Greg Hankins and Bill Bartlett raised the issue of learning in bees.
Actually, there is some interesting history about this subject.
 
   When the notion of "language" became adopted by the bee community back
in the 1940s and 1950s, the idea that bees could learn fell by the wayside.
That is, bee language was an "instinctual signalling system" --- learning
just didn't fit into that paradigm.
 
   In the mid-1960s my co-workers and I stumbled onto the fact that honey
bees could still learn after all.  We had a difficult time getting our
results into print due to the encrustation of thought that prevailed at the
time.  Nevertheless, we succeeded and provided the basis for subsequent
research on the topic.
 
   Patrick Wells summarized the available information on bee learning back
in 1973 in a volume on INVERTEBRATE LEARNING (New York, Plenum Press).
Later, he and I summarized the importance of learning with respect to the
recruitment of honey bees to food sources in Chapter 7 of our 1990 book,
ANATOMY OF A CONTROVERSY... (New York, Columbia University Press).  Those
interested should be able to obtain copies of those books through
interlibrary loan if the local library does not have copies.
 
   From my perspective, James Gould served primarily as a popularizer and
advocate of existing dogma.  In science, however, "facts" of today do not
always persist --- Nature becomes the ultimate judge.  A 5000 word review
of the subject that I was invited to write should soon appear in print (I
returned page proofs a few weeks ago).  Keep tuned for further information.
 
 
                                                        Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                         (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office)
Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology           (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara           (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
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*  "Discovery is to see what everyone else has seen,                  *
*         but to think what no one else has thought."                 *
*                                       ---    Albert Szent-Gyorgyi   *
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