Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http:/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924003227646 Puate 1. L. L, LANGSTROTH at 70. LANGSTROTH ON THE HIVE & HONEY BEE REVISED BY DADANT ete Twentieth Edition PUBLISHED BY DADANT & SONS HaMILTON, Hancock County,“ ILiinois, U., Se A; 1919 Cy) (6: 39466 COPYRIGHTED 1888 BY CHAS. DADANT & SON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHTED 1919 BY C. P. DADANT PLATE 2 L. L. LANGSTROTH at 80. BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH Lorenzo Lorrain LanastrorH, the “father of American Apiculture,” was born in the city of Philadelphia, December 25, 1810. He early showed unusual interest in insect life. His parents were intelligent and in comfortable circumstances, but they were not pleased to see him “waste so much time” in digging holes in the gravel walks, filling them with crumbs of bread and dead flies, to wateh the curious habits of the ants. No books of any kind on natural history were put into his hands, but, on the contrary, much was said to discourage his “strange notions.” Still he persisted in his observations, and gave to them much of the time that his playmates spent in sport. In 1827, he entered Yale College, graduating in 1831. His father’s means having failed, he supported himself by teach- ing, while pursuing his theological studies. After serving as mathematical tutor in Yale College for nearly two years, he was ordained Pastor of a Congregational church in Andover, Massachusetts, in May, 1836, and was married in August of that year to Miss A. M. Tucker of New Haven. Strange to say, notwithstanding his passion in early life for studying the habits of insects, he took no interest in such pursuits during his college life. In 1837, the sight of a glass vessel filled with beautiful comb honey, on the table of a friend, led him to visit the attic where the bees were kept. This revived all his enthusiasm, and before he went home he purchased two colonies of bees in old box hives. The only lit- iii iv BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH. erary knowledge which he then had of bee-culture was gleaned from the Latin writings of Virgil, and from a modern writer, “who was somewhat skeptical as to the existence of a queen- bee.” In 1839, Mr. Langstroth removed to Greenfield, Massachu- setts. His health was much impaired, and he had resigned his pastorate. Increasing very gradually the number of his colo- nies, he sought information on all sides. The “Letters of Huber” and the work of Dr. Bevan on the honey bee (London, 1888), fell into his hands and gave him an introduction to the vast literature of bee-keeping. In 1848, having removed to Philadelphia, Mr. Langstroth, with the help of his wife, began to experiment with hives of different forms, but made no special improvements in them until 1851, when he devised the movable frame hive, used at the present day in preference to all others. This is recorded in his journal, under the date of October 30, 1851, with the following remarks: “The use of these frames will, I am per- suaded, give a new impetus to the easy and profitable manage- ment of bees.” This invention, which gave him perfect control over all the combs of the hive, enabled him afterwards to make many remarks and incidental discoveries, the most of which he re- corded in his book, on the habits and the natural history of the honey-bee. The first edition of the work was published in 1852, and in its preparation he was greatly assisted by his ac- complished wife. A revised edition was published in 1857, another in 1859, and large editions, without further revisions, were published until 1889, when the Dadants undertook the first re-writing of the book. In January, 1852, Mr. Langstroth applied for a patent on PuaTE 3. CHARLES DADANT at 70. PIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH. v his invention. This was granted him; but he was deprived of all the profits of this valuable discovery, by infringements and subsequent law-suits, which impoverished him and. gave him trouble for years; though no doubt remains now in the mind of any one, as to the originality and priority of his discoveries. From the very beginning, his hive was adopted by such men as Quinby, Grimm and others, while the inventions of Munu and Debeauvoys are now buried in oblivion. Removing to Oxford, Ohio, in 1858, Mr. Langstroth, with the help of his son, engaged in the propagation of the Italian bee. From his large apiary he sold in one season $2,000 worth of Italian queens. “This amount looks small at the present stage of bee-keeping, but it was enormous at a time when so few people were interested in it. The death of his only son, and repeated attacks of a serious head trouble, together with physical infirmities caused by a railroad aceident, compelled Mr. Langstroth to abandon ex- tensive bee-culture in 1874. But when his health permitted, his ideas were always turned toward improvements in bee- culture. On the 19th of August, 1895, he wrote us, asking us to try the feeding of bees with malted milk, to induce the rearing of brood. He had also written to others on the same subject. On the 19th of September he wrote in the American Bee Journal, that, after comparative experinaents he had found that a thirteen comb Langstroth hive gave more honey than the ordinary ten frame hive, thus showing that his mind was at all times occupied with bees. Mr. Langstroth died October 6th, 1895, at Dayton, Ohio, while delivering a sermon. He was nearly eighty-five years old. His name is now “venerated” by American bee-keepers, vi BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH. who are aware of the great debt due him by the fraternity. He is to them what Dzierzon* is to German Apiarists, a master _ whose teachings will be retained for ages. Mr. Langstroth was an eminent scholar. His bee library was one of the most extensive in the world. He learned French without a teacher, simply through his knowledge of Latin, for the sole purpose of reading the many valuable works on bees in the French language. He was a pleasant and eloquent speaker. His writings are praised by all, and we can not close his biography better than by quoting an able writer, who ealled him the “Huber of America.” * Pronounce Tseertsone. PuatE 4, CHARLES DADANT at 80. BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DADANT Mr. Charles Dadant was born May 22, 1817, at Vaux-Sous- Aubigny, in the golden hills of Burgundy, France. After his education in the College of Langres, he went into the merean- tile business in that city, but ill-suecess induced him to remove to America. He settled in Hamilton, Illinois, in 1863, and found a profitable occupation in bee-culture, which in his hands yielded marvelous results. He soon became noted as one of the leading apiarists of the world. After a few years of trial he made a trip to Italy, in 1872, to import the bees of that country to America. Though at first unsuccessful, he persisted in his efforts and finally achieved great success. He was the first to lay down rules for the safe transportation of queen bees across the sea, which is now a matter of daily occurrence. Later on, in partnership with his son, C. P. Dadant, he un- dertook the’ manufacture of comb foundation which has been continued by the firm, together with the management of sev- eral large apiaries, run almost exclusively for the production of extracted honey. Although well versed in the English language, which he mastered at the age of forty-six, with the help of a pocket dictionary, Mr. Dadant was never able to speak it fluently and many of the readers of his numerous writings were astonished when meeting him to find that he could converse with difficulty. His writings were not confined to American publications, for in 1870 he began writing for European bee-journals and con- vii viii BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DADANT. tinued to do so until his methods were adopted, especially in Switzerland, France, Italy and Russia, where the hive which he recommended is now known under his name. For twenty years he was a regular contributor to the Revue Internationale D’Apiculture, and, as a result, there is probably not another bee-writer whose name is so thoroughly known the world over. Mr. Dadant was made an honorary member of more than twenty bee-keepers’ associations throughout the world and his death, which occurred July 16, 1902, was lamented by every bee publication on both continents. Mr. Dadant was a congenial man and a philosopher. He retained his cheerfulness of spirit to his last day. In addition to his supervision of the revision of this book, he was the author of a small treatise on bees, “Petit Cours d’Apieulture Pratique.”” He also published, in connection with his son, a pamphlet on ‘‘Extracted Honey,’’ 1881, now out of print. PREFACE The first editions of the work of Langstroth were honored with the title of ‘“The Classic in Bee-Culture.” The first re- written revision was published in 1889, and this was so well received in the bee-keeping world that Mr. Charles Dadant translated it into the French language. With the help of Edouard Bertrand, it was published at Geneva. A little later a Russian edition was published—by Kandratieff, of St. Pe- tersburg—which has caused a revolution in bee-culture in Rus- sia. A Spanish edition is published in Barcelona by Pons Fab- regues. Mr. Charles Dadant died in 1902. Meantime progress has continued and we again have to bring this classic work for- ward by additions and a few‘corrections. In this edition we have aimed to preserve the first experi- ments and quotations made, whenever they have proven cor- rect. We believe in giving credit to the first man who has ascertained a fact in natural history or has made a discovery. We have discarded all the cuts from Girard, because it was evident that most of his anatomical studies were copied from Barbd and Clerici, without giving them credit, and we have preferred to secure permission to copy the latter, whose work has not yet been excelled. It was published in Milan, under the title of ‘‘Atlante Di Apicoltura,’’ by A. De Rauschenfels, former editor of L’Apicoltore. Experienced bee-keepers will notice that we do not describe many new implements. It is because we believe in teaching beginners to use only that which has been thoroughly tested and is unquestionably good. Many new things will not stand the test of long years of practice. It is sufficient, among other things, to quote the metal corners for frames and the reversible hives. Metal corners were recommended at the time of our first revision, and we gave them a mention; they are now dis- PREFACE. carded even by their inventor. Reversible hives were the craze, and were praised in every way. We gave two of them a mention in our pages, with a warning against their use. Re- versible hives are now almost entirely abandoned. We recommend the large hives, yet we know they are not popular, because buyers want inexpensive hives. We have bowed before public wishes and give descriptions of several popular hives which are certainly successful. But we use large hives ourselves, for we consider them the best. In our preface of the first revision we extended our thanks to Mr. C. F. Muth, now deceased, and to Miss Favard, for their help in our work. The writer has undertaken this last revision alone, but owes gratitude for sound advice on many points to a man who has to do with both practice and theory and whose long experience entitles him to the consideration of all bee-keepers, Doctor C. C. Miller, author of ‘A Year Among the Bees” and ‘Fifty Years Among the Bees.” Dr. Miller, with small hives, enlarged at the proper time and again reduced in the brood chamber for the honey crop, has shown what could be done with intelligent and energetic management. He is not only a successful writer but a most extensive producer of comb honey, and is justly entitled to the name given him of the ‘‘Nestor of American Bee-Keeping.”’ The work of Father Langstroth, sustained in Europe by the pen of the Senior Dadant, has entirely changed European methods of bee-culture. The improved hive, based upon the Langstroth system, has been adopted all over the world, and testimonials come to us from the most remote countries showing that the methods taught have proven successful. The principal changes in this edition aré upon the question of ‘‘Diseases,’”” as much progress has lately been made in the knowledge concerning foul-brood. Cc. P. DADANT. Hamilton, Illinois, January, 1919. THE HIVE AND HONEY BEE CHAPTER I. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 1. Att the leading facts in the natural history, and the breeding of bees, ought to be as familiar to the Apiarist, as the same class of facts in the rearing of his domestic ani- mals, A few crude and half-digested notions, however sat- isfactory to the old-fashioned bee-keeper, will no longer meet the wants of those who desire to conduct bee-culture on an extended and profitable system. Hence we have found it ad- visable to give a short description of the principal organs of this interesting insect and abridged passages taken from various scientific writers whose works have thrown an entirely new light on many points in the physiology of the bee. If the reader will bear with us in this arduous task he will find that we have tried to make the descriptions plain and simple, avoiding, as much as possible, scientific words unintelligible to many of us. 2. Honey-bees are insects belonging to the order Hy- menoptera; thus named from their four membranous, gauzy wings. They can flourish only when associated in large num- bers, as in a colony. Alone, a single bee is almost as helpless as a new-born child, being numbed by the chill of a cool sum- mer night. 3. The habitation provided for bees is called a hive. The inside of a bee-hive shows a number of combs about half-an- inch apart and suspended from its upper side. These combs 2 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. are formed of hexagonal cells of various sizes, in which the bees raise their young and deposit their stores. 4. In a family, or colony of bees, are found (Plate 5)— 1st, One bee of peculiar shape, commonly called the Queen, or mother-bee. She is the only perfect female in the hive, and all the eggs are laid by her; 2nd, Many thousands of worker-bees, or incomplete females, whose office is, while young, to take care of the brood and do the inside work of the hive; and when older, to go to the fields and gather honey, pollen, water, and propolis or bee- glue, for the needs of the colony; and 3d, At certain seasons of the year, some hundreds and even thousands of large bees, called Drones, or male-bees, whose sole function is to fertilize the young queens, or virgin females. Before describing the differences that characterize each of these three kinds, we will study the organs which, to a greater or less extent, they possess in common, and which are most prominently found in the main type, the worker-bee. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 5. In bees, as in all insects, the frame-work or skeleton that supports the body is not internal, as in mammals, but mostly external. It is formed of a horny substance, scientific- ally called chitine, and well described in the following quota- tion: 6. ‘‘Chitine is capable of being moulded into almost every conceivable shape and appearance. It forms the hard back of the repulsive cockroach, the beautiful scale-like feathers of the gaudy butterfly, the delicate membrane which supports the lace- wing in mid air, the transparent cornea covering the eyes of all insects, the almost impalpable films cast by the moulting larve, and the black and yellow rings of our native and imported bees, besides internal braces, tendons, membranes, and ducts innu- merable. The external skeleton, hard for the most part, and varied in thickness in beautiful adaptation to the strain +o which it may be exposed, gives persistency of form to the little wearer; but it needs, wherever movement is necessary, to have Puate 5, yo i ait ere QUEEN, DRONE AND WORKER. Magnified and natural size. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 3 delicate extensions joining the edges of its unyielding plates. This we may understand by examining the legs of a lobster or crab, furnished like those of the bee, with a shelly case, but so large that no magnifying glass is required. Here we see that the thick coat is reduced to a thin and easily creased mem- brane, where, by flexion, one part is made to pass over the other.’’...... ‘Again, almost every part of the body is covered by hairs, the form, structure, direction, and position of which, to the very smallest, have a meaning.’’ (Cheshire, ‘‘Bees and Bee- keeping,’’ p. 30. London, 1887.) ‘¢. Mr. Cheshire explains that, as the skeleton or frame- work of the bee is not sensitive, these hairs act as organs of touch, each one containing a nerve. They also act as clothing and aid in retaining heat— ‘fand give protection, as the stiff, straight hairs of the eyes, whilst some act as brushes for cleaning, others are thin and webbed for holding pollen grains; whilst by varied modifica- tions, others again act as graspers, sieves, piercers, or mechan- - —~ical stops to limit excessive movement.’’ 8. The three sections of the body of the honey-bee are per- fectly distinct: the head; the thorax, or centre of locomotion, bearing the wings and legs; and the abdomen, containing the honey-sack, stomach, bowels, and the main breathing or- gans. The principal exterior organs of the head are the antenne, the eyes, and the parts composing the mouth. 9. The eyes are five in number, two composite eyes, one on each side of the head, which are but clusters of small eyes or facets, and three convex eyes, or ocelli, arranged in a tri- angle at the top of the head. 10. The facets of the composite eyes, thousands in num- ber, are six-sided, like the cells of the honey-eomb, and being directed towards nearly every point, they permit the insect to see in a great number of directions at the same time. 11. In comparing the eyes of worker, queen and drone, Mr. Cheshire says: 4 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. ‘*The worker spends much of her time in the open air. Ac- curate and powerful vision are essentials to the proper prosecu- tion of her labors, and here I found the compound eye possess- ing about 6,300 facets. In the mother of this worker I expected to find a less number, for queens know little of daylight. After wedding they are out of doors but once, or at most twice, in a year.* This example verified my forecast, by showing 4,920 facets on each side of the head. A son of this mother, much a stay-at-home also, was next taken. His facets were irregular Fig. 1. THE COMPOSITE EYE OF A WORKER-BEE MAGNIFIED. (Copied from the Atlante di Apicoltura, microscopic studies of Count Gaetano Barbd, of Milan.) in size, those at the lower part of the eye Being much less than those near the top; but they reached the immense number of 13,090 on each side of the head. Why should the visual ap- paratus of the drone be so extraordinarily developed beyond that of the worker, whose need of the eye seems at first to be much more pressing than his?’’ * When going out with a swarm. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 5 This question Mr. Cheshire answers, as will be seen fur- ther, in considering the antenna. (26)* 12. The three small eyes, ocelli, are thought by Maurice Girard (“Les Abeilles,” Paris, 1878), and others, to have a nicroscopie function, for sight at short distances. In the hive, the work is performed in the dark, and possibly (?) these eyes are fitted for this purpose. Fig. 2. SMALL EYES, OR OCELLI OF THE DRONE. Magnified. (Copied from Barbd.) The facets on each side belong to the large eyes. 13. Their return from long distances, either to their hive or to the place where they have found food, proves that bees can see very far. Yet, when the entrance to their hive has been changed, even only a few inches, they cannot readily find it. Their many eyes looking in different directions, enable them *The reader will readily understand that the numbers between par- entheses refer to the paragraphs bearing those numbers. ‘This is for the convenience of the student. 6 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, to guide themselves by the relative position of objects, hence they always return to the identical spot they left. 14. If we place a colony in a forest where the rays of the sun can scarcely penetrate, the bees, at their exit from the hive, will fly several times around their new abode, then, selecting a small aperture through the dense foliage, they will rise above the forest, in quest of the flowers scattered in the fields. And like children in a nutting party, they will gather the.« crop here and there, a mile or more away, without fear of being lost or unable to return. As soon as their honey-sack is full, or, if a threatening cloud passes before the sun, they start for home, without any hesitation, and, among so many trees, even while the wind mingles the leafy twigs, they find their way; so perfect is the organization of their composite eyes. 15. Bees can notice and remember colors. While experi- menting on this faculty, we placed some honey on small pieces of differently colored paper. A bee alighted on a yellow paper, sucked her load and returned to her hive. While she was absent, we moved the paper. Returning, she came directly to the spot, but, noticing that the yellow paper was not there, she made several inquiring circles in the air, and then alighted upon it. According to Mr. A. J. Cook a similar experiment with the same results, was made by Lub- bock. (‘“Bee-keepers’ Guide,” Lansing, 1884.) 16. We usually give our bees flour, in shallow boxes, at the opening of Spring, before the pollen appears in the flowers. These boxes are brought in at night. Every morn- ing they are put out again, after the bees have commenced flying and hover around the spot. ‘If by chance, some bits of white paper are scattered about the place, the bees visit those papers, mistaking them for flour, on account of the color. 17. But ‘‘the celebrated Darwin was mistaken in saying that the colorless blossoms, which he names obscure blossoms, are scarcely visited by insects, while the most highly colored blossoms are very fondly visited by bees.’? (Gaston Bonnier, ‘¢‘Les Nectaires,’’ Paris, 1879.) GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. v4 18. For, although color attracts bees, it is only one of the means used by nature to bring them in contact with the flowers. The smell of honey is, certainly, the main attraction, and this attraction is so powerful, that frequently, at day- break in the summer, the bees will be found in full flight, gathering the honey which has been secreted in the night, when nothing, on the preceding evening, could have predicted such LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF DRONE ANTENNA, NERVE STRUCTURES RE- MOVED. (Magnified 20 times. From Cheshire.) A. sc, scape; fl, flagellum; 1, 2, &c., number of joints; af, antennary fossa, or hollow; tr, trachea; m, soft membrane; wh, webbed hairs; Im, levator muscle; dm, depressor muscle. B, small portion of flagellum (magnified 60 times); n, nerve; u, articulation of joint. honey from the tulip trees, (Lirtodendron tulipifera) on very clear moonlight nights. F 19. The antennez (fig. 3, A, B), two flexible horns which adorn the head of the bee, are black, and composed of twelve joints, in the queen and the worker, and thirteen in the drone. * The first of these joints, the scape, next to the head, is longer than the others, and can move in every direction. The an- tenna is covered with hairs. 8 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. ‘‘These hairs, standing above the general surface, constitute the antenne marvelous touch organs; and as they are distrib- uted all round each joint, the worker-bee in a blossom cup, or with its head thrust into a cell in the darkness of the hive, is, by their means, as able accurately to determine as though she saw; while the queen, whose antenna is made after the same model, cau perfectly distinguish the condition of every part of the cell into which her head may be thrust. The last joint, which is flattened on one side, near the end, is more thickly studded, and here the hairs are uniformly bent towards the axis of the whole organ. No one could have watched bees without discovering that, by the antenne, intercommunication is ac- complished; but for this purpose front and side hairs alone are required; and the drone, unlike the queen and worker, very suggestively, has no others, since the condition of the cells is no part of his care, if only the larder be well furnished.’’ (Cheshire.) 20. The celebrated Francois Huber, of Geneva, made a number of experiments on the antenne, and ascertained that they are organs of smell’and feeling. Before citing his discoveries, we must pay our tribute of admiration to this wonderful man. (Plate 6.) Huber, in early manhood, lost the use of his eyes. His opponents imagined that to state this fact would materially discredit his observations. And to make their case still stronger, they asserted that his servant, Francis Burnens, by whose aid he conducted his experiments, was only an ignorant peasant. Now this so-ealled “ignorant peasant” was a man of strong native intellect, possessing the indefatigable energy and enthusiasm indispensable to a good observer. He was a noble specimen of a self-made man, and rose to be the chief magis- trate in the village where he resided. Huber has paid a worthy tribute to his intelligence, fidelity, patience, energy and skill, A single fact will show the character of the man. It became necessary, in a certain experiment, to examine sepa- rately all the bees in two hives. “Burnens spent eleven days in performing this work, and during the whole time he scarcely PuateE 6. FRANCOIS HUBER, Author of the ‘“‘Nowvelles Observations sur les Abeilles,’’ published in Geneva, Switzerland, 1792-1814. This writer is mentioned pages 8, 9, 10, 14, 47, 50, 51, 54, 55, 57, 59, 77, 84, 99, 104, 105, 110, 123, 124, 141, 180, 206, * 209, 244, 282, 300, 301, 394, 491. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 9 allowed himself any relaxation, but what the relief of his eyes required.” Huber’s work on bees is such an admirable specimen of the induetive system of reasoning, that it might well be studied as a model of the only way of investigating nature, so as to arrive at reliable results. 21. Huber was assisted in his researches, not only by Bur- nens, but by his own wife, to whom he was betrothed before. the loss of his sight, and who nobly persisted in marrying him, notwithstanding his misfortune and the strenuous dis- suasions of her friends. They lived longer than the ordinary term of human life in the enjoyment of great domestic hap- piness, and the amiable naturalist, through her assiduous at- tentions, scarcely felt the loss of his sight. 22. Milton is believed by many to have been a better poet in consequence of his blindness; and it is highly probable that Huber was a better Apiarist from the same cause. His active, yet reflective mind, demanded constant employment; and he found, in the study of the habits of the honey-bee, full scope for his powers. All the observations and experiments of his faithful assistants being daily reported, many inquiries and suggestions were made by him, which might not have occurred to him, had he possessed the use of his eyes. Few, like him, have such command of both time and money, as to be able to prosecute on so grand a scale, for a series of years, the most costly experiments. Having repeatedly verified his most important observations, we take great de- light in holding him up to our countrymen as the PRINCE oF APIARISTS. 23. Huber, having imprisoned a queen in a wire cage, saw the bees pass their antenne through the meshes of the cage, and turn them in every direction. The queen answered these tokens of love by clinging to the cage and crossing her antenne with theirs. Some bees were trying to draw the queen out, and several extended their tongues to feed her through the meshes. Wonderful as the experiment seemed at that time, 10 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. the fact is verified now by daily occurrences in queen-rearing. Huber adds: ‘‘How can we doubt now that the communication between the workers and the queen was maintained by the touch of the antennse?’’ 24. That bees can hear, either by their antenne or some other organ, few will now deny, even although the sound of a gun near the hive is entirely unnoticed by them. ‘Should some alien being watch humanity during a thun- der-storm, he might quite similarly decide that thunder was to us inaudible. Clap might follow clap without securing any ex- ternal sign of recognition; yet let a little child with tiny voice but shriek for help, and all would at once be awakened to activity. So with the bee: sounds appealing to its instincts meet with immediate response, while others evoke no wasted emotion.’’ (Cheshire.) * Fig. 4. PARTS OF SURFACE OF ANTENNAE. (Magnified 360 times. From Cheshire.) A, portion of front surface of one of the lower members of the flag- ellum (worker or queen), s’, smelling organ; f’, feeling hair. B, portion of the side and back of same (worker), h, ordinary hair; ce’, conoid hair; ho (auditory?) hollows. C, portion of one of the lower members of flagellum (drone). D, portion of lower member of flagellum (back, worker or queen). ‘‘The sound that bees produce by the vibrating of their wings is often the means of calling one another. If you place a bee-hive in a very dark room, their humming will draw the scattered bees together. In vain do you cover the hive, or change its place, the bees will invariably go towards the spot whence the sound comes.’’ (Collin, ‘‘Guide du Propriétaire d’Abeilles,’’ Paris, 1875.) 25. To prove that bees can hear is easy, but to determine GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, 11 the location of the organ is more difficult. The small holes which were discovered on the surface of the antennx, have been considered as organs of hearing by Lefébure (1838), and by others later. Cheshire has noticed these small holes in the six or seven last articulations of the antenne: holes which become more numerous towards the end of the antenna, so that the last joint carries perhaps twenty. He, also, con- siders these as the organs of hearing, especially because they are larger in the drones, who may need to distinguish the sounds of the queen’s wings.* On this question, Prof. Cook, in his “Bee-keepers’ Guide,” says: ‘*No Apiarist has failed to notice the effect of various sounds made by the bees upon their comrades of the hive, and how con- tagious are the sharp note of anger, the low hum of fear, and the pleasant tone of a swarm as they commence to enter their new home. Now, whether insects take note of these vibra- tions as we recognize pitch, or whether they just distinguish the tremor, I think no one knows.’’ 26. It is well proven that bees can smell with their an- tenn, and Cheshire carefully describes the “smell hollows,” not to be mistaken for the “ear holes,” which are smaller, but also located on the antenne. “In the case of the worker, the eight active joints of the an- tenna have an average of fifteen rows, of twenty smell-hollows each, or 2,400 on each antenna. The queen has a less number, giving about 1,600 on each antenna. If these organs are olfac- tory, we see the reason. The worker’s necessity to smell nectar explains all. We, perhaps, exclaim—Can it be that these little threads we call antenne can thus carry thousands of organs each requiring its own nerve end? But greater surprises await us, and I must admit that the examinations astonished me greatly. In the drone antenna we have thirteen joints in all, of which nine are barrel-shaped and special, and these are covered completely by smell-hollows. An average of thirty rows of these, seventy in a row, on the nine joints of the two antenne, give the astounding number of 37,800 distinct or- * The queens and the drones, in flight, each have a peculiar and eas- ily distinguishable sound, 12 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. gans. When I couple this development with the greater size of the eye of the drone, and ask what is his function, why needs he such a magnificent equipment? and remember that he has not to seent the nectar from afar, nor spy out the coy blossoms as they peep between the leaves, I feel forced to the conclusion that the pursuit of the queen renders them neces- sary.’’ (Cheshire.) LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH PORTION OF FLAGELLUM OF ANTENNA OF WORKER. (Magnified 300 times. From Cheshire.) f, feeling hair; s, smelling organ; ho, hollow; c, conoid or cone- shaped hair; hl, hypodermal or under-skin layer; n,n, nervés in bun- dles; ar, articulation; c’, conoid hair, magnified 800 times. 27. While giving these short quotations and beautiful en- gravings from Cheshire’s anatomy of the bee, we earnestly advise the scientific bee-student to procure and read his work. Mr. Cheshire shows us those minute organs so beautifully and extensively magnified, that in reading his book we feel as though we were transported by some Genius inside of the body of a giant insect, every detail of whose organism was laid open before us. However wonderful the statement made above, of the existence of nearly 20,000 organs in such a small thing as the antenna of a bee, this fact will not be disputed. Those of our bee-friends, who have had the good luck to meet the editor of the British Bee-Journal, Mr. Cowan, during his trip to America, in 1887, will long remember the wonderful microscopical studies, and the microscope which he brought GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 13 with him. This instrument, the most powerful by far that we ever had seen, gave us a practical peep into the domain of the infinitesimal. 28. Better than any other description of the smallness of atoms is that given by Flammarion, in his “Astronomie Popu- laire”’: “*It is proven,’’ he says, ‘‘that an atom cannot be larger than one ten-millionth of a millimeter. It results from this, that the number of atoms contained in the head of a pin, of an ordinary diameter, would not be less than 8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. And if it was possible to count these atoms, and to separate them, at the rate of one billion per second, it would take 250,- 000 years to number them.’’ 29. Girard reports, as follows, an experiment on the olfac- tory organs of our little insects: ‘“While a bee was intently occupied sucking honey, we brought near her head a pin dipped in ether. She at once showed symptoms of a great anxiety; but an inodorous pin re- mained entirely unnoticed.’’ 30. Whatever be the location of their olfactory organs, they are unquestionably endowed with a marvelous power of detecting the odor of honey in flowers or elsewhere. One day we discovered that some bees had entered our honey- room, through the key-hole. We turned them out, and stopped it up. Some time after, more bees had entered, and we vainly searched for the crevice that admitted them. Finally a feeble hum caused us to notice that they were coming down the chimney to the fire-place, which was closed by a screen. The wedge which held this screen having become somewhat loose, the motion of the screen in windy weather opened a hole just large enough for a bee to crawl through. A few bees were waiting behind the screen, and as soon as its motion allowed one to pass, she manifested her joy by the humming which led to the discovery. These bees, escaping with a load, when 14 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. the door was opened, had become customary and interested vis- itors. 31. Every bee-keeper has noticed that their flight is guided by the scent of flowers, though they be a mile or more away. In the city of Keokuk, situated on a hill in a curve of the Mississippi, the bees cross the river, a mile wide, to find the flowers on the opposite bank. 82. ‘‘Not only do bees have a very acute sense of smell, but they add to this faculty the remembrance of sensations. Here is an example: We had placed some honey on a window. Bees soon crowded upon it. Then the honey was taken away, and the outside shutters were closed and remained so the whole winter. When, in Spring, the shutters were opened again, the bees came back, although there was no honey on the window. No doubt, they remembered that they got honey there before. So, an interval of several months was not sufficient to efface the impression they had received.—(Huber, ‘‘ Nouvelles Observa- tions sur les Abeilles,’’ Genéve, 1814.) 33. It is well known, also, that bees wintered in cellars (646) remember their previous location when taken out in the Spring. , If food is given to a colony, at the same hour, and in the same spot, for two days in succession, they will expect it the third day, at the same time and place. 34. ‘“‘When one of her antenne is cut off, no change takes place in the behavior of the queen. If you cut both antenne near the head, this mother, formerly held in such high consid- eration by her people, loses all her influence, and even the maternal instinct disappears. Instead of laying her eggs in the cells, she drops them here and there.’’—(Huber.) The experiments made by Huber on workers and drones, in regard to the loss of the antennz, are equally conclusive. The workers, deprived of their antennew, returned to the hive, where they remained inactive and soon deserted it forever, light being the only thing which seemed to have any attraction for them. In the same way, drones, deprived of their antenne, de- ey: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 15 serted the observatory hive, as soon as the light was excluded from it, although it was late in the afternoon, and no drones were flying out. Their exit was attributed to the loss of this organ, which helps to direct them in darkness. 