HAVE BEES CONSCIENCE AS WELL AS INSTINCT ?
[To TEE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR,"'
SIR,—This question was raised in my mind, and answered in the affirmative, by the following incident, which I observed in the course of a. country ramble on the coast of Devon. There were several small bumble-bees steadily at work among the many gay-coloured blossoms which form a perfect flower-bed on either side of a cliff-walk on that lovely promontory opposite the little fishing-town of Salcombe. Each bee kept- to his own particular flower, as (so Sir John Lubbock tells us) all well-conducted bees should do. But one became puzzled by the likeness in colour between black knapweed and purple thistles. His flower for this outing was evi- dently the knapweed, and when he had exhausted all its blossoms in the immediate neighbourhood, he was beguiled by similarity in colour into trying a thistle, but on alighting he instantly discovered his mistake, and flew about looking for more knapweed, which he might easily have found by flying a few yards further. Instead, however, he returned to. the inviting thistle-head, and this time gave himself up with perfect abandon to its luscious delights, stifling the voice of conscience which on his first visit he had so in- stantly obeyed. These little bumble-bees well repay the time spent on watching their small, busy lives. On another occasion, when camping for the day in a fir-wood, my sister became aware of two of these soft little creatures buzzing round and round the skirt of her drew in such a deter- mined and spirited way that we felt they meant business and not mischief. My sister drew her skirt away when the bees instantly made for a tiny hole in the bank, evidently their house-door. Their gentle persistent manner of making their meaning known to us was most striking.—I am, Sir, &c., A. N. V.
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