Until his death in 1982, Karl von Frisch was the world's most renowned authority on bees. The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees is his masterwork--the culmination of more than fifty years of research. Now available for the first time in paperback, it describes in non-technical language what he discovered in a lifetime of study about honeybees--their methods of orientation, their sensory faculties, and their remarkable ability to communicate with one another. Thomas Seeley's new foreword traces the revolutionary effects of von Frisch's work, not just for the study of bees, but for all subsequent research in animal behavior. This new paperback edition also includes an "Appreciation" of von Frisch by the distinguished biologist Martin Lindauer, who was Frisch's protégé and later his colleague and friend.
This significant and lucid volume is the dichtes Buch of Karl von Frisch. Here in full flower are his classic experiments with honeybees which revolutionized our thinking about the communication behavior of animals.
Von Frisch's The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees will surely take its place in the tiny group of genuine classics of scientific literature. It is the definitive account of the waggle dance and other forms of honeybee communication as they have been so consummately elucidated by von Frisch and his students, and it contains in addition a clear summary of the vast lore of experiments on the sensory physiology and orientation of the honeybee.
Von Frisch's clear and inspiring prose sets a standard for scientific writing which has never been bettered. You will never view the insect kingdom in the same way again.
Von Frisch's The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees will surely take its place in the tiny group of genuine classics of scientific literature. It is the definitive account of the waggle dance and other forms of honeybee communication as they have been so consummately elucidated by von Frisch and his students, and it contains in addition a clear summary of the vast lore of experiments on the sensory physiology and orientation of the honeybee.
Von Frisch's clear and inspiring prose sets a standard for scientific writing which has never been bettered. You will never view the insect kingdom in the same way again.