COLOUR-SENSE OF THE BEE.

Patea Mail, 9 February 1882, Page 3

COLOUR-SENSE OF THE BEE.

Sir John Lubbock has been again experimenting upon Bees, The especial object of his investigations has been to ascertain how far the Bee possesses the sense of colour. He has made use of slips of coloured glass, to which the Bees have been attracted by drops of honey sprinkled upon them. There arc two conditions likely to influence the flight of a Bee in pursuit of food. He may be attracted to a flower by its colour, or by its odour. He may, in other words, either sec the flower or else scent it or smell it. He may possibly bo guided by both instinctsSome flowers have a powerful odour ; others are cxquisitley coloured. But, according to the reasoning of Sir John Lubbock, Bees are unable to distinguish between the odour of one flower and that of another. They scent in each the peculiar fragrance of honey. In their ultimate choice, however, they are determined by the sense of colour. Sir John accordingly, provided himself for his experiments with various pieces of coloured glass green, orange, red, white, and yellow. It would seem, indeed, that the rescourccs of the prism were exhausted. An exact account was taken of the number of bees that visited each piece of glass on which a drop of honey was placed as a lure, and it is Sir John Lubbock’s opinion that Bees are, in a rough kind of way, sensitive to colour, and that their favourite colour is blue.