The Life of the Bee 
will almost invariably succeed in finding 
their way back? 
Do obstacles offer no barrier to their 
sight; do they guide themselves by cer- 
tain indications and landmarks; or do they 
possess that peculiar, imperfectly under- 
stood sense that we ascribe to the swal- 
lows and pigeons, for instance, and term 
the “sense of direction” ? The experi- 
ments of J. H. Fabre, of Lubbock, and, 
above all, of Romanes (Nature, 29 Oct. 
1886) seem to establish that it is not this 
strange instinct that guides them. I have, 
on the other hand, more than once no- 
ticed that they appear to pay no attention 
to the colour or form of the hive. They 
are attracted rather by the ordinary ap- 
pearance of the platform on which their 
home reposes, by the position of the 
entrance, and of the alighting-board. But 
this even is merely subsidiary ; were the 
front of the hive to be altered from top 
240 