35. The inference is obvious, that a bee deprived of her antenne loses the use of her intellect. “*Tf you deprive a bird, a pigeon, for instance, of its cerebral lobe, it will be deprived of its instinct, yet it will live if you stuff it with food. Furthermore, its brain will eventually be renewed, thus bringing back all the uses of its senses.’’— (Claude Bernard, ‘‘Science Expérimentale.’’) Bees, however, cannot live without their antenne, and these organs would not grow again, like the brains of birds, the legs of crawfishes, or the tails of lizards. 36. Let us notice, in reference to the sensorial organs, that the brain of workers is very much larger than that of either the queen or the drone, who need but a very common instinct to perform their functions; while the various oceupa- tions of the workers, who act as nurses, purveyors, sweep- ers, watchful wardens, and directors of the economy of the bee-hive, necessitate an enlargement of faculties very extra- ordinary in so small an insect. 37. We cannot leave this subject without quoting the cele- brated Hollander, Swammerdam, as Cheshire does: “‘T cannot refrain from confessing, to the glory of the im- mense, incomprehensible Architect, that I have but imperfectly described and represented this small organ; for to represent it to the life in its full perfection, far exceeds the utmost efforts of human knowledge.’’ 38. We have now come to the most difficult organ to deseribe—the mouth of the bee. But we will first visit the interior of the head and of the thorax, to find the nursing and salivary glands, and explain their uses. 39. The workers have three pairs of glands: two pairs, different in form, placed in the head (fig. 6), and one larger pair located in the thorax or corselet. The upper pair, which 16 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEL. resembles a string of onions, is absent in the drones and queens. According to Girard, these upper glands were dis- covered by Meckel in 1846. They are very large and dilated in the young worker bees, while they act as nurses, but are slim in the bees of a broodless colony. In the old bees, that . S thse (ae “Pats, 2 EIS wera f a re 4 eH Ze “NN Af He. &. SALIVARY GLANDS OF THE WORKER-BEE, (Magnified. After Barbd.) a, a, glands of the head; b, glands of the thorax. The two upper pairs are glands of the head, the lower are glands of the thorax. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 17 no longer nurse the brood, they wither more and more, till they become shrunken and seemingly dried. Hence Maurice Girard, and others before him, have concluded very rationally that these upper glands produce the milky food given to the larvee, during the first days of their development. Mr. Ches- hire has confirmed the very reasonable theory that the queen, during the time of egg-laying, is fed by the workers from the secretions of this gland. iy ‘ Hy ‘ 4 ' ’ ° , v , LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH HEAD OF WORKER. (Magnified 14 times. From Cheshire.) ad, antenna, with three muscles attached to mcp, meso-cephalic pillar; cl clypeus; lbr, labrum or upper lip; No. 1, upper salivary or chyle gland (this gland really runs in front of the meso-cephalic pillars, but here the latter are kept in view); 0, opening of same in the mouth; oc, ccellus or simple eye; cg, cephalic ganglion, or brain system; n, neck; th, thorax; oe, oesophagus or gullet; sd, 2, 3, salivary ducts of glands two and three; sv, salivary valve; ph pharynx; lb, labium or lower lip, with its parts separated for display; mt, mentum or chin; mo, mouth; mx, maxilla; Ip, labial palpi; 2, ligula or tongue; b, bouton. 40. ‘‘The queen at certain periods has the power of pro- ducing between 2,000 and 3,000 eggs daily (98). A careful calculation shows that 90,000 of these would oceupy a cubic inch and weigh 270 grains. So that a good queen, for days or ‘even weeks* in succession, would deposit, every twenty-four * These facts have been demonstrated so repeatedly, that they are as well established as the most common laws in the breeding of our domestic animals, ¢ N 18 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. hours, between six and nine grains of highly-developed and extremely rich tissue-forming matter. Taking the lowest esti- mate, she then yields the incredible quantity of twice her own weight daily, or more accurately four times, since at this period more than half her weight consists of eggs. Is not the reader ready to exclaim: What enormous powers of digestion she must possess! and since pollen is the only tissue-forming food of bees, what pellets of this must she constantly keep swallowing and how large must be the amount of her dejections! But what are the facts? Dissection reveals that her chyle stomach is smaller than that of the worker, and that at the time of her highest efforts, often scarcely a pollen grain is discoverable within it, its contents consisting of a transparent mass, micro- scopically indistinguishable from the so-called ‘‘royal jelly’’; while the most practical bee-men say that they never saw the queen pass any dejections at all. These contradictions are utterly inexplicable, except upon the theory I propound and advocate. She does pass dejections, for I have witnessed the fact; but these are very watery.’’....—(Cheshire.) Thus, according to Cheshire, the food eaten by the queen, during egg-laying, is already digested and assimilated by the bees, for her use. Her dejections, which are scanty and liquid, are licked up by the workers, as are also the dejections of the drones, if not too abundant. 41. The other two pairs of glands, which are common to workers, queens, and drones, evidently produce the saliva. The functions of both must be the same, for they unite in the same canal (sd, 2, 3, fig. 7), terminated by a valvule, which, passing though the mentum or chin (mt), opens at the base of the tongue. The saliva produced by them is used for different purposes. It helps the digestion; it changes the chemical condition of the nectar (246) harvested from the flowers; it helps to knead the scales of wax (201) of which the combs are built, and perhaps the propolis (236) with which the hives are varnished. It is used also to dilute the honey when too thick, to moisten the (263) pollen grains, to wash the hairs when daubed with honey, ete. These glands yield their saliva while the tongue of the bees GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 19 is stretched out; but the upper glands (No. 1, fig. 7), which open on both sides of the pharynx or mouth, (ph), can yield their product only when the tongue is bent backwards, to help feed the larva (64) lying at the bottom of the cell. 42. The mouth of the bee has mandibles or outer jaws, which move sidewise, like those of ants and other insects, instead of up and down as in higher animals. These jaws are short, thick, without teeth, and beveled inside so as to form a hollow when joined together, as two spoons would do. With them, they manipulate the wax to build their comb, open the anthers of flowers to get the honey, and seize and hold, to drag them out, robbers or intruders, cr débris of any kind. Fig. 8 Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Head of honey- Head of horey- Mandible of honey- Mandible of honey- hornet. bee. hornet. bee. ( Magnified.) (Magnified. ) (Magnified.) (Magnified.) 43. Fig. 10 shows the jaws of the Mexican hornet highly magnified. Fig. 11 shows the jaws of the honey-bee, highly magnified. Notice the difference in the shape of the two, the saw-like appearance of the one, and the spatula shape of the other. A glance at these figures is enough to convince any intelligent horticulturist of the truth of Aristotle’s remark— made more than two thousand years ago—that “bees hurt no kinds of sound fruit, but wasps and hornets are very destruc- tive to them.” We shall give further evidence concerning the correctness of this statement. (871) 44, Below the antennx, the clypeus or shield (cl, fig. 7) projects, which is prolongated by an elastic rim called labrum or upper lip (Ibr). The pharynx is the mouth (ph), and the 20 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. cesophagus (ce) the gullet, through which the food goes into the stomach. As we have already seen, the canals of the upper glands open on each side of the mouth, and discharge their product into it at will, 45. The chin or mentum (mt) is not literally a part of the mouth. It can move forward and backward, and supports several pieces, among which is the tongue, or proboscis, or ligula (1). The tongue is not an extension of the chin, but has its root in it, and can only be partly drawn back into it, its extremity, when at rest, being folded back under the chin. 46. There are, on each side of the tongue, the labial palpi or feelers* (b, fig. 12, and lp, fig. 7), which are fastened to the chin by hinged joints. They are composed of four pieces each, the first two of which are broad, and the other two small and thin, and provided with sensitive hairs of a very fine fabric. Outside of the palpi are the maxille (c, fig. 12, and mx, fig. 7) which in some insects have the function of jaws, but which, in the bee, only serve, with the palpi, to enfold the tongue in a sort of tube, formed and opened at the will of the insect, and which, by a certain muscular motion, as also by the ability of the tongue to move up and down in this tube, force the food up into the mouth. 47. The tongue is covered with hairs, which are of graded sizes, so that those nearest the tip or bouton are thin and flexible. It—the tongue—is grooved like a trough, the edges of which can also unite to form a tube, with perfect joints. It is easily understood that if the tongue were a tube, the pollen grains when conveyed through it would obstruct it, especially when daubed with very thick honey. 48. ‘‘A most beautiful adaptation here becomes evident. Nectar gathered from blossoms needs conversion into honey. Its cane sugar must be changed into grape sugar, and this is accomplished by the admixture of the salivary secretions of Systems Nos. 2 and 3 (sd, 2, 3, fig. 7), either one or both. The tongue is drawn into the mentum by the shortening of the re- Organs of taste according to Leydig and Jobert. Piate 7, COUNT GAETANO BARBO, Author of the Microscopic Studies, shown in figs, 1, 2, 6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 26, 28, 33, 37, 38, 39, 44, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, 21 tractor lingue muscle, which, as it contracts, diminishes the space above the salivary valve, and so pumps out the saliva, which mixes with the nectar as it rises, by methods we now 320) Jas ates S Fig. 12. TONGUE AND APPENDAGES. (Magnified. After Barbd.) a, tongue; b, labial palpi; c, maxilla. understand. Bees, it has often been observed, feed on thick syrup slowly; the reason is simple. The thick syrup will not pass readily through minute passages without thinning by,a 22 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. fluid. This fluid is saliva, which is demanded in larger quanti- ties than the poor bees can supply. They are able, however, to yield it in surprising volume, which also explains how it is that these little marvels can so well clean themselves from the sticky body honey. The saliva is to them both soap and water, and the tongue and surrounding parts, after any amount of daub- ing, will soon shine with the lustre of a mirror.’’—(Cheshire.) 49. The length of the tongue of the honey-bee is of great importance to bee-keepers. Some flowers, such as red clover, have a corolla so deep, that few bees are able to gather the honey produced in them. Therefore, one of the chief aims of progressive bee-keepers, should be to raise bees with longer tongues. This can undoubtedly be done sooner or later, by careful selection, in the same way that all our domestic plants and animals have been improved in the past. For this, patience and time are required. 50. The thorax is the intermediate part of the body. It is also called “corselet.” It is formed of three rings soldered into one. Each of the three rings bears one pair of legs, on its under side; and each of the last two rings bears a pair of wings, on its upper side; making four wings and six legs, all fastened on the thorax. 51. Each leg is composed of nine joints (B, Plate 8), the two nearest the body (c, tr) being short. The next three are the femur (f), tibia (#1), and planta () also called meta- tarsus, The last four joints form the tarsus (t) or foot. 52. The last joint of the tarsus, or tip of the foot, is pro- vided with two claws (an, fig. 13), that cling to objects or to the surfaces on which the bee climbs. These claws can be folded, somewhat like those of a eat (A, fig. 13), or ean be turned upwards (B, fig. 13) when the bees are hanging in clusters. When they walk on a polished surface, like the pane of a window, which the claws cannot grasp, the latter are folded down; but there is between them a small rubber-like pocket, pulvillus (pv, A, B,) which secretes a sticky, “clammy” substance, that enables the bee to cling to the smoothest sur- faces. House-flies and other insects cling to walls and win- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 23 dows by the same process. It was formerly asserted that insects cling to the smooth surfaces by air suction, but the above explanation is correct, and you can actually see “the footprints of a fly” on a pane of glass, with the help of a microscope, remnants of the “clammy” substance being quite discernible. By this ingenious arrangement, bees can walk indifferently upon almost anything, since wherever the claws fail, the pulvilli take their place. 53. ‘‘But another contrivance, equally beautiful, remains to be noticed. The pulvillus is carried folded in the middle (as at C, fig. 13), but opens out when applied to a surface, for it has at its upper part an elastic and curved rod (cr) which straightens as the pulvillus is pressed down, C and D, fig. 13, making this clear. The flattened-out pulvillus thus holds strongly while pulled, by the weight of the bee, along the sur- face, to which it adheres, but comes up at once if lifted and rolled off from its opposite sides, just as we should peel a wet postage stamp from its envelope. The bee, then, is held se- curely till it attempts to lift the leg, when it is freed at once; and, by this exquisite yet simple plan, it can fix and release each foot at least twenty times per second.’’—(Cheshire.) Fig. 13. BEE’S FOOT IN CLIMBING, SHOWING ACTION OF PULVILLUS. (Magnified 30 times. From Cheshire.) A, position of the foot in climbing slippery surface or glass; pv, pul- villus; fh, feeling hairs; an, anguiculus, or claw; t, tarsal joint. B, position of the foot in climbing rough surface. C, section of pulvillus just touching flat surface; cr, curved rod. D, pulvillus applied to surface. 54. The legs of bees, like all other parts of their body, are covered with hairs of varied shapes and sizes, the deserip- tion of which is beyond the limits of this work. We will con- 24 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. fine ourselves to a short explanation of the uses which have a direct bearing upon the work of the bee. The hairs of the front, or first, pair of legs (C, Plate 8), are especially useful in cleaning the eyes and the tongue, and gathering the pollen grains. 55. On the metatarsus, the lower of the two largest joints of these front legs, is a rounded notch (H, a, Plate 8), closed when the leg is folded, by a sort of spur or velum, (v, C, H, H) fastened to the tibia, or upper large joint. The learned Dr. Dubini, of Milan (L’Ape, Milan, 1881), speaks of it as being used to cleanse the antenne and the tongue of the pollen that sticks to them. Mr. Cheshire thinks it is used only to cleanse the antenne, from the fact that this notch, which has teeth like a comb (F, Plate 3), is found as well in the queen and the drone as in the worker, and that its aperture corre- sponds exactly to the different sizes of the antenne of each sex. (H, Plate 8.) 56. The second pair of legs have no notch, but the lower extremity of the tibia bears a spur (D, s, Plate 8) or spine, which is used in loosening the pellets of pollen, brought to the hive on the tibias of the posterior legs (Plate 8). This spur also helps in cleaning the wings. 57. The posterior or hind legs are very remarkable, in sev- eral respects. Between the tibia and the metatarsus (B, wp, Plate 8) they have an articulation, whose parts close like pincers, and which serves to loosen from the abdomen the scales of wax to be mentioned further on (201). As neither the queen nor the drone produces wax, they are destitute of this implement. 58. ‘‘But the chief interest centers on the two joints last mentioned (ti, p, A, B, Plate 8), as a device for carrying the pollen of the blossom home to the hive. The metatarsus 1s en- larged into a sub-quadrangular form, constituting a flattish plate, slightly convex on both surfaces. The outer face (p, A, Plate 8) is not remarkable, but the one next the body (p, B) is furnished with stiff combs, the teeth of which are horny, straight spines, set closely, and arranged in transverse rows PuaTe 8. LEGS OF WORKER-BEE. (Magnified 10 times. From Cheshire.) A, third right leg, side from the body. ti, tibia, showing pollen basket; p, planta or metatarsus; ¢, tarsus. B, third right leg, side next the body. c, coxa; tr, trochanter; wp, pincers. C, front right leg. v, velum; 0b, brush; eb, eye-brush. D, second right leg. 0b, brush. EH, joint of first leg, more enlarged. v, velum; a, antenna comb; 0b, brush. F, teeth of antenna comb, magnified 200 times. G, cross-section of tibia through pollen-basket. xn, nerve; h, holding hairs; fa, farina or pollen. H, antenna in process of cleaning. wv, velum; s, scraping edge; a, antenna; I, section of leg; c, antenna comb, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 25 across the joint, a little projecting above its plane, and the tips of one comb slightly overlapping the basis of the next. Their colour is reddish-brown; and entangled in the combs, we almost invariably discover pollen granules, which have been at first picked up by the thoracic hairs, but combed out by the constant play of the legs over the breast—in which work, the second pair, bearing a strong resemblance to the third, per- forms an important part.’’ 59. ‘‘So soon as the bees have loaded these combs, they do not return to the hive, but transfer the pollen to the hollow sides of the tibia, seen at ti, A. This concavity, corbicula, or pollen basket, is smooth and hairless, except at the edges, whence spring long, slender, curved spines, two sets following the line of the bottom and sides of the basket, while a third bends over its front. The concavity fits it to contain pollen, while the marginal hairs greatly increase its possible load, like the sloping stakes which the farmer places round the sides of his waggon when he desires to carry loose hay, the set bent over (see G, Plate 8) accomplishing the purpose of the cords by which he saves his property from being lost on the road. But a difficulty arises: How can the pollen be transferred from the metatarsal comb to the basket above? Easily; for it is the left metatarsus that charges the right basket, and vice versa. The legs are crossed, and the metatarsus naturally scrapes its comb-face on the upper edge of the opposite tibia, in the direc- tion from the base of the combs towards their tips. These upper hairs standing over wp, B, or close to ti, A (which are opposite sides of the same joint), are nearly straight, and pass between the comb teeth. The pollen, as removed, is caught by the bent-over hairs, and secured. Each scrap adds to the mass, until the face of the joint is more than covered, and the hairs just embrace the pellet as we see it in the cross-section at G. The worker now hies homewards, and the spine, as a crow-bar, does its work.’’