GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 6 



This question Mr. Cheshire answers, as will be seen fur- 

 ther, in considering the antennjB. (26)* 



13. The three small eyes, orelli, are thought by Maurice 

 Girard ("Les Abeilles," Paris, 1878), and others, to have 

 a microscopic function, for sight at short distances. In the 

 hive, the work is performed in the dark, and possibly (?) 

 these eyes are fitted for this purpose. 



13. Their return from long distances, either to their 

 hive or to the place where they have found food, proves that 

 bees can see very far. Yet, when the entrance to their hive 

 has been changed, even only a few inches, they cannot 

 readily find it. 



Their many eyes looking in different directions, enable 

 them to guide themselves by the relative position of objects, 

 hence they always return to the identical spot they left. 



14. If we place a colony in a forest where the rays of 

 the sun can scarcely penetrate, the bees, at their exit from 

 the hive, will fly several times around their new abode, then, 

 selecting a small aperture through the dense foliage, they 

 will rise above the forest, in quest of the flowers scattered 

 in the fields. And like children in a nutting party, they 

 will gather their crop here and there, a mile or more away, 

 without fear of being lost or unable to return. 



As soon as their honey-sack is full, or, if a threatening 

 cloud passes before the sun, they start for home, without 

 any hesitation, and, among so many trees, even while the 

 wind mingles the leafy twigs, they find their way; so perfect 

 is the organization of their composite eyes. 



15. Bees can notice and remember colors. While ex- 

 perimenting on this faculty, we placed some honey on small 

 pieces of differently colored paper. A bee ahghted on a 

 yellow paper, sucked her load and returned to her hive. 



• The reader will readily understand that the numbers between parentheses 

 refer to the paragraphs bearing those nnmbeiB. This is for the convenience of 

 the student. 



