 

 instruments. Cheshire says, — 



" Should some alien being watch humanity during a 



