The Nervous System and the Senses 177 
and perhaps this is a function of some of the problematical 
organs on the antennae. 
Finding of the flowers. 
In a previous chapter (p. 118), a discussion is given of 
the division of labor whereby bees are seemingly able to 
apportion the available forage to prevent duplication. In 
this connection the interesting question arises as to how the 
bees find the flowers. Considerable detailed and painstaking 
work has been done on this subject. Plateau 1 and his 
followers on the one hand believe that bees are guided to the 
nectar by odor, this being supported by experimental evi¬ 
dence as well as by an array of facts concerning the gathering 
of nectar from inconspicuous flowers. Forel 2 and other 
writers assert, on the contrary, that color is the important 
stimulus and that flowers are found through the sense of 
sight. Plateau’s work is open to- one important criticism, 
since he overlooks the possibility of the return of bees to his 
mutilated flowers through memory. Burton N. Gates, 
several years ago, showed that bees visit artificial flowers 
and also fly to natural flowers which have been sealed in 
glass tubes. The reaction to these unusual objects was 
entirely normal. These results point strongly to the belief 
that odor is of minor importance in the location of nectar- 
1 Plateau, Felix, 1895-97. Comment lea fleurs attirent lea insects. Bui. 
auad. roy. cl. Belgique, 3 sfer., XXX, n. 11, XXXII, n. 11, XXXIII, n. 1, 
XXXIV, n. 9, 10, 11. See also Plateau, 1888. Recherches expferimentales 
sur la vision chez les arthropodes, ibid., part. 3-5 and other papers. 
i Forel, Auguste, 1886-88. Recueil zoologiques Suisse, 1 s6r., IV. 
_ , 1908. The senses' of insects. Eng. trans. Yearsley. London: 
Methuen and Co., 324 pp. , , 
See also: Andrea;, Eug., 1903. Inwiefern werden Insekten durch I'abrc 
und Duft der Btumen angczogen. Beihefte z. Bot. Centralbl., XV. 
Giltay, E., 1901. Ueber die Bedeutung der Krone bei den Bliiten und 
tlber das Farbenunterscheidungs vermogen der Insekten, I. Pringh. Jahrb. 
f. wiss. Bot., XL. tt ym 
Detto, Carl, 1905. Blutenbiologische Untersuehungen I u. II. l'lora 
odor Allg. bot. Zeit., XCIV. 
Kienitz-Gerloff, 1898 u. 1903. Proffessor Plateau und die Blumentheone 
I u. II. Biol. Centralbl., XVIII u. XXIII. 
N 
