No. 527] COLOR SENSE OF THE HONEY-BEE 681 



There is the less need of delay for inquiring into this 

 imaginary power of vision, since bees as easily distin- 

 guish between the colors of flowers as between those of 

 colored papers. 



As the result of more than twenty-six hundred experi- 

 ments on the color sense of the honey-bee Hermann Miil- 

 ler was convinced not alone that they could distinguish 

 colors, but that they exhibited color preference. 8 Instead 

 of colored paper he made use of floral leaves, which he 

 placed between two object slides, the edges of which were 

 afterwards sealed with a soluble gum. The slides em- 

 ployed by myself were made as follows : A grayish-white 

 slip of cardboard three inches long by one wide was cov- 

 ered with the yellow rays of a garden sunflower, over 

 which a glass slide of the same dimensions was placed 

 and tied firmly with black silk thread. In like manner a 

 blue slide was prepared from the blue perianth of the 

 bee-larkspur (Delphinium elatum), and a red slide from 

 three bright red flowers of the Zanzibar balsam (Impa- 

 tiens sultani). 



On September 29 I accustomed several yellow or Italian 

 bees to visit the yellow or sunflower slide. The slide was 

 then moved eight inches to the right, and in its place was 

 put the blue slide made from the floral leaves of the bee- 

 larkspur. There was a small quantity of honey as usual 

 on the center of each slide. At the same time I removed 

 three of the bees, leaving only one. The time was 3 

 o'clock p.m., and the slides were in the shade. The bee 

 returned to the yellow. 



The bee left for the hive, and I transposed the slides. 

 It returned to the yellow. 



The bee left for the hive, and I transposed the slides. 

 It returned to the blue. 



When the bee left for the hive, no change was made. 

 It returned to the yellow. 



As soon as the bee left for the hive I transposed the 



"Miiller, H v "Versucbe iiher die Farbenliebhaberei der Honigbiene," 

 Kosmos, 11, 273-99. Beprinted as a separate by R. Friedlander & Sohn, 



