Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/62

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58
THE SENSES OF BEES.

honey. This is a striking instance of the delicacy of smell in these insects, as not only was the honey quite concealed from view, but its odorous effluvia from its being covered and disguised in the experiment, could not be much diffused. We repeated successfully the same experiment. In fact, after the first trial, we had no doubt of the issue of the second; for if once the sense of smell in the Bees ascertained the existence and situation of the honey, we had seen enough of their ingenuity in other cases, not to doubt their success in obtaining entrance. In endeavouring to ascertain the precise situation of the organ, there is considerable difficulty, and our curiosity cannot easily be gratified without some sacrifice of bee-life. Huber's experiment to ascertain this pointy is full of interest, and we recommend a perusal of the account of it as detailed in his work. He dipped a pencil in oil of turpentine, a substance very disagreeable to insects, and presented it to the thorax, the stigmata, the abdomen, the antennæ, the eyes, and the proboscis, without the bee betraying the slightest symptom of uneasy feeling. It was otherwise when he held it to the mouth; it started, left the honey by which it had been enticed, and was on the point of taking flight when the pencil was withdrawn. He next filled the mouth with flour-paste, when the insect seemed to have lost the sense of smell altogether. Honey did not attract it, nor did offensive odours, even the formidable turpentine, annoy it. The organ of smell, therefore, appears to reside in the mouth, or in the parts depending on it. To those who