Selective action of bees on flowers. 423 



A few days later I made some further observations at this 

 same spot, but this time I have only the record of two bees. The 

 first came to white flowers, of which it visited a large number ; 

 then it took one blue flower, and came back to white. The 

 second came to blue, of which it visited a few, and then went to 

 white. The two together then paid a few visits to white flowers ; 

 then one of them flew off to an adjacent plant of white; the 

 other paid a few visits to blue, and then went back to white. 

 Both were hive bees. 



I have often observed that bees go from one colour to another 

 during their journeys with seeming indifference. Their habits 

 with regard to different colours of the same species growing 

 together may be observed in almost any garden. Thus nearly 

 every morning for a time I watched them on a little clump of 

 Cistus (Helianihemum vulgare) where red, yellow, and white 

 flowers were growing together ; they would pass from one colour 

 to another in every possible order. And on clumps of differently 

 coloured — pink, white, and blue — garden hyacinths, growing 

 together, I have not been able to detect a preference for any one 

 of these colours. I have also seen them pass from white to blue, 

 and from blue to white, on patches of Myosotis. I have the 

 record of the actual order in which the two colours were taken 

 by certain bees one day last May. Two of these are given below. 

 The letters B. and W. refer to blue and white flowers respectively, 

 and each indicates a visit to a single inflorescence, and may 

 mean from one to three or more flowers : — 



1. W. W. W. B. B. B. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. 

 W. W. W. W. W. B. W. W. W. B. W. B. B. B. W. W. W. W. W. 

 B. B. B. W. 



2. B. W. B. W. B. B. W. B. W. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. 

 B. W. W. B. W. B. B. B. B. B. W. B. W. W. B. B. B. B. B. B. 

 W. B. B. W. B. B. W. B. B. W. W. W. B. W. W. B. W. B. W. 



And I find that Darwin has noticed this same indifference to 

 colours in varieties of the same species. In his * Cross- and 

 Self-fertilisation of Plants,' he writes : — " Humble and hive bees 

 are good botanists, for they know that varieties may differ widely 

 in the colour by their flowers, and yet belong to the same species. 

 I have repeatedly seen humble bees flying straight from a plant 

 of the ordinary red Dietamnus fraxinella to a white variety ; and 

 from one to another very differently coloured variety of Delphinium 



