“That eye so finely wrought.
Beyond the search of sense, the soar of thought.
Now vainly asks the scenes she left behind;
Its orb so full, its vision so confined!”
And he concludes that it is by the aid of memory that she retraces her passage back to the hive, by recognizing the scents of the various flowers which she has passed or visited on her outward journey,—
“The varied scents that charm’d her as she flew.”
But this idea, as Messrs. Kirby and Spence have observed, is more poetical than accurate, the bees being always accustomed to fly to their hives in right lines.
In consequence of this peculiarity of insect vision, many of those bees that return homewards after dusk in the evening, are obliged to lie abroad all night. The same peculiarity, added to the acuteness of their smell, has given birth to various contrivances for inducing bees of different hives to mingle peaceably together, as mentioned at [page 154].
From the experiments of Swammerdam, Reaumur, Hooke and others, it seems that bees and other insects, particularly those of the hymenopterous order, possess organs of vision, besides those which are properly called their eyes. These organs, known by the name of Stemmata, are three smooth, glossy, hemispherical dots, placed in a triangular position upon the vertex or top of the head. The two reticular eyes of one of these insects having been covered with fluid pitch, (the stemmata being left open,) when placed under a glass, the insect ran up and down, but without striking against the sides of the glass. In a similar experiment upon a dragon-fly (Libellula), the insect flew away, but in its flight struck against walls and other objects. The stemmata in another insect being covered, and the reticular eyes left open, seemed to cause no impediment to its usual proceedings, it appeared to see as well as before. But when both the stemmata and the eyes were covered, the insect seemed to be totally deprived of sight, it walked slowly under the glass, and when allowed its liberty, would not venture to fly. These experiments being tried upon bees by Reaumur, they remained immoveable, appearing uncertain where to direct their flight: when their eyes only were covered, they flew perpendicularly upwards till they were out of sight, seeming to follow that direction which the aid of the stemmata afforded them. These stemmata may, from their situation, assist the insect in performing its various operations in the interior of the hive; may, as Reaumur has observed, answer to them the purpose of microscopes.
I cannot conclude this chapter on the Senses of Bees without noticing the theory of that eminent physiologist Dr. Virey. He has given it as his opinion, that there are seven senses, which he thus divides. Four physical, namely, Touch, Taste, Smell, and Love; three intellectual, namely. Hearing, Sight, and Thought. (N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.) Whether Love and Thought should be added to my enumeration of the senses of bees I shall not now inquire: if they may be, this work will supply abundant evidence of both, if we comprehend the whole community of bees; for though physical love appears not to constitute any part of the pleasure of the working bee, (except from some accidental cause which has been already explained,) there is presumptive proof of its possessing thought or intellect: and although it may not be easy to adduce testimony in favour of the queen’s or the drone’s possessing thought, they both satisfactorily evince a susceptibility of physical love.