—(Cheshire.) 60. The four wings, in two pairs, are supported by hol- low nervures or ribs, and have a great power of resistance. In flight, the small wings are fastened to the large ones by small hooks (fig. 14), located on the edge of their outer nervure, that catch in a fold of the inner edge of the large 26 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. wings. Thus united, they present to the air a stronger sur- face and give the bees a greater power of flight. No doubt, a single pair of wings of the same surface would have better attained the desired aim, but their width would have annoyed the bees in going inside of the cells, either to feed the larve or to deposit supplies. Imagine a blue fly trying, with its wide wings, to go inside of a cell! ope WIG 249 19 1S A ie Fig. 14. WINGS OF THE HONEY BEE, (Magnified. From Cheshire.) A, anterior wing, under side; p,p, plait. B, posterior wing, under side; h,h, hooklets. C, cross-section of wings through line, a,b, showing hooklets in plait. 61. “Mr. Gaurichon has noticed that when the bees fan, or ventilate the entrance of the hive, their wings are not hooked together as they are in flight, but act independently of one another.” (Dubini, 1881.) A German entomologist, Landois, states that, according to the pitch of their hum, the bees’ flight must at times be equal to 440 vibrations in a sec- ond, but he noticed that this speed could not be kept up with- out fatigue. It is well known that the more rapid the vibra- tions, the higher the pitch. 62. Dicestine Apparatus.—The honey obtained from the blossoms, after mixing with the saliva (41), and passing GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 37 through the mouth and the wsophagus, is conveyed into the honey-sack, 63. This organ, located in the abdomen, is not larger than a very small pea, and so perfectly transparent as to appear, when filled, of the same color as its contents; it is properly Fig. 15. DIGESTING APPARATUS. (Magnified. After Barbo.) a, tongue; b, csophagus; c, honey-sack; d, stomach; e, malpighian tubes; f, small intestine; g, large intestine. 28 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BER. the first stomach, and is surrounded by muscles which enable the bee to compress it, and empty its contents through her proboscis into the eells. She can also, at will, keep a supply, to be digested, at leisure, when leaving with a swarm (418), or while in the cluster during the cold of winter (620), and use it only as fast as necessary. For this purpose, the honey- sack is supplied at its lower extremity, inside, with a round ball, which Burmeister has called the stomach-mouth, and which has been beautifully described by Schiemenz (1883). It opens by a complex valve and connects the honey-sack with the digesting-stomach, through a tube or canal, projecting in- side the latter. This canal is lmed with hairs pointing down- ward, which prevent the solid food, such as pollen grains, from returning to the honey-sack. Cheshire affirms that this stomach-mouth, which protrudes into the honey-sack, acts as a sort of sieve, and strains the honey from the grains of pollen floating in it, appropriating them for digestion, and allowing the honey to flow back into the sack. The bee could thus, at will, “eat or drink from the mixed diet she carries.” 64. According to Schonfeld, (Illustrierte Bienenzeitung) the chyle, or milky food which is used to feed the young larvee,—and which we have shown to be, most probably, the product of the upper pair of glands (39-40),—would be produced from the digesting-stomach, which he and others eall chyle-stomach. Although we are not competent in the matter, we would remark that the so-called chyle-stomach produces chyme, or digested food, from which the chyle, or nourishing constituent, is absorbed by the ecell-lining of the stomach and of the intestines, and finally converted into blood. We do not see how this chyle could be thickened and regurgitated by the stomach to be returned to the mouth. 65. In mammals, the chyliferous vessels do not exist in the stomach, but in the intestine, the function of the stomach being only to digest the food by changing it into chyme, from which the chyle is afterwards separated, for the use of the body. 66. Again, in the mammals, the glands which produce GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 29 milk are composed of small clusters of acini, which take their secretions from the blood and empty them into vessels ter- minating at the surface of the breast. The action of the upper gland (39-40), in the bee, is exactly similar to the action of those lacteal glands, and the fact that this gland is absent in the queen and in the drone is, to us, positive evidence that the chylous or lacteal food (given the larve) is pro- duced by these glands alone, and not by the direct action of the digesting-stomach. 67. The food arriving in the stomach is mixed with the gastrie juice, which helps its transformation, and the undu- lating motion of the stomach _ sends it to its lower extremity, toward the intestines. But, before entering into them, the chyme receives the product of several glands which have been named Malpighian tubes (e, fig. 15) from the scientist Mal- pighi, who was the first to notice them. A grinding motion of the museles placed at the junction of the stomach with the intestines, acting on the grains of pollen not yet sufficiently dissolved, prepares them to yield their assimilable particles to the absorbing cells in the walls of the small intestine. Thence they go into the large intestine, from which the refuse matter is discharged by the worker-bee, while on the wing. We italicize the words, because this fact has considerable bearing on the health of the bees, when confined by cold or other causes, as will be seen further on. (639.) 68. ‘‘The nervous system (fig. 16) of the honey-bee, the seat of sensation and of the understanding, is very interesting. The honey-bee, more perfect in organization than the butterfly, begins as a larva deficient in legs, very much inferior to the caterpillar from which the butterfly proceeds. The drones, al- though larger than the workers, espegially in the head, have a smaller brain. This state of things coincides with the fact that the drones are not intelligent, while no one can refuse gleams of intelligence to the worker-bees, as nurses and builders.’’— (Girard.) 69. The heart, or organ of the circulation of the blood, formed of five elongated rooms, in the abdomen, is terminated 30 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. in the thorax, and in the head, by the aorta, which is not con- . - . . tractible. Each room of the heart presents, on either side, an opening for the returning blood. The blood, “soaking through Fig. 16. NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE HONEY BEE. (Magnified. After Barbd.) the body” (Cheshire), comes in contact with the air contained in the tracheal ramifications, where it is arterialized, or in plainer words, renovated, before coming back to the heart, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 31 The bee is not provided with any discernible blood or lymphatic vessels save the aorta, and its blood is colorless. 70. The breathing organ of the bee is spread through its Fig. 17. TRACHEAL BAG. (Magnified. After Barbd.) whole body. It is formed of membranous vessels, or trachen, whose ramifications spread and penetrate into the organs, as the rootlets of a plant sink down into the soil. Connected 32 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. with these, there is, on each side of the abdominal cavity, a large tracheal bag, (fig. 17), variable in form and dimensions, according to the quantity of air that it contains. Bees breathe through holes, or spiracles, which are placed on each side of the body, and open into the tracheal bags and trachea. 71. ‘‘The act of respiration consists in the alternate dila- tation and contraction of the abdominal segments. By filling, or emptying the air-bags, the bee can change her specific grav- ity. When a bee is preparing herself for flight, the act of respiration resembles that of birds, under similar circum- stances. At the moment of expanding her wings, which is indeed an act of respiration, the spiracles or breathing holes are expanded, and the air, rushing into them, is extended into the whole body, which by the expansion of the air-bags, is en- larged in bulk, and rendered of less specific gravity; so that when the spiracles are closed, at the instant the insect endeav- ors to make the first stroke with, and raise itself upon, its wings, it is enabled to rise in the air, and sustain a long and powerful flight, with but little muscular exertion.’?’ * * * ‘‘Newport has shown that the development of heat in insects, just as in vertebrates, depends on the quantity and activity of respiration and the volume of circulation.’’—(Packard, Salem, 1869.) 72. Mr. Cheshire notices that bees, even in full, vigorous youth and strength, are not at all times able to take flight. The reader may have noticed that if they are frightened, or even touched with the finger, they will occasionally move only by slight jumps. This temporary inability to fly, is due to the small quantity of air that their tracheal saes contain. They were at rest, their blood circulated slowly, their body was comparatively heavy; but when their wings were ex- panded, the tracheal bags, that were as flat as ribbons, were soon filled with air, and they were ready to take wing. Practical Apiarists well know that bees may be shaken off the comb, and gathered up, with a shovel, with a spoon, or even with the hands, to be weighed or measured in open ves- sels, like seeds. The foregoing remarks give the explanation of this fact, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 33 73. When the tracheal bags are filled with air, bees, owing to their peculiar structure, can best discharge the residue con- tained in their intestines. The queen is differently formed, her ovaries occupying part of the space belonging to the air-sacks in the worker, hence her discharges, like those of the drones (190), take place in the hive. (40.) The queen’s air-sacks are much smaller than those of the worker, hence comes a difficulty to take wing. 74. ‘*The tracheous bags of the abdomen, which we would be tempted to name abdominal lungs, hold in reserve the air needed to arterialize the blood and to produce muscular strength and heat, in connection with the powerful flight of the insect. Heat is indispensable, to keep up the high temperature of the hive, for the building of comb and rearing of brood. The aerial vesicles increase, by their resonance, the intensity of the humming, and are used also like the valve of a balloon, to slacken or increase the speed of the flight, by the variation of density, according to the quantity or weight, of the air that they contain. This accumulated air is also the means of pre- venting asphyxy, which the insects resist a long time. Lastly, these air-bags help in the mating of the sexes, which takes place in the air; the swelling of the vesicles being indispensable to the bursting forth of the male organs.’’—(Girard.) 75. The hum that is produced by the vibration of the wings is different in each of the three kinds of inhabitants of the hive, and easily recognizable to a practiced ear. The hum of the drone is the most sonorous. But worker-bees, when angry or frightened, or when they call each other, emit dif- ferent and sharper sounds. On the production of these sounds, bee-keepers and entomologists are far from being agreed. ‘(Inside of every opening of the aerial tubes is a valvular muscle, which helps to control the mechanism of respiration. This can be opened or closed at will, by the bee, to prevent the ingress, or egress, of air. It is by this means that the air is kept in the large tracheous bags and decreases the specifie grav- ity of the insect. The main resonant organ of the bee is placed in front of this stopping muscle, at the entrance of the trachea. 34 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. ‘(The humming is not produced solely by the vibrating of the wings, as is generally admitted. Chabrier, Burmeister, Lan- dois, have discovered in the humming, three different sounds: the first, caused by the vibration of the wings; the second, sharper, by the vibration of the rings of the abdomen; the third, the most intense and acute, produced by a true vocal mechanism, placed at the orifices of the aerial tubes.’’— (Girard.) 76. The bee-keeper who understands the language of bees, can turn it to his advantage. Here are some examples: ‘¢When something seems to irritate the bees, who are in front of a hive, on the alighting-board, they emit a short sound, Z-2-2Z-, jumping at the same time towards the hive. This is a warning. Then they fly and examine the object of their fears, remaining sustained by their wings, near the suspected object, and emitting at the same time, a distinct and prolonged sound. This is a sign of great suspicion. If the object moves quickly, or otherwise shows hostile intent, the song is changed into a piercing cry for help, in a voice whistling with anger. They dash forward violently and blindly, and try to sting. “‘When they are quiet and satisfied, their voice is the hum- ming of a grave tune; or, if they do not move their wings, an allegro murmur. If they are suddenly caught or compressed, the sound is one of distress. If a hive is jarred at a time when all the bees are quiet, the mass speedily raise a hum, which ceases as suddenly. In a queenless hive, the sound is doleful, lasts longer, and at times increases in force. When bees swarm, the tune is clear and gay, showing manifest happiness.’’— (Gttl-Klauss, 1836.) @¢. The German pastor Stahala has published a very com- plete study on the language of bees, which has appeared in some of the bee-papers of Italy, France and America. We do not consider it, as altogether accurate; but there are some sounds described that all bee-keepers ought to study, especially the doleful wail of colonies which have lost their queen, and have no means of rearing another. 78. Tue Stinc.—The sting of a bee, a terror to so many, is indispensable to her preservation. Without it, the attrae- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 35 tion, which honey presents to man and animals, must have caused the complete destruction of this precious insect, years ago. 79. This organ is composed, 1st, of a whitish vesicle, or poison sack, about the size of a small mustard seed, located, in the abdomen, in which the venomous liquid is stored. This liquid is elaborated in two long canals, similar in appearance to the Malpighian tubes, each of which is terminated at its upper extremity, by a small round bag or enlargement. It is similar to formic acid, although perhaps more poisonous. 80. 2nd, In the last ring of the abdomen, and connected with the poison sack, is a firm and sharp sheath, open in its whole length, which supports the sting proper, and acts independently of it. The bee can force this sheath out of the abdomen, or draw it in, at will. 81. 3d, The sting is composed of two spears of a polished, chestnut-colored, horny substance, which, supported by the sheath, make a very sharp weapon. In the act of stinging, the spears emerge from the sheath, about two-thirds of their length. Between them and on each of them, is a small groove, through which the liquid, coming from the poison-sack, is ejected into the wound. 82. Each spear of the sting has about nine barbs, which are turned back like those of a fish hook, and prevent the sting from being easily withdrawn. When the insect is pre- pared to sting, one of these spears, having a little longer point than the other, first darts into the flesh, and being fixed by its foremost barb, the other strikes in also, and they alter- nately penetrate deeper and deeper, till they acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their barbed hooks. “*Meanwhile, the poison is forced to the end of the spears, by much the same process which carries the venom from the tooth of a viper when it bites.’’—(Girard.) 83. The muscles, though invisible to the eye, are yet strong enough to force the sting, to the depth of one-twelfth of an inch, through the thick skin of a man’s hand. 36 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEH, “The action of the sting,’’ says Paley, ‘‘affords an example of the union of chemistry and mechanism; of chemistry, in re- spect to the venom which can produce such powerful effects; of mechanism, as the sting is a compound instrument. The ma- chinery would have been comparatively useless, had it not been for the chemical process by which, in the insect’s body, honey Fig. 18. THE STING OF THE WORKER BER, AND ITS APPENDAGES. (Magnified. After Barbd.) a, sting; b, poison-sack; c,c, poison glands; d,d, secreting bags. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 37 is converted into poison; and on the other hand, the poison would have been ineffectual, without an instrument to wound, and a syringe to inject it. ‘‘Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the micro- scope, it appears as broad as the back of a pretty thick knife, rough, uneven, and full of notches and furrows, and so far from anything like sharpness, that an instrument as blunt us this seemed to be, would not serve even to cleave wood. An ex- ceedingly small needle being also examined, it resembled a rough iron bar out of a smith’s forge. The sting of a bee viewed through the same instrument, showed everywhere a pol- ish amazingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or in- equality, and ended in a point too fine to be discerned.’’ 84, As the extremity of the sting is barbed like an arrow, the bee can seldom withdraw it, if the substance into which she darts it is at all tenacious. A strange peculiarity of the sting and the muscles pertaining to it, is their spasmodic action, which continues quite a while, even after the bee has torn herself away, and has left them attached to the wound. In losing her sting, she often parts with a portion of her intestines, and of necessity soon perishes. Wasps and hornets are different from bees in this respect, for they can sting re- peatedly without endangering their lives. Although bees pay. so dearly for the exercise of their patriotic instincts, still, in defense of home and its sacred treasures, they ‘¢Deem life itself to vengeance well resign’d, Die in the wound and leave their sting behind.’’ 