THE ANTENNAE. 45 



hive even at midday be not in complete darkness, nor is that 

 darkness in any manner increased even at midnight. If 

 therefore the principle be admitted, that the interior of a 

 hive be in the same state of darkness at midday as it is at 

 midnight, it follows thence as a natural conclusion, that if 

 the common vision of the bee be all that is requisite for the 

 prosecution of its labours in the interior of the hive during 

 the day, it is equally sufficient for the prosecution of its 

 nocturnal labours, leaving the problem after all without any 

 solution, whether the bees are actually devoid of sight in 

 their in-door operations; at all events, the fact is universally 

 admitted, that the bees will only work in complete darkness, 

 and that the smallest admission of light throws them into 

 disorder and confusion. There is not any doubt that it is 

 by means of the antennae that the bees recognize each 

 other, that is, by the peculiar odour emitted by them. It is 

 not by any identity of person that the bees recognize a 

 friend or a foe; but every hive has an odour peculiar to itself, 

 and the antennas or the organ of smell are no sooner applied 

 to a bee, than the discovery is immediately made, as to 

 whether it belongs to the hive, which it is about to 

 enter, or whether it be a marauding vagabond from some 

 other hive. 



It is, however, not a little singular, that notwithstanding 

 all the experiments of Huber, and his alleged profound re- 

 searches into the natural history of the bee, he appears 

 at the close of them to be in as great doubt and uncertainty 

 as to the locality of the organs of the senses as when he 

 set out upon his discoveries ; and so far from coinciding 

 with the eminent naturalists who preceded him, as to the 

 locality of the organ of smell, he disseminates the untenable 

 hypothesis of that sense being resident in the mouth : and 

 no one can peruse the account of the experiment which 

 he instituted to determine that point, without experiencing 

 a deep sense of regret at so preposterous a notion being 



