Pheromones of the honey bee - The secretion of the Nassanoff gland of the worker

Gas chromatographic analysis of the secretion of the Nassanoff gland of worker honey bees within 4 min of its collection indicates the presence of both isomers of citral to the combined extentof about 3 pet cent of the amount of geraniol present. Field tests show that citral is the most attractive single compound in the secretion to honey bees. It is more attractive when tested alone (0·39 μg) against a combination of the other known components of the secretion (geraniol, 100 μg, with geranic and nerolic acids, 100 μg). Citral (0·77 μg) + geraniol (0·20 to 0·39 μg) was almost as attractive to bees as the odour of Nassanoff secretion collected from ten foraging bees.