The daily star-mirror., 1922-11-22
SENSE OF SMELL
GUIDES INSECTS
Scientists Say OIfactory Powers
of Bees and Ants Are Past
Comprehension.
HAVE EVOLVED new SCIENCE
Clears Up Some of the Mysteries That
Have Puzzled Scientists for Gen.
turies-Makes Experiment
With Moths

Washington.-Did you ever imagine
what the world resembles to a bee
or an ant? Putting yourself in an
Insects place is not just a matter OF
pfcturing your normal self reduced
million or so times and walking about
seeing crumbs as loaves of bread and
Jumps in the carpet as mountains.
If you fancy yourself worker In
the bee world, for example, you must
imagine yourself recognizing hive
neighbors by their distinctive odor.
Family resemblance in the social or
der of bees is matter of hive ana
family odor rather than of peculiar
appearance.
When you returned home after a
long Journey In search of nectar the
sentinel at the door would know you
by the odor of the hive which you
carried If by some miShap you be-
came lost or injured and did not re-
turn to the hive for several days the
hive odor would gradually become
faint and when you arrived the
guardian Of the door would sound the
warning that a stranger was trying
to break In. The result would be
tragic ending of your useful career.
AS honey bee you would have
intense passion for sweet things, and
IL a scientist got you In his power and
put you to work In his experiments
you would show him that a bee can
not be fooled by bitter salts In candy.
You would be a connoisseur to the ex
tent Of recognizing the difference be-
tween candy containing strychnine
and candy containing quinine when
the scientist himself could not detect
any difference In taste.
These random glimpses of life in an
Insects world are gathered from the
experiments of DR.. N. E. McIndoo Of
the bureau of entomology. Doctor
McIndOo recently has published pa
per on the senses of insects in which
he explains his latest observations and
conclusions, especially those relating
to the olfactory sense.
Insects Have New Science.
I'm regard to odors," he says, "in-
sects have already evolved new
science and are capable of classify
ing and analyzing odors, many OF
which are unknown to us. Further
more, they have evolved special or
gans for producing odors and highly
developed ones for receiving them.
In fact, the olfactory sense of insects,
In the honeybee, is so
highly developed that we do not have
any more conception of 1t than does
the honeybee Gf it could think as we
do) of our wonderfully developed
sense of sight, which is able to distin-
guish accurately the size, form, and
color of Insects
Science for centuries has puzzled /
over mysteries of animal life and won
1ered how some of the tiny creatures
are unerringly guided to their mates. |
70 food, and to their homes. It was /
proved long ago that sight plays a |
minor part in insect life. Some scien- |
lists attribute the remarkable feats of +
Insects to instinct and others believe /
hat strange occult powers guide them.
Still other entomologsts are persuad
I'd that that one of the five senses,
highly developed, must rule insect ac-
fvities as sight rules human life.
Made Careful Observations.
Doctor McIndoo carried 45O Prone
hea cocoons from Massachusetts -
mall islands Of the Florida Keys.
,he moths were then sufficiently far
gured. so that no other specimens
rould interfere with his observa
ions. The female moths were kept
q glass Jars some turned upside
own on the sand, and some with net
Ing over the top.
The males were released at various
istances They quickly found their
,ay to the females In the Jars COW
red with netting. but none came to
hrs with mouths buried In the sand.
AS the females in all the jars were
1uaIly visible, Doctor McIndoo found
reasonable to believe that sight
ad little or nothing to do with the
Traction Of the male moth to the
male. He believes that emanatiOns
assed away from the Jars whose :
ouths were covered with netting and z
,at these emanatfons were Sensed in
me way by the male moths. AS deli
tie odors could not escape through
e Jars with mouths in the sand, the (
pnals from these jars were disre-
lrded 3
To support his theory that the OIL 4
ctory sense dominates in insect life, {.
octor McIndoo brings the evidence
other scientists. Wheeler, he says,
und that different species Of ants 6
We different odors that can be dis 3
lguished even by the feeble nose e
a human being. The odor Of one 6
ecies Is described as being pungent 3
d ethereal; two others are smoky; &
lers are like rotten coconuts; and &
II another species of ant has 8
ell reminiscent of lemon geranium. 3
another scientist, Miss Fielde, e
nks that the mother ant transmits 6
family odor to all Of her offspring, 3
4 she says that ants can differen- &
te the innate odors peculiar to the &
oart, a-,,d indixzidual x,c