34 Natural History of the Honeybee. 



They corkscrewed in widening circles into the air, as bees do when they have just been 

 set out. After three or four circles (in which note well they had never turned their eyes 

 toward the hive), 10 * they took their direction and flew quickly to the meadows. A gTeat 

 number of others followed, all corkscrewing into the air. 105 About three o'clock the first 

 ones returned laden with honey and pollen. 106 They came from the east (not from the 

 south whither most had gone), and flew from the place where I first caught sight of them 

 (5-6 meter distant) in a straight line to the entrance. If here a noticeable accustoming had 

 played a part, perhaps as a memory process, it would be impossible to think that the insects 

 would fly in such a straight line for the hive. A force then must be present, which draws 

 them like a magnet to this place in space, and the described ' accustoming ' is something 

 secondary, unnecessary for the occurrence of the reaction.' ' 



Since we have not the slightest scientific proof whether these bees which returned at 

 three o 'clock, which ' ' flew in a straight line to the hive, ' ' did not belong to those which had 

 hummed around the hive in the early morning, and therefore had been able to notice the 

 position of the dwelling accurately, this experiment proves nothing, because we are not 

 informed concerning the method of the flying-out of the later bees. 



Bethe speaks expressly of "accurate observations," so we must accept as a matter of 

 course that there were no errors in his observations. If, therefore, the foregoing really 

 happened as pictured, this experiment does not, I believe, present a conclusive proof for 

 but against the "unknown force." According to my long years of experience, a five or 

 six hours' roving and remaining away from the hive under the conditions described is 

 entirely impossible. We may here, from what is known of the natural history of the bee 

 in this direction, count upon the possibilities expressed before. Later on it turned out that 

 the observation was not an accurate, one. Cf. p. 90 of my Stammesgeschichtliche Entstehung 

 des Bienenstaates. Leipzig, 1903. 



If, indeed, a magnetic force existed to draw bees homeward, then without doubt the 

 bees which flew out would have succeeded in reaching home inside of ten minutes or at 

 most an hour after leaving. 



bethe's tree experiment. 



This is the place, perhaps, in which to examine more closely Bethe 's tree experiment. 

 "In the fall of 1896 I put my hives in a small house which lay toward the east. In front 

 was a plane-tree, seven meters high, whose branches approached the house within about 

 one and a half meters. The top of the tree was eight meters wide and began three meters 

 above the ground, so that the little bee-house was completely shaded. Now, because the 

 bees flew very badly in the spring of 1897 on account of a lack of sun, I decided to have 

 the tree cut down, and this was done in the morning about 10:30 (June 11, 1897), just 

 when most of the bees were out. Thereby v were the surroundings of the little house com- 

 pletely changed: instead of the high tree there was a large open quadrangle fifteen meters 

 square. The bees had been coming perpendicularly between the tree and the house to their 

 hives, but those returning (which had flown out long before the change, since they all 

 had pollen on their legs) immediately after the fall of the tree flew directly in a slanting 

 line to the entrance. They flew, therefore, through the space in which the tree had stood ' 

 a second before, and showed not the slightest uneasiness; they were not 'surprised,' as, 

 without doubt, many authors would report with astonishment" (Bethe, p. 85). 



Bethe decides from this that finding the way home can not depend upon memory 

 pictures. 



From this statement of Bethe 's we get the idea that there were no obstacles present 

 but the plane-tree. Up to where the branches began, therefore, there was a free path 

 three meters high. No one who is familiar with the practices of bees will doubt that the 



504 Bethe appears to consider this the normal flight out; above all, nowhere does he mention the 

 entirely different flight of orientation. 



105 As none of these tees flew off in a straight line, it is natural to suppose that these were greatly 

 irritated by the transportation or suffered by the lack of air during the transportation. The thick* gathering 

 on the outside points to the latter supposition, ss dees ako the late flying-out. 



loe Therefore after five or six hours! Doubtless almost all the tees which flew in the forenoon 

 were lost, or returned again to the known neighborhood, because the village was only seven kilometers 

 distant, for under the conditions cited an absence of five or six hours can not te accepted as true. 



