Natural History of the Honeybee. 41 



species understands how to make its enemies for the most part harmless in the hive. 

 Carriere m thinks that this knowledge and ability to exterminate them is formed in Apis 

 mellifica beeause it represents "a permanent community, and therefore a ' tradition ' could 

 have been developed.' ' I can not share his opinion, which supposes entirely too much 

 human intelligence. I believe_ that_here the principle of selection has acted also. For^ 

 colonies^ which collect a supply of honey it is naturally of great significance that there 

 should be means of defense against the entrance of robbers, etc. Therefore the instinct 

 developed, by and by, to react hostilely toward those ' entering with a foreign hive odor 

 or with unusual behavior. 



THE VANISHING OF INSTINCTS WITH THE DECREASE IN THE STRENGTH OF A COLONY. 



Only a strong colony resists its enemies, such as robbers, wax-moths, etc. — not that 

 the weaker colony is not able to do so very well, for there are still plenty of fighters, but 

 it is a fact that its " spirit,' ' its il energy,' ' disappears as a colony weakens. The narrow 

 entrance could be defended with ease; but such colonies often do not place bees at the 

 entrance at all. They let single robbers and single wax-moths, etc., quietly alone, although 

 they could kill them with no trouble. 



The more reduced a colony becomes, the more do all instincts fail. The hive is no 

 longer cleaned, flights are more and more discontinued. Languidly and ' ' apathetically ' ' the 

 bees sit around on the comb. If, finally, almost all are taken away, so that only the queen 

 remains with a handful of bees, even honey which has been placed in the hive remains 

 untouched. 128 



In experimental observations, particular attention should be given to this characteristic 

 failure or weakening of instincts with the decreasing strength of a colony, for otherwise 

 the results obtained are never exact. A_weak colony acts entirely differently from a strong 

 one, and the reactions are often in the opposite direction; also the varieties of Apis mel- 

 lifica must be taken Jnto consideration, as a small colony of heather bees of North Germany, 

 for_ example, acts differently from a weak colony of bees from middle or southern Ger- 

 many, and these, again, differently from Carniolan or Italian' bees under the same circum- 

 stances. In short, one must be entirely familiar with all the factors pertaining thereto in 

 order to obtain results free from error. 



REACTIONS TOWARD FLIGHT. 



We must certainly notice further a reaction of bees which thus far has been thought 

 to be slight, but the disregard of which can lead to false conclusions; that is, the sharp 

 reaction toward the manner and way of flying to the entrance of the hive. In many cases, 

 therefore, it may not be the special odor which betrays the robbers, but as said, their 

 il timid" loitering flight. The bees which defend the entrance and flight-board may often 

 be seen to baffle the attempts of robbing companions by flying at them and seizing them 

 in the air before there can be, in my opinion, the least perception of the odor of these 

 single bees, because of the strong evaporation from the hive entrance. 124 It is a reaction 

 toward the special kind of flight. In connection with this is this fact: that if the robbers 

 are more cunning, and go flying smoothly into the entrance, a defense is hardly noticeable, 

 and often does not take place at all. 



If the experiment is made o£ bathing bees in water or weak alcohol to remove the 

 adherent hive-odor, and, after drying, the bees are allowed to run into their hive, they 

 can enter the accustomed opening safely on account of their quiet and sure manner of 

 entering, and no definite reaction of the inmates' is noticeable. If the bath is thorough, 

 there will be no definite reaction set free when entering a strange hive either, not only 

 because the foreign odor is taken away, but also because the bath destroys former mem- 



122 Carriere and Burger, Entwicklungsgeschichte der Mauerblene. Abhd. der Kaiserl. Leop. Carol, 

 deutsch. Akad. der Naturf. Bd. LXIX., No. 2. 



123 And yet, as is well known, the attraction of honey for bees surpasses everything else. If the 

 abdomen is quickly severed from the thorax while a bee is sucking on a drop of honey, it sucks on quietly 

 for a long time, while the sucked-up portion flows out behind. 



124 I spoke before (see p. 14) of how little bees are able in open air to perceive the strong odor of 

 the queen at approximately short distances. 



