SENSE OF TASTE. 49 



state of the taste, says, that the bees towards the close of 

 the year, when flowers become scarce, and in those parts 

 of the country where alders abound, and where onions and 

 leeks are cultivated on a large scale, and allowed to run to 

 seed, the bees from taste, or necessity, or from anxiety to 

 complete their winter store, are seen to feed on those 

 plants, which communicate to the honey a very disagreeable 

 flavor. Tn answer to the above, we will merely state, 

 that if Mr. Duncan had searched the whole vegetable 

 kingdom, he could not have selected two plants more 

 obnoxious and offensive to the bee than the onion and the 

 leek, and we will fearlessly challenge Mr. Duncan to au- 

 thenticate a single instance in which the bees were known 

 to feed on the umbellee of either the onion or the leek, 

 neither of them yielding the slightest drop of honey, nor 

 a particle of farina which the bees could gather. There 

 is, however, another circumstance which will invalidate 

 this statement of Mr. Duncan, which is, that the onions 

 and leeks are said to run to seed when the flowers 

 have become scarce. Now, the seed of those bulbs ripen, 

 and are gathered in July and August, when some of 

 the flowers richest in honey are in full bloom, and in fact 

 at a time when the harvest of the bees is in its most 

 flourishing state ; and will the bees condescend to visit 

 the fetid coronets of the onion and leek, when they can 

 regale themselves on the odoriferous mignonette ? And 

 as to the alders — what does, or what can the bee obtain 

 from that cheerless and barren shrub ? A forest of alders 

 would not yield a single drop of honey, nor are the 

 bees ever seen to alight upon their leaves, except as a 

 temporary resting-place. 



The taste of the bee may be considered as twofold, that 

 of the proboscis, and that of the mouth ; the former being 

 applied solely to honey as its principal aliment, and the 

 latter to the mastication of the farina wherewith to make 



