CHAPTER XXXIX
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.