174 
Beekeeping 
A ntennal sense organs. 
Before the work on the olfactory pores, just described, it 
was supposed that some of the sense organs on the antennae 
are olfactory organs. Just which of the organs serve in this 
way was not easy to decide. That these are sense organs 
can scarcely be doubted, but in view of the elimination of 
organs of smell from the antennae of bees, the only course at 
present is to describe these organs and leave their function 
to be decided by later experimental work. The accompany¬ 
ing illustration (Fig. 91) shows the distribution and struc¬ 
ture of these organs. These organs are known as (1) pore 
plates, (2) pegs, (3) Forel’s flasks, (4) pit pegs and (5) tac¬ 
tile hairs. In all of them the sensory cells are covered 
with chitin. 
Taste. 
To what extent bees have this sense has not been made 
clear. In human experience, the senses of taste and smell 
are so closely related that to determine these separately in 
the bee will prove a somewhat difficult task. There are sen¬ 
sory cells on the epipharynx, in the mouth cavity, on the 
palpi and perhaps on other mouth parts, some of which may 
prove to be organs of taste. The evidence that bees dis¬ 
tinguish tastes is meager. It is well known that bees show 
preferences in the material collected. They will for example 
abandon honey-dew if nectar becomes plentiful, but this 
action may not be due to a sense of taste. 
Touch. 
This sense is probably well developed, and it is safe to 
assume that some of the antennal sense organs function in 
this way. The use of the antennae by the bees suggests 
this. Bees are remarkably sensitive to jars and respond 
promptly when touched on various parts of the body. 
Most of the hairs which cover the body are not sensory 
however. 
