Natural History of the Honeybee. 



37 



the ground in front of the hive can not, of course, influence the valuation of the height 

 particularly. If it is wished to draw the conclusion from this that bees are not led on 

 their paths through memory pictures, that seems to me to be anthropomorphism of the 



best kind. 110 



It is no contradiction to this that bees notice very closely the appearance and form 

 of the hive, as I have said before. One needs only to fasten a piece of colored paper above 

 the entrance or to change the form of the hive to notice immediately a hesitation in the 

 flight toward it; a closer survey is taken while flying in. 



A bee, therefore, flies to the point of the entrance without being able to see it or 

 the nearest surroundings of the entrance, on the basis of its orientation in their neighborhood; 

 on the other hand, when it comes closer it generally notices the surroundings of the entrance, 

 for it becomes aware of any changes in the outside of the hive. The quicker it hurries back 

 to the hive (for example in a heavy honey-flow), the less the appearance of the hive is 

 noticed; and if attention is gained by a very striking change, the hesitation or loitering to 

 be seen is much less. 



THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER CONDITIONS ON THE SENSE OF SIGHT^, THEREFORE ON 



THE ABILITY TO ORIENT. 



If bees are thrown up into the air at dusk, not far from their dwelling, they do not 

 find their way back. They make several small circles and then fall to the ground, i ' fright- 

 ened and lost. ' ' Bethe has made this experiment, but we are not told why the ' ' unknown 

 force" does not act under such conditions. That simply the sense of sight is here deter- 

 minative in regard to orientation may be clear from the following observations: 



"A fruit-grower in England was astonished to find the trees much more heavily 

 laden with fruit in the part of his large garden where there were some colonies of bees 

 than in the other parts. He then remembered that it was extremely foggy during the 

 blooming of the fruit-trees, and the bees, in consequence, flew only short distances. ' ' U1 Any 

 one who has observed bees for a long time knows how strongly sudden dark clouds influence 

 flight. In such cases we often see an amusing sight during the honey-flow. At the 

 approach of a storm the hundreds of thousands of bees that have hastened to the fields, 

 rush in wild haste to their sheltering homes. With pollen-sacs hardly begun to be filled they 

 stream on in blind haste in a ceaseless train and l ' dash ' ' into the hives. If it happens that 

 the clouds are in the background, and the sun is shining on the thousands of whirring wings, 

 the appearance is most peculiar. 



That we have to do with orientation through the eyes in this journey home at the 

 approach of a storm, and not with an ' ' unknown Yorce, ' ' follows from the fact that, in the 



i ' mad haste ' ' mentioned, many blunders are made, and many bees enter strange hives. 

 1 l unknown force ' ' which ' ' draws like a magnet ' ' would not permit such errors. 



An 



110 American bee-hunters base their methods of capture on the above-mentioned fact, that, if bees 

 have once flown in, they regulate their paths of flight with extraordinary accuracy, and constantly fly in 

 almost a straight line. "In a clearing of the woods a little fire is made and an old comb held over it. 

 Attracted by the odor, bees come and taste the honey inside. After sufficient orientation they begin by 

 degrees to take up a straight line of flight. The hunter follows this line and marks it with any land- 

 marks at all. Now the. bait is placed at the other end of the clearing. After a short time the bees 

 find it again, and the line of flight is again marked. Then, where the! two lines cross, the colony is 

 found. Autumn is most favorable for this, for since then no other forage attracts the bees and leads the 

 hunter into error." — American Bee Journal, Chicago, 1893. 



The bee-keeper also uses this characteristic of bees to discover a robbing colony. "The bees always 

 fly in a straight line from the place where they find food, back to the hive. The bee-keeper, therefore, 

 goes in this direction and soon stands before the hive where the robbers belong." — Ludw. Huber, 1. c.„ 

 p. 35, 1900. 



i- 1 Bienenwirtschaftl. Centralblatt, 1892, Hannover, p. 205. 



