A lot of new information has been accumulated since 1937. See:

"Behavioral and neural analysis of associative learning in the honeybee: a
taste from the magic well" by Martin Giurfa. In "Journal of Comparative
Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology".
Volume 193, Number 8 / August, 2007.

> Von Frisch liked to describe honeybees as a "magic well" for discoveries
in biology because the more is drawn from it, the more is to draw. He
expressed his view on the plasticity underlying honeybee behavior in the
following way: "The brain of a bee is the size of a grass seed and is not
made for thinking. The actions of bees are mainly governed by instinct". 

> Certainly, von Frisch expressed this view in relation to communication
behavior but it is nevertheless striking that a tendency to dismiss the
cognitive capacities of bees -- and of insects in general -- has been
perpetuated throughout different centuries. 

> Despite this prolonged skepticism, in the last three decades honeybees
have become a useful model for the study of learning and memory. More
recently they have also acquired a new reputation in the framework of
studies addressing higher-order cognitive capacities that for long time
seemed to be the exclusive patrimony of some vertebrates such as monkeys,
pigeons or dolphins, which are reputed for their good learning abilities. 

> As learning in honeybees can be compared to that of vertebrates in many
senses, the honeybee may serve as a model system for understanding
intermediate levels of complexity of cognitive functions and their neural
substrates. The mini-brain of the honeybee, with its 960,000 neurons, has
not yet revealed all its potential. 

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