85. The sting is not, however, always lost. When a bee prepares to sting, she usually curves her abdomen so that she ean drive in her sting perpendicularly. To withdraw it, she turns around the wound. This probably rolls up its barbs, so that it comes out more readily. If it had been driven obliquely instead of perpendicularly, as sometimes happens, she could never have extracted it by turning around the wound. 86. Sometimes, only the poison-bag and sting are torn \ 38 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. off, then she may live quite a while without them, and strange to say, seems to be more angry than ever, and persists in making useless attempts to sting. 87. If a hive is opened during a Winter day, when the weather does not permit the bees to fly, a great number of them raise their abdomens, and thrust out their stings, in a threatening manner. A minute drop of poison can be seen on their points, some of which is occasionally flirted into eyes of the Apiarist, and causes severe irritation. The odor of this poison is so strong and peculiar, that it is easily rec- ognized. In warm weather it excites the bees, and so pro- vokes their anger, that when one has used its sting in one spot on skin or clothes, others are inclined to thrust theirs in the same place. 88. The sting, when accompanied by the poison-sack, may inflict wounds hours, and even days, after it has been re- moved, or torn, from the body of theebee. But when buried in honey, its poison is best preserved, for it is very volatile, and when exposed to the air, evaporates in a moment. The stings of bees, which, perchance, may be found in broken combs of honey, often retain their power, and we have known of a person’s being stung in the mouth, by carelessly eating honey in which bees had been buried by the fall of the combs. Mr. J. R. Bledsoe, in the American Bee Journal, for 1870, writes: 89. ‘It may often happen that one or both of the chief parts of the sting are left in the wound, when the sheath is withdrawn, but are rarely perceived, on account of their minute- ness; the person stung congratulating himself, at the same time, that the sting has been extracted. I have had occasion to prove this fact repeatedly in my own person and in others. * * * The substance of the sting, on account of its nature, is readily dissolved by the fluids of the body, consequently giv- ing irritation as a foreign body for only a short time compara- tively. The sting when boiled in water becomes tender and easily crushed.’’ : For further particulars concerning the sting, we will refer our readers to the chapter entitled “Handling Bees,” — (378.) PLATE 9. F. RB. CHESHIRE, F. L. S., F. R. M. 8. Author of ‘‘ Bees and Bee-Keeping.”’ The writer is mentioned pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16. 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 39, 61, 73, 84, 94, 104, 122, 127, 145, 352, 358, 394, 395, 472, 474, 481, 483. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, 39 90. Before terminating this comparatively short, but per- haps, to many of our readers, tedious study of the organs of the bee, we desire to commend Messrs. Girard, Packard, Cook, Schiemenz, Dubini, and especially Mr. F. Cheshire, who, by their writings, have helped us in this part of our undertaking. We must add also that the more we study bees, the more persuaded we are that Mr. Packard was right when he wrote: 91. ‘‘Besides these structural characters as animals, en- dowed with instinct, and a kind of reason, differing, perhaps, only in degree, from that of man, these insects outrank all the articulatés. In the unusual differentiation of the individual into males, females, and sterile workers, and a consequent sub- division of lapor between them; in dwelling in large colonies; in their habits and in their relation to man as domestic animals, subservient to his wants, the bees possess a combination of characters which are not found in any other sub-order of insects, and which rank them first and highest in the insect series.’’— (‘‘Guide to the Study of-Insects.’’) 92. One of the especial peculiarities of the hymenopters is the care most of them give to their progeny. We will show how bees nurse their young. Other insects of the same sub- order construct their nests of elay or paper, or burrow in the wood, or in the earth. All prepare for their young a sufficient supply of food; some of pollen and honey, others of animal substance. Several kinds of wasps provide their nests with living insects, spiders, caterpillars, ete., that they have pre- viously paralyzed, but without killing them, by piercing them with their stings. Ants seem to possess even a greater solicitude. When their nests are overthrown, they carry their larve to some hidden place out of danger. We have exhibited the use of the organs of bees as a raceé. We will now examine the character of each of the three kinds of inhabitants of the bee-hive. 40 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. THE QUEEN. 93. eae honey-bees have attracted the attention of naturalists for ages, the sex of the inmates of the bee-hive was, for a long time, a mystery. The ancient authors, having noticed in the hive, a bee, larger than the others, and differently shaped, had called it the “King Bee.” 94. To our knowledge, it was un English bee-keeper, Butler; who, first among bee-writers, affirmed in 1609, that the King Bee was really a queen, and that he had seen her deposit eggs. (“Feminine Monarchy.”) 95. This discovery seems to have passed unnoticed, for Swammerdam, who ascertained the sex of bees by dissection, is held as having been the first to proclaim the sex of the queen-bee. (Leyde, 1737.) A brief extract from the cele- brated Dr. Boerhaave’s Memoir of Swammerdam, showing the ardor of this naturalist, in his study of bees, should puit to blush the arrogance of those superficial observers, who are too wise to avail themselves of the knowledge of others: Fig. 19. ‘‘This treatise on Bees proved so fatiguing a performance, that Swammerdam never afterwards recovered even the appear- ance of his former health and vigor. He was most continually engaged by day in making observations, and as constantly by night in recording them by drawings and suitable explanations. “(His daily labor began at six in the morning, when the sun afforded him light enough to survey such minute objects; and from that hour till twelve, he continued without interruption, all the while exposed in the open air to the scorching heat of the sun, bareheaded, for fear of intercepting his sight, and his head in a manner dissolving into sweat under the irresistible ardors of that powerful luminary. And if he desisted at noon, it was only because the strength of his eyes was too much weak- ened by the extraordinary afflux of light, and the use of micro- scopes, to continue any longer upon such small objects, THE QUEEN. 41 ‘‘He often wished, the better to accomplish his vast, unlim- ited views, for a year of perpetual heat and light to perfect his inquiries; with a polar night, to reap all the advantages of them by proper drawings and descriptions.’’ 96. The name of queen was then given to the mother bee, although she in no way governs, but seems to reign like a be- loved mother in her family. 97. She is the only perfect female in the hive, the laying of eggs being her sole function; and so well does she accom- plish this duty, that it is not uncommon to find queens who lay more than-3,500 eggs per day, for several weeks in suc- cession during the height of the breeding season. In our observing hives we have seen them lay at the rate of six eggs in a minute. The fecundity of the female of the white ant is, however, much greater than this, being at the rate of sixty eggs a minute; but her eggs are simply extruded from her body, and carried by the workers into suitable’ nurseries, while the queen-bee herself deposits her eggs in their appro- priate cells. 98. This number of 3,500, that a good queen can lay per day, will seem exaggerated to many bee-keepers, owners of small hives. They will perhaps ask how such laying can be ascertained. Nothing is easier. Let us suppose that we have found a hive, with 1,200 square inches of comb occupied by brood. As there are about 55 worker-cells to the square inch of comb (217), 27 to 28 on each side, we multiply 1,200 by 55, and we have 66,000 as the total number of cells oceupied at one time. Now, it takes about 21 days for the brood to develop from the egg to the perfect insect, and we have 3,145 as the average number of eggs laid daily by that queen, in 21 days. Of course, this amount is not absolutely accurate, as the combs are not always entirely filled, but it will suffice to show, within perhaps a few hundred, the actual fecundity of the queen. Such numbers can be found every year, in most of the good colonies, provided that the limited capacity of the hive will not prevent the queen from laying to the utmost of her ability. 42 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 99. The laying of the queen is not equal at all seasons. She lays most during the sprmg and summer months, pre- vious to the honey crop and during its flow. In late autumn and winter months, she lays but little. 100. Her shape is widely different from that of the other bees. While she is not near so bulky as a drone, her body is longer; and as it is considerably more tapering, or sugar- loaf in form, than that of a worker, she has a somewhat wasp- like appearance. Her wings are much shorter in proportion than those of the drone or worker;* the under part of her body is of a golden color, and the upper part usually darker than that of the other bees.t Her motions are generally slow and matronly, although she can, when she pleases, move with astonishing quickness. No colony can long exist without the presence of this all-important insect; but must as surely perish, as the body without the spirit must hasten to in- evitable decay. 101. The queen is treated with the greatest respect and affection by the bees. A cirele of her loving offspring often surround her, testifying in various ways their regard; some gently embracing her with their antenne, others offering her food from time to time, and all of them politely backing out of her way, to give her a clear path when she moves over the combs. If she is taken from them, the whole colony is thrown into a state of the most intense agitation as soon as they ascertain their loss; all the labors of the hive are abandoned; the bees run wildly over the combs, and frequently rush from the hive in anxious search for their beloved mother. If they cannot find her, they return to their desolate home, and by their sorrowful tones reveal their deep sense of so deplorable a calamity. Their note at such times, more especially when they first realize their loss, is of a peculiarly mournful char- acter; it sounds somewhat like a succession of wailings on the minor key, and ean no more be mistaken by an experienced bee-keeper, for their ordinary happy hum (76), than the *The wings of the queen are in reality longer than those of the worker. } This applies only to queens of the black or common race, THE QUEEN. AS piteous moanings of a sick child could be confounded by the anxious mother with its joyous crowings when overflowing with health and happiness. We shall give in this connection, a deseription of an interesting experiment. 102. A populous stock was removed, in the morning, to a new place, and an empty hive put uponits stand. Thou- ce : ey | i t (arrow Fig. 20. HEAD OF QUEEN. (Magnified. After Barbd.) sands of workers which were ranging the fields, or which left the old hive after its removal, returned to the familiar spot. It was truly affecting to witness their grief and despair; they flew in restless circles about the place where once stood their happy home, entering the empty hive continually, and express- ing in various ways, their lamentations over so cruel a be- reavement. Towards evening, ceasing to take wing, they roamed in restless platoons, in and out of fhe hive, and over its surface, as if in search of some lost treasure. A small 44 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. piece of brood-comb was then given to them, containing worker-eggs and worms. The effect produced by its intro- duction took place much quicker than can be described. Those which first touched it raised a peculiar note, and in a moment, the comb was covered with a dense mass of bees; as they rec- ognized, in this small piece of comb, the means of deliverance, despair gave place to hope, their restless motions and mourn- ful voices ceased, and a cheerful hum proclaimed their de- light. If some one should enter a building filled with thou- sands of persons tearing their hair, beating their breasts, and by piteous cries, as well as frantic gestures, giving vent to their despair, and could by a single word cause all these dem- onstrations of agony to give place to smiles and congratula- tions, the change would not be more instantaneous than that produced when the bees received the brood-comb! The Orientals called the honey-bee “Deborah; She that speaketh.” Would that this little insect might speak, in words more eloquent than those of man’s device, to those who reject any of the doctrines of revealed religion, with the assertion that they are so improbable, as to labor under a fatal a priori objection. Do not all the steps in the devel- opment of a queen from the worker-egg, labor under the very same objection? and have they not, for this reason been formerly regarded, by many bee-keepers, as unworthy of belief? If the favorite argument of infidels will not stand the test, when applied to the wonders of the bee-hive, is it entitled to serious weight, when, by objecting to religious truths, they arrogantly take to task the Infinite Jehovah for what He has been pleased to do or to teach? With no more latitude than is claimed by such objectors, it were easy to prove that a man is under no obligation to believe any of the wonders of the bee-hive, even although he is himself an intelli- gent eye-witness to their substantial truth.* 103. The process of rearing queen-bees will now be par- «The passages referring to religious subjects have been nearly all retained in the revision, at Mr. Langstroth’s request, even when not in accordance with our views. As intelligent men are always tolerant, we know our readers will not object to them. Mr, Langstroth was a clergyman. THE QUEEN. 45 ticularly described. Early in the season, if a hive becomes very populous, and if the bees make preparations for swarm- ing, a number of royal cells are begun, being commonly constructed upon those edges of the combs. which are not attached to the sides of the hive. These cells somewhat resemble a small pea-nut, and are about an inch deep, and one-third of an inch in diameter: being very thick, they require much wax for their construction. They are seldom seen in a perfect state after the hatching of the queen, as the bees cut them down to the shape of a small acorn-cup (fig. 21.) These Fig. 21. queen-cells, while in prog- Seer ere rr cae gee ress, receive a very unusual amount of attention from the workers. There is scarcely a second in which a bee is not peeping into them; and as fast as one is satisfied, another pops in her head to report prog- ress, or increase the supply of food. Their importance to the community might easily be inferred from their being the center of so much attraction. 104. While the other cells open sideways, the queen-cells always hang with their mouth downwards. Some Apiarists think that this peculiar position affects, in some way, the devel- opment of the royal larve; while others, having ascertained that they are uninjured if placed in any other position, con- sider this deviation as among the- inscrutable mysteries of the bee-hive. So it seemed to us until convinced, by a more careful observation, that they open downwards simply to save room. The distance between the parallel ranges of comb in the hive is usually too small for the royal cells to open sideways, with- out interfering with the opposite cells, To economize space, 46 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. the bees put them on the unoccupied edges of the comb, where there is plenty of room for such very large cells. 105. The number of royal cells in a hive varies greatly; sometimes there are only two or three, ordinarily not less than five; and occasionally, more than a dozen. Some races of bees have a disposition to raise a greater number of queen-cells than others. At the Toronto meet- ing of the North American Bee-keepers’ Association, in Sep- tember, 1883, Mr. D. A. Jones, the noted Canadian importer of Syrian and Cyprian bees, and at that time publisher of the Canadian Bee Journal, exhibited a comb containing about eighty queen-cells, built by a colony of Syrian bees (560). In 1905, Dr. C. C. Miller succeeded in raising one hundred and nineteen queen cells on two combs of brood in a colony of Cyprian bees. (Fig. 22.) Such cases are rare in the hive of any other race. Fig. 22. QUEEN CELLS BUILT BY CYPRIAN BEES. {American Bee Journal.) THE QUEEN. 47 106. As it is not intended that the young queens should all be of the same age, the royal-cells are not all begun at the same time. It is not fully settled how the eggs are de- posited in these cells. In some few instances, we have known the bees to transfer the eggs from common to queen- cells; and this may be their general method of procedure. Mr. Wagner put some queenless bees, brought from a dis- tance, into empty combs that had lain for two years in his garret. When supplied with brood, they raised their queen in this old comb! Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, and other apiarian friends, have communicated to us instances almost as striking. Yet, Huber has proved that bees do not ordinarily transport the eggs of the queen from one cell to another. We shall hazard the conjecture, that, in a crowded state of the hive, the queen deposits her eggs in cells on the edges of the comb, some of which are afterwards changed by the workers into royal cells. Such is a queen’s instinctive hatred of her own kind, that it seems improbable that she should be intrusted with even the initiatory steps for securing a race of successors. (For further particulars concerning the raising of large numbers of queen-cells, see 515-530.) 