contrary, which I put in with her, got out at once. At 11.30 I put another bee and a fly into the same glass: the latter flew out at once. For half an hour the bee tried to get out at the closed end; I then turned the glass with its open end to the light, when she flew out at once. To make sure, I repeated the experiment once more with the same result.

Some bees, however, have seemed to me more intelligent in this respect than others. A bee which I had fed several times, and which had flown about in the room, found its way out of the glass in a quarter of an hour, and when put in a second time came out at once. Another bee, when I closed the postern door which opened from my hive directly into my room, used to come round to the honey through an open window.

One day (April 14, 1872), when a number of them were very busy on some berberries, I put a saucer with some honey between two bunches of flowers; these flowers were repeatedly visited, and were so close that there was hardly room for the saucer between them, yet from 9.30 to 3.30 not a single bee took any notice of the honey. At 3.30 I put some honey on one of the bunches of flowers, and it was eagerly sucked by the bees; two kept continually returning till past five in the evening.

One day when I came home in the afternoon I found that at least a hundred bees had got into my room through the postern and were on the window, yet not

one was attracted by an open jar of honey which stood in a shady corner about 3 feet 6 inches from the window.

Another day (April 29, 1872) I placed a saucer of honey close to some forget-me-nots, on which bees were numerous and busy; yet from 10 A.M. till 6 only one bee went to the honey.

I put some honey in a hollow in the garden wall opposite my hives at 10.30 (this wall is about five fee: high and four feet from the hives), yet the bees did not find it during the whole day.

On March 30, 1873, a fine sunshiny day, when the bees were very active, I placed a glass containing honey at 9 in the morning on the wall in front of the hives; but not a single bee went to the honey the whole day. On April 20 I tried the same experiment with the same result.

September 19.-At 9.30 I placed some honey in a glass about four feet from and just in front of the hive, but during the whole day not a bee observed it.

As it then occurred to me that it might be suggested that there was something about this honey which rendered it unattractive to the bees, on the following day I first placed it again on the top of the wall for three hours, during which not a single bee came, and then moved it close to the alightingboard of the hive. It remained unnoticed for a quarter of an hour, when two bees observed it, and others soon followed in considerable numbers.

6

It is generally stated not only that the bees in a hive all know one another, but also that they immediately recognise and attack any intruder from another hive. It is possible that the bees of particular hives have a particular smell. Thus Langstroth, in his interesting Treatise on the Honey-Bee,' says, ' Members of different colonies appear to recognise their hive companions by the sense of smell;' and I believe that if colonies are sprinkled with scented syrup they may generally be safely mixed. Moreover, a bee returning to its own hive with a load of treasure is a very different creature from a hungry marauder; and it is said that a bee, if laden with honey, is allowed to enter any hive with impunity. Dr. Langstroth continues: 'There is an air of roguery about a thieving bee which, to the expert, is as characteristic as are the motions of a pickpocket to a skilful policeman. Its sneaking look and nervous, guilty agitation, once seen, can never be mistaken. It is at any rate natural that a bee which enters a wrong hive by accident should be much surprised and alarmed, and would thus probably betray herself.

So far as my own observations go, though bees habitually know and return to their own hive, still, if placed on the alighting-board of another, they often enter it without molestation. Thus:

On May 4 I put a strange bee into a hive at 2 o'clock. She remained in till 2.20, when she came out, but entered again directly. I was away most of the

afternoon, but returned at 5.30; at 6 she came out of the hive, but soon returned; and after that I saw no more of her.

May 12.-A beautiful day, and the bees very active. I placed twelve marked bees on the alighting-board of a neighbouring hive. They all went in; but before evening ten had returned home.

May 13.-Again put twelve marked bees on the alighting-board of another nest; eleven went in. The following day I found that seven had returned home; the other five I could not see.

May 17.-Took a bee, and, after feeding her and marking her white, put her to a hive next but one to her own at 4.18. She went in.

4.22. Came out and went in again.

4.29. Came out. I fed her and sent her back.

4.35. Came out. Took a little flight and came back.

4.45. Went in, but returned.

4.53. Came out.

4.52. Went in.

4.56.

5. 1. Came out, took another little flight, and returned.

5.46. Shut her and the others in with a piece of note

paper.

6.36. One of the bees forced her way through. I

opened the door; and several, including the

white one, came out directly. Till 6.50 this bee kept on going in and out every minute or two; hardly any bees were flying, only a few standing at the doors of most of the hives. At 7.20 she was still at the hive door.

May 20.-Between 6 and 7 P.M. I marked a bee and transferred her to another hive.

May 21.-Watched from 7.30 to 8.9 in the morning without seeing her. At half-past six in the evening went down again, directly saw and fed her. She was then in her new hive; but a few minutes after I observed her on the lighting-stage of her old hive; so I again fed her, and when she left my hand she returned to the new hive.

May 22.-8 o'clock. She was back in her old hive.

May 23.-About 12.30 she was again in the new hive.

Though bees which have stung and lost their sting always perish, they do not die immediately; and in the meantime they show little sign of suffering from the terrible injury. On August 25 a bee which had come several times to my honey was startled, flew to one of the windows, and had evidently lost her way. While I was putting her back she stung me, and lost her sting in doing so. I put her in through the postern, and for twenty minutes she remained on the landingstage; she then went into the hive, and after an hour returned to the honey and fed quietly, notwithstanding