Thereupon I took all the artefacts in my left hand for the purpose of carrying them away. Two or three bees followed me, hovering about my left hand, and tried to alight on the empty artefacts. The space-image had changed and only the color and form could any longer be of service to the bees in their recognition of these objects.
This experiment is so clear and unequivocal that I mention it here among many others. It demonstrates:
1. The space, form, and color perceptions of the honey-bee. That these are possible only through the agency of the compound eyes is proved by other experiments (varnishing the eyes, extirpation of the antennæ, mouth-parts, etc.).
2. The memory of the honey-bee, in particular her visual and gustatory memory.
3. Her power of associating gustatory with visual memories.
4. Her ability instinctively to draw inferences from analogy: If she has once been offered honey in an artefact, she will investigate others, even those of a different color and hitherto unnoticed. These she compares by means of the visual sense, since they are relatively similar, and recognises them as similar though such objects are most unusual in the bee’s experience.
5. Her poor olfactory sense, which is useful only at very close range.
6. The onesidedness and narrow circle of her attention.
7. The rapid formation of habits.
8. The limits of imitation of bees by one another.