107. The egg which is destined to produce a queen-bee does not differ from the egg intended to become a worker; but the young queen-larve are much more largely supplied with food than the other larve; so that they seem to lie in a thick bed of jelly, a portion of which may usually be found at the base of their cells, soon after they have hatched, while the food given to the worker-larve after three days, and for the last days of their development, is coarser and more sparingly given, as will be seen farther on. 108. The effects produced on the royal larve by their peculiar treatment are so wonderful, that they were at first rejected as idle whims, by those who had neither been eye- witnesses to them, nor acquainted with the opportunities en- joyed by others for accurate observation. They are not only contrary to all common analogies, but seem marvelously 48 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEX. strange and improbable. The most important of these effects we shall briefly enumerate. 1st. The peculiar mode in which the worm designed for a queen is treated causes it to arrive at maturity almost one- third earlier than if it had been reared a worker, And yet, as it is to be much more fully developed, according to ordi- nary analogy, it should have had a slower growth. Fig. ‘23. THE STING OF THE QUEEN. (Magnified. After Barbd.) THE QUEEN. 49 2d. Its organs of reproduction are completely developed, so that it can fulfill the office of a mother. 3d. Its size, shape, and color are greatly. changed; its lower jaws are shorter, its head rounder, and its abdomen without the receptacles for secreting wax; its hind legs have neither brushes nor baskets, and its sting is curved (fig. 23) and one-third longer than that of a worker. 4th. Its imstinets are entirely changed. Reared as a worker, it would have thrust out its sting at the least provo- cation; whereas now, it may be pulled limb from limb with- out attempting to sting. As a worker, it would have treated a queen with the greatest consideration; but now, if brought in contact with another queen, it seeks to destroy her as a rival. As a worker, it would frequently have left the hive, either for labor or exercise; as a queen, it never leaves it after impregnation, except to accompany a new swarm. 5th. The term of its life is remarkably lengthened. As a worker, it would not have lived more than six or seven months; as a queen, it may live seven or eight times as long. All these wonders rest on the impregnable basis of demonstration, and instead of being witnessed only by a select few, are now, by the use of the movable-comb hive} familiar sights to any bee-keeper. 109. The process of rearing queens, to meet some special emergency, is even more wonderful than the one already described. If the bees have worker-eggs, or worms not more than three days old, they make one large cell out of three, by nibbling away the partitions of two cells adjoining a third. Destroying the eggs or worms in two of these cells, they place before the occupant of-the other, the usual food of the young queens; and by enlarging its cell, give it ample space for development. As a security against failure, they usually start a number of queen-cells, for several days in succession. It was a German bee-keeper, Schirach, who discovered that a queen can be raised from a worker-egg. (“The New Natural and Artificial Multiplication of Bees,” Bautzen, 1761.) 50 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 110. Duration ofr DeveLopment.—The eggs hatch in three days after they are laid. The small worm which is intended to produce a queen, is six days in its larval state, and seven in its transformation into a chrysalis and winged insect. These periods are not absolutely fixed; being of shorter*or longer duration, according to the warmth of the hive and the care given by the bees. In from ten to sixteen days, in ten days, if the larva selected is about three days old; in sixteen, if newly laid eggs are selected, they are in possession of a new queen, in all respects resembling one reared in the natural way; while the eges in the adjoining cells. which have been developed as workers, are nearly a week longer in coming to maturity. 414. THe Vircix Queex.—Feeble and pale, in the first moments after her birth, the young queen, as soon as she has acquired some strength, travels over the combs, looking for a rival, either hatched or unhatched. 112. ‘‘Hardly had ten minutes elapsed after the young queen emerged from her cell, when she began to look for sealed queen-cells. She rushed furiously upon the first that she met, and, by dint of hard work, made a small opening in the end. We saw her drawing, with her mandibles, the silk of the cocoon, whieh covered the inside. But, probably, she did not suceeed according to her wishes, for she left the lower end of the cell, and went to work on the upper end, where she finally made a wider opening. As soon us this was sufficiently large, she turned about, to push her abdomen into it. She made several motions, in different dircetions, till she succeeded in striking her rival with the deadly sting. Then she left the cell; and the bees, which had remained, so far, perfectly passive, began to enlarge the gap which she had made, and drew out the corpse of a queen just out of her nymphal sheil. During this time, the vie- torious young queen rushed to another queen-cell, and again made a large opening, but she did not introduce her abdomen into it; this second cell containing only a royal-pupa not yet formed. There is some probability that, at this stage of de- velopment, the nymphs of queens inspire less anger to their rivals; but they do not escape their doom; for, whenever a queen-cell has been prematurely opened, the bees throw out its THE QUEEN. 51 occupant, whether worm, nymph, or queen. Therefore, as soon as the victorious queen had left this second cell, the workers enlarged the opening and drew out the nymph that it contained. The young queen rushed to a third cell; but she was unable to open it. She worked languidly and seemed tired of her first efforts.’’—(Huber.) 113. Huber did not allow this experiment to go on any further, as he wished to use the remainder of the queen-cells. Had he left these cells untonehed, the bees would have fin- ished the work of destruction. 114. We have noticed repeatedly, that the queen-cells are always destroyed a few hours after the birth of the queen, unless the colony has determined to swarm. In the latter case, the workers prevent the newly-hatched queen from ap- proaching the queen-cells, till she is old enough and strong enough to leave with the swarm. (443.) 2 115. Like some human beings who cannot have their own way, she is highly offended when thus repulsed, and utters, in a quick succession of notes, a shrill, angry sound, not unlike the rapid utterance of the words, “peep, peep.” If held in the closed hand, she will make a similar noise. Teo this angry note, one or more of the unhatched queens, im- prisoned and nursed in their cells by the bees, answer by the sound “kooa, kooa”; the difference in their voices being due to the confinement of the latter in the cell. These sounds, so entirely unlike the usual steady hum of the bees, are almost infallible indications that a swarm will soon issue. They are occasionally so loud as to be heard ,at gome distance from the hive. "The reader will understand that all these facts relate to a hive of bees, from which the old queen has been previously and suddenly removed, either by the Apiarist for some pur- pose, or by swarming, or accident. 116. Sometimes two queens hatch at the same time. We give below a translation of Huber’s account in such event: ©¢On the 15th of May, 1790, two queens emerged from their cells, at about the same time, in one of our observing hives. 52 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. They rushed quickly upon one another, apparently in great anger, and grasped one another’s antenne, so that the head, corselet and abdomen of the one, were touching the head, corse- let and abdomen of the other. Had they curved the posterior extremity of their bodies, they could have stung each other, and both would have perished. But it seems that Nature has not wished that their duels should result in the death of both com- batants, and that it is prescribed to queens, while in this posi- tion, to flee instantly with the greatest haste. As soon as both rivals understood that they were in danger from one another, they disentangled themselves and fled apart...... A few min- utes after, their fears ceased and they attacked one another again, with the same result. The worker bees were much dis- turbed, all this time, and more so while the combatants were separated. Each time, the bees stopped the queens in their flight, keeping them prisoners for a minute. At last, in a third attack, the stronger, or more savage, of the queens, ran to her unsuspecting rival, seized her across the wings, and, climbing upon her, pierced her with her sting. The vanquished queen, crawled languidly about, and soon after died.’’—(‘‘ Nou- velles Observations. ’’) 117. Although it is generally admitted that two queens zannot inhabit the same hive, it happens, sometimes, that mother and daughier are found living peaceably together, and even laying eggs at the same time. This is when the bees, having noticed the decrease in fecundity of the old queen, have raised a young queen to replace her. But this abnormal state lasts only a few weeks, or a few months at most. 118. Our junior partner was, one day, hunting for a queen with his sister. “What a large and bright-colored queen!’ exclaimed he, on finding her. “Why, no! she is dark and small,” said his sister. Both were right, for there were two queens, mother and daughter, on the same comb, and not six inches apart. At another time we were looking for an old queen, whose prolifieness.had decreased, intending to supersede her. To our wonder, the hive was full of brood. We found the old queen. Evidently a queen so small, so THE QUEEN. 53 ragged and worn, could not be the mother of such a quan- tity of brood. We continued our search and found another queen, daughter of the first, large and plump. Had we introduced a strange queen into this hive, after having de- stroyed the old one, thinking that we had made the colony queenless, she would have been killed. 119. We could relate a number of such instances. The most interesting case was the simultaneous laying of two queens of different breeds in the same hive, one black, the other Italian. The colony had two queens, when we intro- duced our Italian queen. We found the younger one and killed her, and the old one was so little considered by her bees, that they accepted our imported queen and allowed both to remain together. To our astonishment there were some black bees hatching among the pure Italians, and it was not till we accidentally discovered the old black queen that we understood the matter. There are more such cases than most bee-keepers would imagine, and when these happen to buyers of improved races of bees, if they are not very close observers, they are apt to aceuse venders of having cheated them. Such instances make the business of queen selling quite disagreeable. 120. Inprecnation.—The fecundation of the queen bee has occupied the minds of Apiarists and savants for ages. A number of theories were advanced. If a number of drones are confined in a small box, they give forth a strong odor: Swammerdam supposed that the queen was impregnated by this scent (aura seminalis) of the drones. Réaumur, a re- nowned entomologist, in 1744, thought that the mating of the queen was effected inside of the hive. Others advanced that the eggs were impregnated by the drones in the cells. After making a number of experiments to verify these theories, and finding all false, Huber finally ascertained that, like many other insects, the queen was fecundated in the open air and on the wing; and that the influence of this connection lasts for several years, and probably for life. 121. Five days or more after her birth, the virgin queen 54 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. goes out to have intercourse with a drone. Several bee-keepers of note, such as Neighbour of England (“Cook’s Manual, 1884), and Dzierzon of Germany, wrote that a queen may go out on her marriage-flight when only three days old. The shortest time we have ever noticed between the birth of a queen and her first bridal-flight was five days, and on this we are in accordance with Mr. Alley of Massachusetts, one of the most extensive queen breeders in the world. The average time is six or seven days. Earlier bridal-trips are probably due to the disturbing of the colony by the Apiarist, for we have noticed that this disturbing hastens the maturity of the workers. The bridal-flight takes place about noon, at which time, the drones are flymg most numerously. 122. On leaving her hive, the queen flies with her head turned towards it, often entermg and departing several times before she finally soars into the air. Such precautions on the part of a young queen are highly necessary, that she may not, on her return, lose her life, by attempting, through mis- take, to enter a strange hive. Many queens are lost in this way. 123. As the mating of the queen and the drone takes place in the air, very few persons have witnessed it. The following narration will please our readers: ‘¢ 4 short time ago, during one of those pleasant days of May, I was roaming in the fields, not far from Courbevoie. Suddenly I heard a loud humming and the wind of a rapid flight brushed my cheek. Fearing the attack of a hornet, I made an instinc- tive motion with my hand to drive it away. There were two insects, one of which pursued the other with eagerness, coming from high in the air. Frightened no doubt, by my movements, they - arose again, flying vertically to a great height, still in pursuit of each other. I imagined that it was a battle, and desiring to know the result, I followed, at my best, their motions in the air, and got ready to lay hold of them, as soon as they would be within reach. ; “‘T did not wait long. The pursuing insect rose above the other, and suddenly fell on it. The shock was certainly violent, for both united, dropped with the swiftness of an arrow and THE QUEEN. 55 passed by me, so near that I struck them down with my hand- kerchief. I then discovered that this bitter battle was but a love-suit. The two insects, stunned and motionless, were coupled. The copulation had taken place in the air, at the in- stant when I had seen one of them falling on the other, twenty or twenty-five feet above the ground. “Tt was a queen-bee and a drone. Persuaded that I had killed them, I made no scruple of piercing them both with the same pin. But the pain reealled them to life again, and they promptly separated. This separation was violent, and resulted in the tearing off of the drone’s organ (188) which remained attached to the queen. The queen was yet alive on the follow- ing morning. For some time after her separation from the drone, she brushed the last ring of her abdomen, as though trying to extract the organ of the drone. She endeavored to bend herself, probably in order to bring this part within reach of her jaws, which were constantly moving, but the pin pre- vented her from attaining her aim. Tler activity soon de- creased, and she ceased to move.’’—(Alex. Levi, Journal Des Fermes, Paris, 1869.) Messrs. Cary and Otis had witnessed a similar occurrence in July, 1861. (American Bee Journal, Vol. I, page 66.) 124. It is now well demonstrated that in a single mating, a queen is fertilized for life, although in a few rare instances they have been said to mate two days in succession, perhaps because the first mating was insufficient. 125. After the queen has re-entered the hive, she gets rid of the organ of the drone by drawing it with her claws, and she is sometimes helped in this work by the worker-bees. The drone dies in the act of fertilization. (188.) 126. Although fertilization of the queen in confinement has been tried by many, it has never been successful. Those who, from time to time, claimed to have succeeded were evi- dently deceiving themselves through ill-made experiments. (187.) 127. Having ascertained that the queen-bee is fecund- ated in the open air and on the wing, Huber still could not form any satisfactory conjecture how eggs were fertilized 56 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, which were not yet developed in her ovaries. Years ago, the celebrated Dr. John Hunter (1792), and others, supposed that there must be a permanent receptacle for the male sperm, opening into the. oviduct. Dzierzon, who must be regarded as one of the ablest contributors of modern times to apiarian science, maintained this opinion, and stated- that he had found such a receptacle filled with a fluid resembling the semen of the drones. He does not seem to have then demon- strated his discoveries by any miseroscopic examinations. 128. In the Winter of 1851-2, the writer submitted for scientific examination several queen-bees to Dr. Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, who had the highest reputation both at home and abroad, as a naturalist and miscroscopic anatomist. He found, in making his dissections, a small globular sac, about 1-38 of an inch in diameter, communicating with the oviduct, and filled with a whitish fluid; this fluid, when examined un- der the miscroscope, abounded in the spermatozoids, the living germs which characterize the seminal fluid. A comparison of this substance, later in the season, with the semen of a drone, proved them to be exactly alike. Prof. Siebold, in 1843, examined the spermatheca of the queen-bee, and found it after copulation, filled with the seminal fluid of the drone. At that time, Apiarists paid no attention to his views, but considered them, as he says, to be only “theoretical stuff.” It seems, then, that Prof. Leidy’s dissection was not, as we had hitherto supposed, the first, of an impregnated spermatheca. 129. These examinations have settled, on the impregnable basis of demonstration, the mode in which the eggs of the queen are fecundated. In descending the oviduct to be de- posited in the cells, they pass by the mouth of this seminal sac, or “spermatheca,” and receive a portion of its fertilizmg contents. Small as it is, it contains sufficient to impregnate millions of eggs. In precisely the same way, the mother- wasps and hornets are fecundated. The females only of these insects survive the Winter, and often a single one begins the construction of a nest, in which at first only a few eggs are deposited. How could these eggs hatch, if the females PuLaTEe 10. THE OVARIES OF THE QUEEN, IN COMBINATION WITH THE STING. ( Magnified. ) H and G, ovaries uniting in a common oviduct EH; D, spermatheca; A, poison-sack; R, rectum; C, muscles; F, air bag. THE QUEEN. 