No. 510] COLOR SENSE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



343 



spicuous. Shortly after this experiment was completed 

 a honey-bee was seen to visit the decorollated flower of 

 number two ; and inserting its tongue through one of the 

 narrow slits in the top of the cup-like receptacle it re- 

 mained sucking for two minutes, finding evidently an 

 ample quantity of nectar. It then visited flower number 

 one, but its further flight was not followed. A moment 

 or two later a honey-bee was again seen on the nectar 

 receptacle of number two, which was doubtless the same 

 individual, for its subsequent flight was followed and it 

 returned twice afterwards, finding the nectar here more 

 abundant than in the complete flowers. Later a fifth visit 

 was observed, probably by the same bee. There were 

 many more bumblebees present than honey-bees, and the 

 greater capability of the honey-bee in finding the nectar 

 and in making the most of its discovery is noteworthy. 

 During this whole time number one, from which the 

 corolla had not been removed, continued to be frequently 

 visited by bees. The corolla of the squash possesses an 

 agreeable fragrance, but the defoliated flower also exhales 

 a strong though coarser and more weed-like odor. The 

 visits were recorded on the instant they were made. 



In these experiments the visitors were not a miscel- 

 laneous group of insects belonging to several orders and 

 differing widely in their habits of visiting flowers and, 

 according to Miiller, in their color sense ; but the flowers 

 of Pyrus communis and Borago officinalis were visited by 

 Apis mellifera alone, and of Cucurbita maxima by Apis 

 mellifera and Bombus terricola, allied species, which are 

 placed by some authors in the same family. The visits 

 were purposive and not ambiguous, as is not infrequently 

 the case with the visits of many diptera and even of the 

 less specialized bees. To the complete flowers the number 

 of visits were numerous and decisive. On the contrary, 

 they ceased almost entirely to the decorollated flowers, 

 though they contained an ample supply of nectar; while 

 at the same time in the control observations made for the 

 purpose of comparison they continued numerous. The 



