Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-10-21

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1S,-Did
you ever imagine what the world
RESEMBLES to a bee or an ant? Put
ti4!g yourself in an Insects place Is
not just a matter of picturing your
normal self reduced a million or so
times and walking about seeing
crumbs as loaves of bread and
Jumps in the carpet as mountains.
You must build up a new world.
II that is more fantastic than H.
G. Wells idea Of Mars. And even
then a human being can have only
a dim conception of what life would
be # he had six legs and depended
on his of smell more than
his eyes to tell him what the world
is like.
If you fancy yourself a worker
in the bee world, for example, you
must imagine yourself recognizing
hive neighbors by their distinctive
odor. Family resemblance IN the
social order of bees is a matter OF
a hive and 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 CdTTltu. IL ny SOIiit
mishap you became lost or injured
and did not return to the hive for
several days the hive odor would
gradually become faii.t 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 a tragic
ending of your useful career.
AS a honey bec you would have
an intense passion for swee. things,
and If a scientist got you in his
power and put you to work in his
experiments you would show him
that a bee cannot be fooled by Bit
ter salts in candy. You would re
a connoisseur to the extent OF rec
ognizing the difference between
candy containing %strichnine ard
candy containing quinine when the
scientist himself could not detect
any difference In taste.
These random glimpses OF life In
an insects world Ire gathered from
the experiments of DR.. N. e. Nc
Indoo of the Bureau of Entomology.
DR.. McIndoo recently has published
a paper on the senses OF insects in
vations and conclusions, especially
lilOot tNAoh4A5 W ~ piAaSsS ~
Insects Have a New Science
'In regard to odors." he says. "tn-
sects have already evolved a new
science and are capable of CLASH
flying and Analysing doors, many
of which are unknown to us. Fur
thermore, they have evolved special
organs for producing orders and
highly developed ones for recelv
ing them. In fact. the oifactc:y
sense Of insects, particularly in the
honeybee is SO highly developed
that we do not have any more con-
ception of it than does the honey-
bee (if 1t could think al we do) Of
our wonderfully developed sense Of
sight, which is able to distinguish
accurately the size, form, and co'or
of objects"
Science for centuries has puz-
zled over mysteries of animal LIE
and wondered how some OF the tiny
creatures are unerringly guided to
their mates, to food. and to their
homes. 1t was proved long ago that
sight plays a minor part in insect
life. Some scientists attribute the
remarkable feats of insects to in
stipct and others believe that
strange occult powers guide them.
Still other entomolOgistS are per-
suaded that one Of the five senses,
highly developed, must rule insect
activities as sight rules human lie.
DR.. McIndoo believes that a keen
oifactory sense accounts for much
of the extraordinary behavior of in
sects. Some moths, for instance,
attract mates from miles away.
DR.. McIndoo carried $50 Pro-
methea from Massachu-
sets to small Islands of the Flor ia
Keys. The moths were then sufh-
GENTLY far from their regional
home. the doctor figured. so that
no other specimens would interfere
with his observations. The female
moths were kept in glass Jars, some
turned upside down on the sand,
and some with netting over the top.
The males were released at vari-
Gus distances. They quickly found
their way to the females In the jars
covered with netting, but none
|came to the jars with mouths buried
in the sand.
AS the females in all the Jars
were equally visible, DIR. McIndco
found it reasonable to believe that
sight had little or nothing to do
with the attraction Of the male
moth to the female. He believes
that emanations passed away from
the jars whose mouths were covered