The Life of the Bee 
insect. With ants, that can be made to 
pass where one will, such experiments are 
possible; but for the bee, whose wings 
throw every avenue open, some other ex- 
pedient must of necessity be contrived. 
I imagined the following, which, though 
it gave no definite result, might yet, 
under more favourable conditions, and if 
organised more carefully, give rise to defi- 
nite and satisfactory conclusions. 
My study in the country is on the first 
floor, above a somewhat lofty room; suf- 
ficiently high, therefore, to be out of the 
ordinary range of the bees’ flight, except 
at times when the chestnuts and lime 
trees are in bloom. And for more than 
a week before I started this experiment 
I had kept on my table an open comb of 
honey, without the perfume having at- 
tracted, or induced the visit of, a single 
bee. Then I went to a glass hive that 
was close to the house, took an Italian 
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