Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1918-05-26 | Page 44 | The Sense of Smell in Insects

i THE SE 1 OF SMELL INSECTs SECTS SECTS' l T is 15 a matter of ot common knowledge IT that the smelling power of ot mankind mankind man man- kind is but feebly developed In comparison comparison comparison com com- parison with that of certain members of the brute creation and the tho proverbial proverbial pro pro- best smeller is the dog In InthIs Inthis Inthis this case e-ase however as in so m many ny others proverb has fallen far tar behind behind behind be be- hind tho the van of ot scientific investigation As As' As the nose noso of ot the tho man is to the nose of ot the tho hound so the tho nose of at tho the hound Is to the tho smelling organs organ of various vanous insects The insects insect's outlook outlook outlook out look upon tho the world appears to ba be pre eminently through the thc olfactory sense just as ours is pre-eminently pre through the ilie eyes and the tho respective senses are quite comparable with each ch other in their powers Thus Thua it Is s I recorded th that t a male moth can smell 1 out the only female In the neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood at a distance of a mile In tho the case of ot ants it has been suggested that the movable antennae which bear the organs of oC smell give these insects an aD olfactory space perception not unlike the optical and tactual space perception perception tion of ot man A storehouse of fascinating information information tion concerning the role rolo which smells play In insect life liCe Is laid open to us by Dr N. N E E. E monograph Recognition Among Insects Just published by the tho Smithsonian tion This work is based to a large luge extent upon uvon the authors author's remarkable studies of ot bees becs There Is abundant evidence that smell Is the chief chic means of or recognition among these insects In order to approach this subject through facts already familiar to human human human hu hu- hu- hu man experience we e should sho remember that even our degenerate noses are able to distinguish a horse from a cow ow a n. goat from a roe and a dog from fron a a. cat With practice we e can accomplish greater feats Dr Mcindoo was able at the tho beginning of at his work with bees to distinguish only tho the more moro pronounced pronoun pro pro- pronounced noun cod odors the odors the hive odor brood odor honey odor and wax odor At Atthe Atthe Atthe the end of one summer however ho could distinguish the three castes of bees workers bees workers drones and queens merely by smelling them theIn and had bad even learned to recognize e some sub subordinate scents In connection with these STO groups Old workers for example besides possessing possessing pos vos- sassing tho the characteristic bee beo odor emit when seized another distinct odor which comes from the poison ejected through the sting A worker carrying pollen also gives off ott an odor due to the tho pollen The younger the workers the less pronounced Is the bee odor emitted To the human nose noso the Oi odor or emitted by br nurse bees and wax generators is much less pronounced pronounced pronounced pro pro- than Is the odor from old workers When ne newly ly emerged from I their cells workers have havo a faint sweetish odor but lack the characterIstic characteristic character character- islic bee odor The majority of ot old drones have a faint odor while whilo almost every young drone has a a. stronger odor slightly different from rom that of young workers and less sweetish Tho fact that the trained human nose is able to d distinguish these differences dif di- dif dif- makes it easy t to credit tho the assertion that many finer shades of odor are perceptible to tho b bees boes es th them themselves m- m selves and play an important Va part in their relations to one another Dr quotes Buttel Reepen's enumeration enumeration enumeration enu enu- of or of the tho smells of the honeybee honey bee as follows 1 ThiB The Individual odor 2 3 Tho The family odor common to the offspring offspring off ott- spring of one queen 3 The brood and chyle odor 4 The drone odor 5 The wax odor differing for different colonies col col- onies 6 The honey odor distinct for each colon colony If H. a n. queen bo be daubed with honey from Irom a colony she will be readily accepted by that colony when inserted 7 The hive or colony odor norm normally any a mixture of the tho preceding odors or some of ot them An Au abnormal hive odor may arise I under conditions of ot disease c Tho rho author describes a long series of experiments by means of ot which ho he hohas hohas has bas shown the reality of ot these and other scents in honey bees and points out how they affect tho the life lire of a n hive Tho The subject has bas many ap applications in practical bee keeping For instance the success attained d in uniting b bees es from two or Ot more colonies depends upon the formation of a now new hive odor In order to have havo peace among the tho members of ot the new colony the ong- ong original inal hive odors and individual odors must bo thoroughly mixed The ad ud- nd- nd of ot smoke helps in tl this is process 1 I cr The hive Oi odor or serves as the sign or badge by which all the members of or a 9 t I. I colony know oae one another and anti a foreign for tor I 4 t t eign hive odor promptly provokes tos- tos I among workers Worker bees it returnIng to the hives from Crom the field pass the tho guards unmolested because they carry the proper sign All Insects apparently emit odors dor but only olly those of or bees honeybees and 3 arts Its tS have been carefully studied In Batt th the e family odor seems to play a much h I in is it docs does more important role than bees where the hive odor has become tho the principal scent Concerning the 6 scent-producing scent organs 0 of f i Insects n S to be hE Is avail U abundance information an of ti able e