POWERS OF COMMUNICATION
Bees have not, so far as we can tell, any system of language such as
we have, but it is quite certain that they are able to communicate
with one another. Not only can they communicate simple facts, but
they actually can, in their way, talk or tell each other things. How
this is accomplished without any voice we are not able to say, but it
is certain that in this connection the wondrous antennæ play a most
important part. If you watch bees on the board in front of the hive,
you will see them sometimes march up to one another and gently cross
the antennæ, as two duellists cross their swords before a fight. For a
fraction of a second one seems to lightly tap the antennæ of the other,
and it is evident that some communication is passing between them. It
may be some important piece of news, or perhaps it is just some hive
gossip, of interest to both the little insects. Who can tell?
An experiment which I have often tried with bees, to show that there
is the power of communication, is to put a few drops of honey on a
saucer, which must then be placed at some distance from the hive, or
there would soon be a crowd of bees round it. Next, a bee is entrapped
and placed on the honey. She will commence to sip it up, and as soon as
she has taken as much as she can carry will fly to the hive. When next
she comes back for honey she will probably be accompanied by a friend;
on the third or fourth visit, if the honey still lasts, several more
bees will also visit it, and all will be busy carrying it to the hive.
I should tell you, however, that it does not always happen that the
first bee will bring friends. I have tried the experiment many times,
and have come to the conclusion that there is no doubt the first bee
does often tell other bees of her find, and that they come to help her
to gather in the treasure. In this regard a still further experiment
may be of interest. Many of you no doubt have seen that beautiful fairy
play called _The Blue Bird_. This was written by an author called
Maurice Maeterlinck, who has also written a very interesting book, _The
Life of the Bee_. Mr. Maeterlinck has suggested for this experiment
that honey should be placed on a plate or saucer some distance from the
hive, as in the other case. Then a bee should be put to the honey and
allowed to take in a supply. While she is feeding she will be so deeply
interested that we are easily able to mark her by painting a tiny spot
of colour upon her back. Now away flies the bee to the hive, and hands
over the honey to the house bees. She will then leave the hive and fly
back to the plate for more honey. She must be trapped as she leaves
the hive, and kept in a little box. Now if bees have the power of
communicating, we might expect that the marked bee would have told some
of the other workers of her find. So far so good, but what we wish to
know from this experiment is whether or not the marked bee was able to
tell the other bees where to find the honey, or whether she only said
to them, “I know where there is some honey. Follow me, and I will show
you.” Now if the latter was the case, when we trapped the marked bee,
the others would not be able to find the honey, because they could not
follow her. But, on the other hand, if the marked bee had told her
friends how to find the honey, and had described to them exactly where
it was, it would not matter to these other bees whether she was with
them or not. Mr. Maeterlinck’s result of this ingenious experiment left
the question almost as undecided as before. He tried it twenty times,
but only one strange bee found the honey, which was placed in his study
in the house. He asks, “Was this mere chance, or had she followed
instructions received?” I have tried the same experiment a large
number of times, for it interests me very much. I am bound to say that
there appears to be some ground for believing that the marked bees do
actually give instructions to the others, for in my case the honey was
placed in a spot which was quite out of the way of the voyages of the
bees, and yet on several occasions friends of the marked bees found it;
and though the honey might be left in exactly the same position for a
week or more before the experiment was tried, yet not a single bee ever
came to it.