8 Natural History of the Honeybee. 



It may be thought that here the family odor, the possession of all the offspring of 

 one mother, enters its claim; but I notice that the swarms may be united ingeniously, even 

 if the queen does not originally belong to the colony in question, but comes from a queen- 

 cell taken from a strange colony. In addition, we continually have to do with unfertilized 

 queens in normal after-swarms, therefore we can not speak of the offspring of one mother 

 at all. The queen of an after-swarm is the sister of the workers, if I may so express myself. 



It is the queen odor familiar to the bees which acts with the hive odor (to be sure, 

 the reaction toward the latter seems to disappear during the swarming), and perhaps 

 holds the community together, but the queen odor is the dominant factor. This may be 

 seen from the first experiment (p. 5) also, to which I shall now return. The bees of 

 the queenless colony scent the queen in the neighborhood hive, and, paying no attention to 

 the foreign hive odor (toward which, under ordinary circumstances, they would react 

 sharply), they go over into the enemy's camp ''humming joyfully. " Very probably sound 

 perceptions also come into consideration — that is, the reaction toward the humming of the 

 " queen-right ' ' colony (see later). 27 



If the odor of the queen is so powerful,; it is clear that this individual odor alone 

 determines the special character of the hive substance, especially when this is particularly 

 strong. This would happen in the spring during the increased sexual activity 2S which is 

 demonstrated by the enormous number of eggs laid (2000 to 3500 and more in twenty-four 

 hours). That it is not always the determining', factor, follows from the fact that there 

 remains a hive substance capable of causing reaction, even if the queen is taken out and 

 kept at a distance. 



At such a season, during the strongest breeding period, the bees care for the queen 

 with special zeal. It may not be the very ' ' sympathetic ' ' odor M alone which causes them 

 at this time to surround her in a close cluster, for her increased need of nourishment 3 ° 

 increases the constant care of the bees around her. Nevertheless, the singular pleasure that 

 bees take in the strong mint-like exhalation from the queen is shown in the attachment 

 of the ' ' court, ' ' this affection being demonstrated by the single ' ' courtiers, ' ' who from time 

 to time lick the abdomen or thorax most zealously, humming continually in a characteristic 

 " contented' * way. 31 



The bees wish to sniff the odor, so to speak. A queen in an observation have can be 

 seen constantly surrounded by a circle of brood nurses who continually turn the head to 

 her. If she advances slowly, the bees yield the: way, moving backward. From time to 

 time the "caressing," licking, and feeding go on. It can be easily understood how this 

 attitude has often been interpreted as the expression of a peculiar reverence toward the 

 ' '- ruler of the community. ' ' The ' ' respectful ' ' walking backward, the ' ' tender ' J licking, the 

 irreproachable service (as the queen never leaves the hive, she is forced to deposit her 

 faeces in the hive, and the ' l courtiers ' ' immediately clean away all traces) closely approach 

 anthropomorphic appearances. But perhaps it might be proven that the individuality of the 

 queen is the dominant factor. A foreign queen with the same strong odor of mint would 

 be stung in spite of the pleasure in the smell. 



In autumn and winter, also early in the spring, the bees concern themselves relatively 

 very little with the queen, and still less with a young virgin. The lessened exhalation (it is 

 as yet very weak) may explain this phenomenon in part. 



It seems to me that if the odor of the queen is extremely penetrating and adherent, 32 



27 In this there might be found an apparent contradiction to the "disregard of the queen" p. 14). 

 The finding of the queen in the next hive is not by scenting from hive to hive, for the' distance is too 

 great, The agitated queenless bees run searching over the front wall of their hive and also over the 

 front wall of the one standing next. In this way some come to the entrance of the neighboring hive, 

 where the odor of the queen and the sound of contented humming are issuing forth. At once they begin 

 to lift the abdomens, and fan with their wings. Their mates near by take up the humming, and soon the 

 whole colony enters the queen-right hive in order, with lifted abdomens and fanning 1 wings. 



28 Jaeger, Ueber die Bedeutung des Geschmacks- und Geruchsstoffes. Zeitschrift f . wissensch. Zoologie 

 Bd. 27, p. 327, 1876. ' ' 



29 In order to keep a swarm in the hive, the hive may be rubbed with thyme. 



30 As is well known, the queen can eat only honey independently; but the probosces of the workers are 

 necessary to feed her with nitrogenous food. 



31 I might say again that anthropomorphic designations are chosen for purposes of clearer demon 

 stration. 



S2 I took the queen from a strong colony, put her in a cage, and after a few minutes removed her 

 Fifteen minutes later I placed the empty cage upon the flightboard of the colon v concerned. Imme- 

 diately the bees scented the odor, and alighted, f uttering upon the cage, which thev had complete'- ignored 

 before (see also p. 7). 



