The Home Journal

How Do Bees Track Honey?

In the second edition of "The Bee Flora of Germany and Switzerland," its author, Dr. Alefeld, undertakes to show, by very plausible reasoning, that bees, when in quest of honey or pasturage, are guided not by the sense of smell, but by that of sight.

Little as might be objected to this theory so long as it regards only individual bees in search of honey, there still remains the query, how do other bees become apprised of the discovery, and by what means are they guided to the spot where the blossoming field or the accessible honey-spot is found? In my view, Dr. Alefeld should have answered this query; and, as he has not done so, I submit the following solution:

Every observant bee-keeper is aware that the returning honey-laden bee is bee-sniffed as she drops on the alighting board, or passes through the crowd at the entrance of her hive, and is at times very officiously overhauled and pertinaciously detained by the vigilant guards there stationed. Whether or not she gives up to them any portion of her gleanings, matters not. She is examined and diligently watched, and when she reissues, after storing away her contributions to the common fund, the guards now on the qui vive, eagerly brush the dust from their eyes with their front feet, and keenly scrutinize the direction of her flight. Before losing sight of her, one of the guards follows in hot haste: a second pursues in the same airy path; and is rapidly succeeded by a third and fourth: and thus, in due order and succession, they arrive at the place where the first prospecting explorer accidentally discovered the coveted nectar or exposed honey-pot.

This view is sustained by the facts:

1. That the bees of one colony in an apiary will sometimes alone frequent a spot, or even rob a hive, before those of a neighboring colony will seem to be conscious of the game, or participate in the spoil. There must consequently be some mode by which the bees of the same colony are conducted to the place frequented. And the explanation I have given seems to be the most simple and natural.

2. That during the gathering season, the bees do not leave their hives in masses in the morning, but separately, one after another, in Indian file, passing on in a sort of "goose march" in the air to their journey's end: and the time of march being once established, bees of other colonies not yet conversant of the way, may join in the procession to the quarry, and become takers of the common spoil.--American Bee Journal.