Peter said:

 Bees collect stuff that's sticky 
because its useful. They also collect random stuff like sawdust, as if it were 
food.


Obviously, odors can attract bees, and volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals are part of the equation.  We've found that the number of bees attracted to a source tends to follow the concentration of the volatiles - stronger odors carry farther, attract more bees - if they associate the  odor of the chemical with something they want to collect.  Some times, that recognition is to a chemical that the bees recognize or to a chemical in the same chemical category as something they recognize.  At others, its a learned association.

Remember though, bees also use vision.  We've found that they look for things and are attracted to visual clues.  Bright shiny, odd bit of different color from background, surface that looks like water.  Surprisingly they'll sometimes not recognize something visually that they should know.  Pollen and pollen sub on a dish, carefully smoothed down to a level surface will go untouched.  Pour it in a pile, and they dive into it.  



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