9 8 



HAHDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



idea is prevalent that this species is becoming extinct ; 

 it used to be taken at Yarmouth, Halvergate, and 

 Whittlesea Mere). Calopteryx virgo (abundant every- 

 where). C. splendcns (ditto). Lestes nympha (has 

 been taken in Suffolk, and elsewhere in the Fen 

 District, but very local). L. sponsa (not uncommon). 

 Platycnemis pennipcs (not uncommon, but local). 

 Enallagma cyathigcrian (common). Agrion pulchellum 

 (ditto). A. puclla (exceedingly abundant). Ischnura 

 pumilio (rare and local). I. elegans (very plentiful). 

 Pyrrhosoma minium (exceedingly plentiful). P. 

 tenellum (doubtful). Erythi-omma najas (has been 

 taken in Lincolnshire, but very rare and local ; it 

 used also to be found formerly in Cambridgeshire). 



The foregoing localities are taken from my " Illus- 

 trated Handbook of British Dragon-flies," * to which 

 little work I beg to refer the reader in quest of 

 information concerning the time of appearance and 

 habits, etc., of the species enumerated in the above 

 list. 



THE CONSTANCY OF THE BEE. 

 By G. W. Bulman, M.A., B.Sc. 



THE theory that bees confine themselves to one 

 particular species of flower, during at least a 

 single journey, seems to be one of those which 

 manage to survive to old age on a minimum of 

 observed facts. Copied from one book to another, it 

 has become an integral part of the received ideas 

 about bees : it forms part of the stock in trade of 

 everyone who aspires to write about them. Not to 

 go back too far, the following statement is found in a 

 work on insects, published in 1829, ("The Natural 

 History of Insects," London, Murray) : 



"Now, it has been remarked by a great number of 

 naturalists, that the bee, when it collects pollen from 

 one plant, does not go to a different sort of plant for 

 more, but labouring to collect the same kind of 

 fertilizing dust, it seeks only the same kinds of flowers. 

 . . . . ' I have frequently,' says Dobs, ' followed a 

 bee loading the farina-beebread or crude wax on its 

 legs, through part of a great field in flower, and on 

 whatever flower it first alighted and gathered the 

 farina, it continued gathering from that kind of flower, 

 and passed over many other species, though very 

 numerous in the field, without alighting on or loading 

 from them, though the flower it chose was much 

 scarcer than the others : so that if it began to load 

 from a daisy, it continued loading from the same, 

 neglecting clover, honey-suckle, and the violet.' " 



The same idea is expressed in one of the most 

 recent and authoritative works on bees : 



" The curious habit of the Apidne of visiting one 

 kind of flower only during any single excursion." 

 (" Bees and Bee-Keeping," Frank Cheshire.) 



* It is published by Mr. E. W. Alien, 4 Ave Maria Lane, 

 London, E.G., price 2s. 6d. 



Grant Allen, too, makes use of the same theoretical 

 constancy of the bee in the development of his 

 various honey-bearing plants. Thus, speaking of ants, 

 he says, " They do not go, like flying insects, straight 

 from one plant to another of the same species, but 

 being guided by scent alone, climb up different stems 

 indiscriminately, wherever the smell of honey lures 

 them on. " 



And this, he continues, is the reason why ants " do 

 not aid cross-fertilisation, but rather prevent it." 



Sir John Lubbock's statement is more guarded and 

 nearer the truth : 



" They fly readily from one plant to another, and 

 generally confine themselves for a certain time to the 

 same species." (" Ants, Bees, and Wasps," p. 50.) 



It is certainly a fact that bees very often make a 

 large number of visits to a single species of flowers ; 

 it is probable that they often confine themselves to 

 one for a whole journey. Presumably, then, a limited 

 and casual observation of the habits of bees, such 

 as one who considers the question authoritatively 

 settled naturally gives, simply confirms the received 

 opinion ; any divergence is looked upon as a chance 

 exception. More extended and careful observation, 

 however, shows that these exceptions are too 

 numerous to permit the existence of a rigid rule. Such, 

 at least, is my experience. When I first observed a 

 few instances of bees changing from one species to 

 another, I looked upon them rather as chance excep- 

 tions to a general rule, than as facts of any impor- 

 tance. 



More careful watching, however, has revealed the 

 fact that the exceptions are really very numerous. 

 During the year 1888, I scarcely ever watched the 

 bees for more than a few minutes without seeing some 

 examples of changeableness. The fact that the 

 watching not infrequently ended in the disappearance 

 of the bee when a few visits had been noted, suggests 

 that these examples may really be more numerous 

 than the recorded cases imply. 



Thus during an afternoon walk a bee is noted 

 busy on a flower of water-avens {Geum riz/a/e). It 

 visits other two of the same, and then two or three 

 blossoms of herb Robert (Geranium Robcrtianum). 

 Further on three bees are busy on some vetch in the 

 corner of a field. One of them, a very large humble- 

 bee, after paying a good number of visits to the vetch 

 flowers, flies off and alights on a head of scabious. 

 After working this, it passes on to yellow charlock 

 among the corn. And this is no exceptional occur- 

 rence, but one which may frequently be observed. 

 I will now give a few examples, premising that they 

 are not the results of prolonged periods of watching, 

 but of short intervals of from ten to thirty minutes. 

 On one occasion I observed the following changes : 

 Bee No. I was busy on the blue flowers of Veronica 

 Buxbaumii, from which it passed to chickweed. Bee 

 No. 2 passed from little celandine to scilla, and 

 thence to celandine again. Bee No. 3 passed from 



