Orientation: how the Bee finds her way about

Abstract

Suppose we are standing in front of a large apiary, with twenty colonies housed side by side in an equal number of hives, all looking very much alike. While thousands of worker-bees are rushing off on their foraging flights, darting about like arrows, others can be seen returning, each making unhesitatingly to her own colony, to disappear again through the entrance hole. Suppose we catch one of these home-bound bees and after marking her with a spot of paint shut her up in a little box and carry her away, setting her free a mile away from the hive. An observer left with the hives will report to us that our marked bee has entered her old hive again only a few minutes after her release.