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than sight, and that that sense would very probably be smell;” but 
he adds, “ I insist on this fact, that I have never said that insects 
are not drawn towards flowers except by the sense of smell only.” 
Mr. F. W. L. Sladen has recently communicated to the ‘British 
Bee Journal’ an account of experiments which led to his discovery 
of the scent-producing organ of the Bee, which is contained in the 
membrane connecting two of the body segments of the insect. He 
considers that scent is produced from this membrane for purposes 
of allurement, and that the rapid movement of the wings when 
Bees are humming, is not to produce sound so much as to distribute 
scent. When Bees hum on reaching the entrance to the hive, they 
arouse others, which have settled down tired in the grass, these 
latter, but for this attraction, would be unable to find the portal, 
and thus perish from cold. If Mr. Sladen be right in asserting 
that scent plays an important part in this attraction, and that this 
adds evidence to the belief that Bees can distinguish between smells ; 
it also adds to the probability that Bees, being accustomed to guidance 
by scent, are similarly guided by the perfume of the flowers in 
seeking honey. 
We must not judge of the choice of insects for certain scents 
by considering what is most pleasing to ourselves ; some flowers 
evidently attract by their odour, which seem to us to possess none, 
while insects are drawn by some which have a disagreeable smell 
though they are rich in honey ; thus, as far as insects are concerned, 
the Violet in vain sheds its perfume on the air, while Ragwort and 
French Marigold with their unpleasant odours have always a crowd 
of visitors. 
It has been observed that Bees usually visit plants of the same 
species as long as they can : this is perhaps to save themselves 
trouble in collecting nectar, but it may be to avoid work in sorting 
pollen. Maeterlinck, in ‘The Life of the Bee,’ describes a day’s work 
of the occupants of the hive, and referring to this, says, “Those 
who yesterday were absorbing nectar from the corollas, will to-day 
repose their tongues and the glands of their sac, and gather red 
pollen from the Mignonette, and yellow pollen from the Lilies, for 
never shall you see a Bee collecting or mixing pollen of a different 
