Show may enlist bees as message carriers army officers impressed by plan of hawaiian HONOLULU richard kichard nieman hopes to make as his contribution to the national defense program the possibility of using message carry ing bees in much the same manber as carrier pigeons are used now nieman an engineer for the last 15 years has carried on the study of bees as an avocation his latest development has been a technique for using bees as mes sage carriers and it has now been perfected perfect cd ho he says the bees are taken to a distance of about a mile their usual honey gathering radius and are anesthetized with ether tiny capsules are arc then attached underneath their bodies containing messages written on onionskin onion skin paper about the size of a postage stamp As soon as the bee emerges eberg es from the influence of the ether its Is homing instinct reasserts itself and the bee heads at once for its hive and swarm army arav officers who have followed the experiments believe a definite role for such message carriers can be worked out tor for the army they envisage the use of them in front line warfare where the size of carrier pigeons makes them too conspicuous for use and open to destruction st by the enemy the bee it is pointed out is too small to be seen and it is believed where troops are holding down positions in close contact with the enemy they could be utilized for communications with command posts in the rear nieman also is working with local hospitals and physicians in the preparation of a bee venom serum for or the treatment of rheumatism |