The behaviour of homecoming honeybees when the position of the entrance of their hive has been changed during their absence was studied. When the change caused much confusion, the bees soon reorientated in flight to the new entrance, but when there was only slight confusion many bees alighted at the old entrance site and ran to the new one. Such a trail of running bees was formed only when a hundred or more bees approached the hive together in the first instance. This stimulated a few bees to alight near the old entrance position and the sight of these alighted bees caused the others to alight. On alighting, the bees ran in all directions until one of them happened to find the new entrance and started to disperse Nassanoff gland scent, so attracting the other bees. Within a few minutes a trail of bees was formed, many of them dispersing scent, between the old and new positions of the entrance. Any visual landmark, between the entrances, such as a narrow, contrasting band of paint, greatly aided trail formation and alone enabled the bees to learn the way. Once the bees had learned the way, some continued to alight near the old entrance site and run from there to the new one, even when they approached the hive individually. However, many bees that ran between the entrances for some time eventually learned to fly round to the new entrance after visiting the old entrance, and most of these finally reorientated to the new entrance completely.