38 Natural History of the Honeybee. 



A very important bee-keeper, Herr Dathe, in Eystrup, submits the following: In his 

 extensive apiary of about five hundred colonies there were various stands of box hives. 

 The line of flight went on as indicated in the figure above in various directions. The 

 arrows gif e the point of the entrances — that is, the direction of the flight in and out. 



Just before thunderstorms, etc., Dathe made numerous observations, that in their hasty 

 return many bees threw themselves on the wrong stand; and such as were accustomed to 

 enter at the side (c) made great exertions in vain to get into the hive at the stands 1 and 3 

 at the corresponding place (b), although there was no entrance there. In the same way 

 the li a ' ' bees sought their hive-entrance on the stands 2 and 4 at " d. ' ' 



A similar thing is seen in a violent wind, which throws the bees out of their accustomed 

 paths of flight. 



It follows from this that a memory picture of the hive is present, as well as a valuation 

 of the right place and height, even if on the wrong stand. An explanation of this error 

 is, I might say, natural aa soon as one ascribes the orientation to the sense of sight. It is 

 difficult to think of it on the ground of the unknown force. 



I owe further interesting observations to the already mentioned leader of the Baden 

 Bee-keepers' School, Herr Both. This leads us at the same time to the special reaction 

 of bees toward colors. 



INFLUENCE OF COLORS ON BEES. 



I shall here mention only two observations, and for the rest, in regard to the influence 

 of color on bees, I can only allude to the well-known experiments of Lubbock 1 ^ and 

 Hermann Miiller, 133 as well as to those of Bethe (1. c), etc. 



We have seen above that flight becomes very unsafe in the dusk; therefore it is 

 evident that gloomy weather influences considerably the ability to orient. 114 



"One of my former neighbors, " says Roth's contribution, "painted the gable of his 

 house over the apiary with sky-blue (luftblau) color. The very bees which always flew over 

 the gable, on the next dark day bumped against it with their heads, trying to ♦fly through it. ' ' 



A teacher, Stahelin, made the following observations: A weak after-swarm, mostly of 

 young bees from a hive painted blue, dispersed 115 among the masses of humming bees which 

 were just taking their flight of orientation out of the other hives (which, as is usually 

 the case in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, were standing close together), and settled 

 here and there in little clumps. After a short time they flew back to the bee-house; but 

 only a. few found the right hive; the rest flew to other colonies, and to which? Only where 

 a blue door invited them did they attempt an entrance, but nowhere else. Unfortunately 

 they were so hostilely received that the ground in front of all hives marked blue was 

 covered with dead bees. 116 



These cases also show nothing of an "unknown force, M but, instead, exhibit the great 

 significance to bees of the sense of sight, and the errors suffered through deceptions of 

 the eyes. 



The disproof of Bethe'* theory by Forel appeared independently shortly after the 

 publication of my paper (Forel, Aug., Sensations des Insectes, IV., Paris, 1901). Forel 

 reaches the same conclusions that I do (cf., also, Forel, Aug., Nochmals Herr Dr. Bethe 

 und die Insekten-Psychologie, Biol. Centralbl., Bd. XXIII., 1903). The confirmation of 

 my work by this important investigator is of special value to me. The quintessence of 

 Forel 's views about all these matters will be found in his paper: Die psychischen Fahigkeiten 

 der Ameisen und einiger anderer Insekten, Miinchen, 1901, which, has been translated by Wm. , 

 M. Wheeler: Ants and some other insects. An inquiry into the psychic powers of these 

 Animals with an appendix on the peculiarities of their olfactory sense. Chicago, 1904. 



112 Lubbock, Ants, Bees, and Wasps. International Scientific Series: New York, 1883; German trans- 

 lation, Leipzig, 1883. 



1]3 Herm. Muller, 1. c. 



114 The similar behavior of carrier pigeons may be compared with this (H. E. Ziegler, Ueber die 

 Geschwindigkeit der Brief tauben, 1. c). 



115 Because the swarm tone which holds the swarming bees together (see p. 16) had been swallowed 

 up by the loud buzzing of the other colonies which were giving out many bees in their '"first play." This 

 shows the possibility of communication through hearing? 



118 Schweiz. Bien. Ztg., Aarau. Jahrg. 1893. 



