A BUSY CITY AND THOROUGHFARE. 20I 



selected by the bees while bread-gathering, and 

 wishing to be convinced whether or not they 

 found their way by the general instinctive sense of 

 locality, or had gradually learned certain routes, I 

 kidnaped still another buzzer, and keeping her in 

 the dark, excepting when it became necessary to 

 give her air, walked leisurely to the hemlock 

 woods a half-mile distant, and in an opposite direc- 

 tion from that taken in making the two previous 

 experiments. Among the trees, after being impris- 

 oned for an hour, I set her free with best wishes 

 of a safe return. For three hours I watched her 

 doorway. Some of the busybodies as they arrived 

 circled near the opening, but did not go in. As 

 the day was nearly done and my watching tedious, 

 I abandoned the post, not without some compunc- 

 tions, resolved to visit the burrow the next morn- 

 ing. It being pleasant, the bread-winners were 

 improving each shining hour. The few slender 

 pieces of grass spears that had been placed over 

 the hole had been pushed aside, and soon my bee 

 appeared as brisk and as nimble-winged as ever. 

 Sure enough, under such adverse circumstances, 

 she had found her way back, probably late in the 

 afternoon. 



Cases are on record of honey-bees wandering far 



