>From: Philip Earle <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Colours?
 
 
>I don't know if bees can see colours, they certainly know light and dark
>colours as they genarally attack black shoes, dark hair etc.. while
>ignoring ones body if you are wearing white.
>As to flower colours, I read somewhere that at the centre of each
>flower thre is a hot spot which refects ultra violet light which the
>bees can see.   I aslo beleive that bees use UV for navigation.
>
>Philip Earle
>QUB, N. Ireland.
 
Here are some references:
 
courtesy of Peter Kevan:
 
"Color vision in flower visiting insects" (1990) is available from the author:
Prof. Dr. R. Menzel, Institut fur Neurobiologie
Freien Universita"t Berlin
Konigin-Luise-Strasse 28 - 30
1000 Berlin 33, Germany.
 
von Frisch, Karl.  Bees:  Their Vision, Chemical Senses, and Language.
Ithaca, NY  Cornell University Press, 1971.
 
Horridge, Adrian.  1977.  The Compound Eye of Insects.  Scientific American
237:108-120.
 
Menzel, Randolf, Erber J.  1978.  Learning and Memory in Honey Bees.
Scientific American 239: 102-111.
 
Cheers,
Steve Clark
Vassar College