57 . had not been impregnated the previous season? Dissection proves that they have a spermatheca similar to that of the queen-bee.. It never seems to have occurred to the opponents of Huber, that the existence of a permanently-impregnated mother-wasp is quite as diffieult to be accounted for, as the existence of a similarly impregnated queen-bee. 130. The celebrated Swammerdam, in his observations upon insects, made in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury, has given a highly magnified drawing of the ovaries of the queen-bee, a reduced copy of which we present (Plate 10) to our readers. The small globular sac (D), communicating with the oviduct (£), which he thought secreted a fluid for sticking the eggs to the base of the cells, is the seminal reser- voir, or spermatheca.. Any one who will carefully dissect a queen-bee, may see this sac, even with the naked eye. It will be seen that the ovaries (G and H) are double, each consisting of an amazing number of duets filled with eggs, which gradually inerease in size. Since the first edition of this work was issued, we have ascertained that Posel (page 54) describes the oviduct of the queen, the spermatheca and its contents, and the use of the latter in impregnating the passing egg. His work was published at Munich, in 1784. It seems also from his work (“A Complete Treatise of Forest and Horticultural Bee-Culture,’ page 36), that before the investigations of Huber, Jansha, the bee-keeper royal of Maria Theresa, had discovered the fact that the young queens leave their hive in search of the drones. 131. Huber, while experimenting to ascertain how the queen was fecundated, confined some young ones to their hives by contracting the entrances, so that they were more than three weeks old before they could go in search of the drones. To his amazement, the queens whose impregnation was thus retarded never laid any eggs but such as produced drones! ; He tried this experiment repeatedly, but always with the same result. Bee-keepers, even from the time of Aristotle, had observed that all the brood in a hive were occasionally drones, 58 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 132. Dzierzon appears tu have been the first to ascertain the truth on this subject; and his discovery must certainly be ranked among the most astonishing facts in all the range of animated nature. ‘Dzierzon asserted that all impregnated eggs produce fe- males, either workers or queens; and all unimpregnated ones, males, or drones! He stated that in several of his hives he found drone-laying queens, whose wings were so imperfect that they could not fly, and which, on examination, proved to be unfecundated. Hence, he coneluded that the eggs laid by an unimpregnated queen-bee had sufficient vitality to produce drones. 133. Parthenogenesis, meaning “generation of a virgin,” is the name given to this faeulty of a female, to produce offspring without having been fecundated, and is not at all rare among’ insects. 134. In the Autumn of 1852, our assistant found a young queen whose progeny consisted entirely of drones. The colony had been formed by removing a few combs contain- ing bees, brood, and eggs, from another hive, and had raised a new queen. Some eggs were found in one of the combs, and young bees were already emerging from the cells, all of which were drones. As there were none but worker-cells in the live, they were reared in them, and not having space for full development, they were dwarfed in size, although the bees had pieced the cells to give more room to their oecu- pants. We were not only surprised to find drones reared in worker- cells, but equally so that a young queen, who at first lays only the eggs of workers, should be laying drone-eges; and at once conjectured that this was a case of an unimpregnated drone-laying queen, sufficient time not having elapsed for her impregnation to be unnaturally retarded. All necessary pre- cautions were taken to determine this point. The queen was removed from the hive, and although her wings appeared to be perfect, she could not fly. It seemed probable, therefore, that she had never been able to leave the hive for impregnat?. 1 THE QUEEN. 59 135. To settle the question beyond the possibility of doubt, we submitted this queen to Professor Leidy for mi- croscopic examination. The following is an extract from his report: “The ovaries were filled with eggs, the poison- sac full of fluid; and the spermatheca ,distended with a per- fectly colorless, transparent, viscid liquid, without a trace of spermatozoids.” 136. On examining this same colony a few days later, we found satisfactory evidence that these drone-eggs were laid by the queen which had been removed. No fresh eggs had been deposited in the cells, and the bees on missing her had begun to build royal cells, to rear, if possible, another queen. Two of the royal cells were in a short time discontinued; while a third was sealed over in the usual way, to undergo its changes to a perfect queen. As the bees had only a drone- laying queen, whence came the female egg from which they were rearing a queen? i At first we imagined that they might have stolen it from another hive; but on opening this cell it contained only a dead drone! Tuber had described a similar mistake made by some of his bees. At the base of this cell was an un- usual quantity of the peculiar jelly fed to develop young queens. One might almost imagine that the bees had dosed the unfortunate drone to death; as though they had hoped by such liberal feeding to produce a change in his sexual organization. 137. In the Summer of 1854, we found another drone- laying queen in our Apiary, with wings so shrivelled that she could not fly. We gave her successively to several queen- less colonies, in all of which she deposited only drone-eggs. 138. In Italy there is a variety of the honey-bee differing in size and color from the common kind. If a queen of this variety is crossed with the common drones, her drone-prog- eny will be Italian (551), and her worker-brood a cross between the two; thus showing that the kind of drones she will produce has no dependence on the male by which she is fecundated. 60 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. ‘“‘The following interesting experiment was made by Ber: lepsch, in order to confirm the drone-productiveness of a virgin queen. He contrived the confinement of queens at the end of September, 1854, and, therefore, at a time when there was no longer any males; he was lucky enough to keep one of them through the Winter, and this produced drone-offspring on the 2d of March, in the following year, furnishing fifteen hundred cells with brood. That this drone-bearing queen remaincd a virgin, was proved by the dissection which Leuckart undertook, at the request of Berlepsch. He found the state and contents of the seminal pouch of this queen to be exactly of the same nature as those found in virgin queens. The seminal receptacle in such females never contains semen-masses, with their char- acteristic spermatozoids, but only a limpid fluid, destitute of cells and granules which is produced from the two appendicu- lar glands of the seminal capsule; and, as I suppose, serves the purpose of keeping the semtn transferred into the seminal cap- sule in a fresh state, and the spermatozoids active, and, conse- quently, capable of impregnation.’’—(Siebold, ‘‘Parthenogen- esis.’’) 139. Again, to prove that Dzierzon was right, Professor Von Siebold, in 1855, dissected several eggs at the Apiary of Baron Von Berlepseh, and he found spermatozoids in every female eve, or egy laid in worker-cell, but although he examined thirty-two male eggs, or ceys laid in drone- cells, he could not discover a single spermatozoid either in or around them. In the act of copulation, the sperm of the drone is received into the spermatheea (Plate 10, D), which is placed near and ean empty itself into the oviduct. When an egy passes by the spermatheeca, if the circumstances are such that a few spermatozoids empty out of the bag on the eve, the sex of it is changed from male to female. It appears that there is in each ege a small opening called niieropyle, through which the living spermatozoids enter, when the circumstances are such ibat a few of them can slip out of ihe seminal bag and slide into the oviduct. Such is the pro- cess of impregnation. 140. Aristotle noticed. more than 2,000 years ago, that Puate 11. DZIERZON, Discoverer of Parthenogenesis in Queen-bees. , 56 s 54 This writer is mentioned page: 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 69, %5, oo a a hs a a oo ow a 10 oi ao ao 210 te a oO eo ao ot ge bs) cs eo a N nd wT 0 THE QUEEN. 61 the eggs which produce drones are like the worker-eggs.* With the aid of powerful microscopes we are still unable to detect any difference in. the size or outside appearance of the eggs of the queen. 141. These facts, taken in connection, constitute a per- fect demonstration that unfecundated queens are not only able to lay eggs, but that their eggs have sufficient vitality to produce drones. It seems to us probable, that after fecundation has been delayed for about three weeks, the organs of the queen-bee are in such a condition that it can no longer be effected; just as the parts of a flower, after a certain time, wither and shut up, and the plant becomes incapable of fructifica- tion. Perhaps, after a certain time, the queen loses all de- sire to go in search of the male. There is something analogous to these wonders in the “aphides” or green lice, which infest plants. We have un- doubted evidence that a fecundated female gives birth to other females, and they in turn to others, all of which with- out impregnation are able to bring forth young; until, after a number of generations, perfect males and females are pro- duced, and the series starts anew! However improbable it may appear that an unimpregnated egg can give birth to a living being, or that sex can depend on impregnation, we are not at liberty to reject facts be- cause we cannot comprehend the reasons of them. He who allows himself to be guilty of such folly, if he aims to be con- sistent, must eventually be plunged into the dreary gulf of atheism. Common sense, philosophy, and religion alike teach us to receive, with becoming reverence, all undoubted facts, whether in the natural or spiritual world; assured that how- ever mysterious they may appear to us, they are beautifully consistent in the sight of Him whose “understanding is in- finite.”’ * Cheshire says that “worker-egg” is a misnomer, since all worker- eges are impregnated, and hence female-eggs. But the term is too in- telligible and popular, for us to change it; since Cheshire himself bows before custom, and uses it. ‘ 62 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 142. It had long been known that the queen deposits drone-eggs in the large or drone-cells, and worker-eggs in the small or worker-cells (fig 47), and that she usually makes no mistakes. Dzierzon inferred, therefore, that there was some way in which she was able to decide the sex of the egg before it was laid, and that she must have such control over the mouth of the seminal sae as to be able to extrude her eggs, allowing them at will to receive or not a portion of its fertilizing contents. In this way he thought she determined their sex, according to the size of the cells in which she laid them. 143. Mr. Samuel Wagner had advanced a highly in- genious theory, which accounted for all the facts, without admitting that the queen had any special knowledge or will on the subject. He supposed that, when she deposited her eggs in the worker-cells, her body was slightly compressed by their size, thus causing the eggs as they passed the sperma- theea to receive its vivifying influence. 144. But this theory was overthrown by the fact that the queen sometimes lays eggs in cells that are built only to a third of their length, whether worker-cells or drone-cells, and in which no compression can take place. Yet, it is very difficult to admit that the queen is endowed with a faculty that no other animal possesses, that of knowing and deciding the sex of her progeny beforehand. It seems to us that she must be guided by her instinet like all other beings, for she always begins, in the Spring, by laying in small cells, using large cells only when no others are in reach in the warm part of the hive. Sometimes, however, when she is very heavy with eggs, she lays in drone-cells as she comes to them, and will sometimes seek them. Usually it is only when the hive is warm throughout, and worker-cells all oceupied, that she fills the unoccupied drone-cells. This has given rise to the popular theory that the bees raise drones whenever they intend to swarm. It is possible that the width of the cells and the position of her legs when laying in drone-cells (224) prevents the action of the muscles of her spermatheca. THE QUEEN. 63 145. The preference of the queen for worker-cells can not be disputed. If all the drone-combs are removed from a hive and replaced with worker-combs, she will not show any displeasure. She will live in that hive for years, without laying any drone-eggs, except, perhaps, here and there, in odd-shaped junction-cells. Mr. A. I. Root makes the same remark ; ‘“‘By having a hive furnished entirely with worker-comb, we can so nearly prevent the production of drones, that it is safe enough to call it a complete remedy.’’—(‘‘A B C of Bee Cul- ture,’’ 1883.) 146. If, on the other hand, we furnish a swarm with nothing but drone-comb, already built, they would soon leave the hive. But, if a few worker-cells are among the drone- cells, the queen will find them and will lay in them. On this subject, Mr. Root says: 147. ‘‘Bees sometimes rear worker-brood in drone-comb when compelled to from want of room, and they always do it by contracting the mouth of the cells, and leaving the young bee a rather large berth in which to grow and develop.’’ ‘‘If you give a young laying queen a hive supplied only with drone- combs, she will rear worker-brood in these drone-cells. The mouth of the cells will be contracted with wax as mentioned before.’’ 148. An experiment, made in Bordeaux, under the su- pervision of Mr. Drory, editor of the “Rucher,” has proven that the queen may lay worker-eggs in drone-cells. A piece of drone-comb containing worker-brood, was sent us by him. The eggs were laid irregularly and the mouth of the cells had been contracted, as mentioned by Mr. Root. This contraction of the cell mouth seems indispensable to enable the queen to put in motion the muscles of her spermatheea. 149. We will add, with Mr. Root, that in the Spring, or late in the Fall, when the crop is not abundant, the queen will travel over drone-combs without depositing a single egg in them Even by feeding the colony, when in these con- 64 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, ditions, the queen cannot be readily induced to lay in drone- cells. Our conclusions on this point differ from those of Mr. Root. We think that the queen prefers worker-cells to drone-cells, because the fecundation of the eggs by the action of the muscles of the spermatheca probably gives her a pleas- ant sensation, which she does not experience in laying drone- eggs. Fig. 24. ABDOMEN OF THE QUEEN-BEE. (Magnified. From the “Illustrierte Bienenzeitung.’’) a, vb, c, d, e, rings of the abdomen; N, nerve-chain; M, honey-sack; E, ovaries; D, stomach; R, rectum; G, ganglions; A, anus; Ss, ovi- positor; St, sting; P, muscles; H, gland; S, poison-sack, 150. Some very prolific queens occasionally lay drone- eggs in worker-cells. It may be due to fatigue. This will readily be admitted when we consider the number of eggs laid in one day. (98.) 151. Dzierzon found that a queen which had been refrig- erated for a long time, after being brought to life by warmth, laid only male eggs, whilst previously she had also laid fe- male eggs. Berlepsch refrigerated three queens by placing them thirty-six hours in an ice-house. Two of tlfem never revived, and the third laid, as before, thousands of eggs, but from all of them only males were evolved. In two in- stances, Mr. Mahan has, at our suggestion, tried similar ex- periments, and with hke results. A short exposure of a queen, to pounded ice and salt, answers every purpose. The THE QUEEN. : 65 spermatozoids are in some way rendered inoperative by severe cold. , 152. The queen begins laying about two days after im- pregnation. She is seldom treated with much attention by the bees until after she has begun to replenish the cells with eggs; although if previously deprived of her, they show, by their despair, that they fully appreciated her importance to their welfare. The extraordinary fertility of the queen-bee has already been noticed. The process of laying has been well described by the Rev. W. Dunbar, a Scotch Apiarist: 153. ‘When the queen is about to lay, she puts her head into a cell, and remains in that position for a second or two, to ascertain its fitness for the deposit she is about to make. She then withdraws her head, and curving her body downwards, in- serts the lower part of it into the cell; in a few seconds she turns half round upon herself and withdraws, leaving an egg behind her.’? i In the Winter, or early Spring, she lays first in the middle of the cluster, and continues in a circle, around the first eggs laid, till she has filled most of the warmed space. She then crosses over to the next comb and does the same thing; as the bees always eluster on different combs in groups ex- actly opposite, to’ produce the utmost possible concentration and economy of heat for developing the various changes of the brood. 154. Queens lay more or less according to, 1st, The sea- son; 2nd, The number of bees that keep up the heat of the brood-nest, and 3d, The quantity of food which they eat. When bees harvest honey or pollen, or when these necessaries are provided artificially by the Apiarist, they feed the queen as they pass by her, oftener than they would otherwise; hence her laying increases in Spring, and decreases in Summer or Fall. It is certain that when the weather is uncongenial, or the colony too feeble to maintain sufficient heat, fewer eggs are matured, just as unfavorable circumstances diminish the 66 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. number of eggs laid by the hen; and when the weather is very cold, the queen stops laying, in weak colonies. In the latitude of Northern Massachusetts, we have found that the queen ordinarily ceases to lay some time in October; and begins again, in strong stocks, m the latter part of Decem- ber. On the 14th of January, 1857 (the previous month having been very cold, the thermometer sometimes sinking to 17° be- low zero), we examined three hives, and found that the central combs in two contained eggs and unsealed brood; there were a few cells with sealed brood in the third. Strong stocks, even in the coldest climates, usually contain some brood ten months in the year. 155. ‘‘Queens differ much as to the degree of their fertil- ity. Those are best which deposit their eggs with uniform reg- ularity, leaving no cells unsupplied—as the brood hatches at the same time on the same range of comb, which.can be again sup- plied; the queen thus losing no time in searching for empty cells.’ ’—(Dzierzon.) In bee-life, as well as in human affairs, those who are systematic, ordinarily accomplish the most. To test’ the difference of fecundity between queens, Mr. De Layens, while transferring bees (574), in middle April, counted the eggs dropped on a black cloth (577), in forty minutes, by the queens of four different colonies. The poorest queen dropped but one egg, the second twelve, the third eighteen, and the fourth twenty. On the fifteenth of July the colony of the first queen was very poor, the second was of average strength, and both the others were very strong. 156. It is amusing to see how the supernumerary eggs of the queen are disposed of. If the workers are too few to take charge of all her eggs, if there is a deficiency of bee- bread to nourish the young; or if, for any~reason, she does not think best to deposit them in the cells, she stands upon a comb, and simply extrudes them from her oviduct, the workers devouring them as fast as they are laid. One who carefully watches the habits of bees will often feel inclined to speak of his little favorites as having an THE WORKER-BEE. 67 intelligence almost if not quite akin to reason; and we have sometimes queried, whether the workers who are so fond of a tit-bit in the shape of a newly-laid egg ever experienced a struggle between appetite and duty; so that they must practice self-denial to refrain from breakfasting on the eggs so temptingly deposited in the cells. 157. It is well known to breeders of poultry, that the fertility of a hen decreases with age, until at length she may become entirely barren. By the same law, the fecundity of the queen-bee ordinarily diminishes after she has entered her third year. An old queen sometimes ceases to lay worker- eggs; the contents of her spermatheca becoming exhausted, the eggs are no longer impregnated, and produce only drones. The queen-bee usually dies of old age in her fourth year, although she has been known to live longer. There is great advantage, therefore, in hives which allow her, when she has passed the period of ler greatest fertility, to be easily re- moved. THE WoRKER-BEE. 158. The workers are the smallest inhabitants of a bee- hive, and compose the bulk of the pop- ulation: A good swarm ought to contain at least 20,000; and in large hives, strong colonies, which are not reduced by swarm- ing, frequently number three or four times as many during the height of the breeding season. Fig. 25. 159. Their functions are varied. The young bees work inside of the hive, prepare and distribute the food to the larve, take care of the queen, by brushing her with their tongues, nurse her, maintain the heat of the hive, or renew the air and evaporate the newly-gathered honey (249), by ventilating (261, 366). They clean the hive of dirt or 68 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, débris, close up all the cracks, and secrete the greater part of the wax which is produced in the hive. The old bees may, if necessary, do a part of the same work; but, as we have seen, (39), old age renders some unfit to prepare the food of the larve. More alert than the young bees, they do the outside work, gather honey (246), pollen (263), and water (271), for the use of the family, and propolis (236) to cement the cracks. 160. ‘‘Dzierzon states it as a fact, that worker-bees attend more exclusively to the domestic concerns of the colony in the early period of life; assuming the discharge of the more active out-door duties only during the later periods of their existence. The Italian bees (551) furnished me with suitable means to test the correctness of this opinion. *€On the 18th of April, 1855, I introduecd (533) an Italian queen into w colony of common bees; and on the 10th of May following, the first Italian workers emerged from the cells. On the ensuing day, they emerged in great numbers, as the col- ony had been kept in good condition by regular and plentiful feeding. I will arrange my observations under the following heads: 161. ‘‘1. On the 10th of May, the first Italian workers emerged; and on the 17th they made their first appearance out- side of the hive. On the next day, and then daily till the 29th, they came forth about noon, disporting in front of the hive, in the rays of the sun. They, however, manifestly, did not issue for the purpose of gathering honey or pollen, for during that time none were noticed returning with pellets; none were seen alighting on any of the flowers in my garden; and I found no honey in the stomachs of such as I caught and killed for exam- ination. The gathering was done exclusively by the old bees of the original stock, until the 29th of May, when the Italian bees began to labor in that vocation also—being then 19 days old. 162. ‘2. On the feeding troughs placed in my garden, and which were constantly crowded with common bees, I saw no Italian bees till the 27th of May, seventeen days after the first had emerged from the cells. : ‘‘From the 10th of May on, I daily presented to Italian bees, in the hive, a stick dipped in honey. The younger ones never THE WORKER-BEE, 69 attempted to lick any of it; the older occasionally seemed to sip a little, but immediately left it and moved away. The common bees always eagerly licked it up, never leaving it till they had filled their honey-bags. Not till the 25th of May did I see any Italian bee lick up honey eagerly, as the common bees did from the beginning. ‘“These repeated observations force me to conclude that, dur- ing the first two weeks of the worker-bees’s life, the impulse for gathering honey'and pollen does not exist, or at least is not developed; and that the development of this impulse proceeds slowly and gradually. At first the young bee will not even touch the honey presented to her; some days later she will sim- ply taste it, and only after a further lapse of time will she con- sume it eagerly. Two weeks elapse before she readily eats honey, and nearly three weeks pass, before the gathering im- pulse is sufficiently developed to impel her to fly abroad, and seek for honey and pollen among the flowers. 163. ‘‘I made, further, the following observations respect- ing the domestic employments of the young Italian bees: ‘€1. On the 20th of May, I took out of the hive all the combs it contained, and replaced them after examination. On inspect- ing them half an hour later, I was surprised to see that the edges of the combs, which had been eut on removal,* were cov- ered by Italian bees exclusively. On closer examination, I found that they were busily engaged in re-attaching the combs to the sides of the hive. When I brushed them away, they instantly returned, in eager haste, to resume their labors. ‘©9. After making the foregoing observations, I inserted in the hive a bar from which a comb had been cut, to ascertain whether the rebuilding of comb would be undertaken by the Italian bees. I took it out a few hours subsequently, and found it covered almost exclusively by Italian workers, though the colony, at that time, still contained a large majority of com- mon bees. I saw that they were sedulously engaged in build- ing comb; and they prosecuted the work unremittingly, whilst I held the bar in my hand. I repeated this experiment several * Mr. Donhoff, the writer of this quotation, used the Dzierzon hive, the combs of which are suspended in the hive by an upper bar only, and cannot be taken out unless their edges, that are built against the sides of the- hive, are cut. 70 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEB. days in succession, and satisfied myself that the bees engaged in this work were always almost exclusively of the Italiaa race. Many of them had scales of wax visibly protruding between their abdominal rings (201). These observations show that, TAN Fig. 26. HEAD OF WORKER-BEE, (Magnified. After Barbd.) in the early stage of their existence, the impulse for comb- building is stronger than later in life. 164, ‘‘3. Whenever I examined the colony during the -first THE WORKER-BEE. 71 three weeks after the Italian bees emerged, I found the brood- combs covered principally by bees of that race: and it is, hence, probable that the brood is chiefly attcnded to and nursed by the younger bees. The evidence, however, is not so conclusive as in the casc of comb-building, inasmuch as they may have con- gregated on the brood-combs because these are warmer than the others. “*T may add another interesting observation. The feces in the intestines of the young Italian bces was viscid and yellow; that of the common or old bees was thin and limpid, like that of the queen-bee. This is confirmatory of the opinion, that, for the production of wax and jelly, the bees require pollen; but do not need any for their own sustenance.’’—(B. Z., 18F), p. 163. Dr. Donhoff, translated by the late S. Wagner.) 165. There are none but gentlemen of leisure in the com- monwealth of bees, but assuredly- there are no such ladies, whether of high or low degree. The queen herself has her full share of duties, the royal office being no sinecure, when the mother who fills it must daily deposit thou- sands of eggs. ‘‘The eggs of bees are of a lengthened, oval shape with a slight curvature, and of ayia ea a bluish white color: being besmeared, at Pie nea ; the time of laying, with a glutinous sub- a j stance, they adhere to the bases of the cells, and remain un- changed in figure or situation for three or four days; they are then hatched, the bottom of each cell presenting to view a smal] white worm.’’—(Bevan.) 166. For the first three days after their hatching, these worms are fed with a jelly, thought to be prepared or secreted by the upper pair of glands of the worker-bees (39), which are very large in the nurses. This milky food is a whitish, transparent fluid, and is distributed to the larve, as it is needed. After four or perhaps five days, the larva is. too large for the bottom of the cell, where it was coiled up, to use the language of Swammerdam, like a dog when going 72 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. . to sleep; and stretches itself till it occupies the whole length of the cell, lying on its back. Its food at this time, is changed for a semi-digested mixture of honey and pollen. Fig. 28. EGGS AND LARVA, (Magnified. After Barbd.) ‘‘The mixture of honey and pollen given at the end of the nursing, is easily detected by its color, which is yellower, on ac- THE WORKER-BEE, 73 count of the pollen, and ean be seen through the skin of the larva.’’— (Dubini.) 167. “The larva, or grub, grows apace, but not without experienc ing a difficulty to which the human family is, in COILED IN THE CELL. some sort, subject in the (Magnified. From Sartori and Rausch- period of youth. Its ia coat is inelastic and does not grow with the wearer, so that it soon, fitting badly, has to be thrown off; but, happily in the case of the larva, a new and larger one has already been formed beneath it, and the discarded garment, more delicate than gos- samer, is pushed to the bottom of the cell.’’—(Cheshire.) 168. ‘‘The nursing- becs now seal over the eell with a light brown cover, externally more J or less convex (the cap of a drone-cell being more convex than that of a worker), and thus STRETCHED IN THE CELL, differing from that of a (Magnified. ) honey - cell, which is paler and somewhat concave.’’—(‘‘ Bevan on the Honey-Bee.’’) The cap of the brood-cell is made not of pure wax, but_. of a mixture of bee-bread and wax; and appears under the microscope to be full of fine holes, to give air to the in- closed insect. From its texture and shape it is easily thrust — off by the bee when mature, whereas if it consisted wholly of wax, the insect would either perish for lack of air, or be unable to force its way into the world. Both the material and shape of the lids which close the honey-cells are differ- ent: they are of pure wax, and are slightly concave, the better to resist the pressure of their contents. The bees sometimes neglect to cap the cells of some of the brood, and some per- sons have thought that this brood was diseased, but it hatches ‘ T4 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, all the same. The larva is no sooner perfectly inclosed, than it begins to spin a cocoon after the manner of the silk-worm, and Cheshire teaches us that it does not encase the insect, but is only at the mouth of the cell, “and in no ease extends far down the sides.” To return to Bevan: 169. ‘‘When it has undergone this change, it has usually borne the name of nymph, or pupa. It has now attained its full growth, and the large amount of nutriment which it has taken serves as a store for developing the perfect insect. ‘¢The working-bee nymph spins its cocoon in thirty-six hours. After passing about three days in this state of preparation for a new existence, it gradually undergoes so great a change as not to wear a vestige of its previous form.’’ SPINNING OF THE COCOON AND TRANSFORMATION INTO NYMPH. (Magnified. From Sartori and Rauschenfels.) 170. The last cast-off skin of the larva, “which, by the creature’s movements within the cell, becomes plastered to the walls and joins the cocoon near the mouth end” (Chesh- ire), is left behind, and forms a closely-attached and exact lining to the cell; by this means the breeding-cells become smaller, and their partitions stronger, the oftener they change their tenants. So thin is this lining, that brood combs more than twenty years old have been found to raise bees apparently as large as any other in the Apiary. “471. About twenty-one days are usually required for the transformations from the worker-egg to the perfect insect. But the time may be shortened or lengthened by the tem- THE WORKER-BEE. 75 perature, or the conditions of the colony. Dzierzon and others wrote that a worker-bee can hatch in nineteen to twenty-one days. Collin says nineteen to twenty-three. That the brood can remain even longer before hatching, is confirmed by the Fig. 32. NYMPH, (Magnified. After Barbé.) report of A. Saunier, in the South of France. Having de- prived a hive of all its inhabitants, he found bees, hatching twenty-three days afterwards, that had not even been sealed 76 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. in their cells, since there had been no nurses there to do this work. (“L’Apiculteur.” Paris, 1870.) As these were al- ready full-grown larvee, when the hive was deprived of its bees, they must have been twenty-seven days old when hatch- ing. In this experiment, the heat produced by the larve, coupled with that of the atmosphere, had been sufficient to keep them alive and help their slow development. We have often noticed the brood of swarms, that had de- serted their hives, still alive after a cold night, but in each case its development was delayed. 172. A newly hatched worker, like a newly hatched queen, e easily recognized by her small size, her pale gray color, and er weak appearance. After a few days, she has grown con- siderably larger. She is then in the bloom of health; her color is bright, she has not yet lost a single hair of the down which covers her body. These hairs fall gradually from age and work, and sometimes disappear almost entirely. 173. The first excursion of the young bee out of the hive takes place when she is about eight days old (160.) The dis- turbing of the colony, or the lack of old bees may cause them to go out earlier. The first flight of young worker-bees is easily remembered when once seen. It usually takes place in the afternoon of a sunny day. They first walk about on the platform in a hesi- tating manner and then take flight. Their humming, and joyous and peaceable circles to reconnoitre the location of their home, recalls to memory the gay playing of children in front of the school-house door. Their second trip is made about a week after the first; it is then that they bring in their first load. A young bee coming home is readily recog- nized by the small size of the pollen pellets she carries, when compared with those of older bees, and by the turns she makes before alighting. 174. The Apiarist should become acquainted with the behavior of young bees, so as not to mistake their pleasant flight for the restless motions of robber-bees. (664.) 175. Although the workers are females, they are incapable THE WORKER-BEE. V7 of fecundation (108). Yet the rudimental ovaries of some of them contain a few undeveloped eggs (fig. 33). 176. Occasionally some of them are sufficiently developed to be eapable of laying eggs; but these eggs always produce drones. Laying workers appear only when a colony has been queenless for some time. Huber thought that fertile workers were reared in the neighborhood of the young queens, and that they received some of the peculiar food, or jelly on which these queens are fed.* But it is more probable that it is the inerease of the milky food, given lavishly to the larve in the first stage of their development, during a good honey flow, which enlarged their ovaries (108), and that the young bees, thus raised, having no more larve to nurse when the hive has suddenly become queenless, feed each other with their milky food, which excites their laying, as it does for the queens (89). The number of drone-laying workers is sometimes very large in a hopelessly queenless hive; we have seen at least. a dozen laying. on the same comb. Mr. Viallon, a noted bee-keeper of Louisiana, once had so many in one queenless colony, that he was able to send several dozen for dissection to bee-keepers in this country and Europe. 177. Some persons may question the wisdom of Nature in endowing the workers with the means of laying drone- eggs, when there is no queen in the colony to be fecundated by them. But Nature does nothing without purpose. The main cause of the loss of the queen, when there is no brood * An extract from Huber’s preface will’be interesting in this con- nection. After speaking of his blindness, and praising the extraordinary taste for Natural History, of his assistant, Burnens, “who was born with the talents of an observer,’ he says: “Every one of the facts I now publish, we have seen, over and over again, during the period of eight years, which we have employed in making our observations on bees. It is impossible to form a just idea of the patience and skill with which Burnens has carried out the experiments which I am about to describe; he has often watched some of the working-bees of our hives, which we had reason to think fertile, for the space of twenty- four hours, without distraction * * * * and he counted fatigue and pain as nothing, compared with the great desire he felt to know the results.” 78 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. fit to raise others (107), and therefore, no hopes of survival for the colony, is usually the death of the young queen in her bridal flight (122). = At some seasons, the drones are 5 st FO pa | Fig. 33. COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE OVARIES OF STERILE AND DRONE-LAYING WORKERS. (Magnified. After Barbé.) searce, and a young queen may be compelled to make several trips before she finds one. If she gets lost, the hive having remained queenless for at least eight or ten days (109), the THE WORKER-BEE, i) brood is too old to be used to raise another, and the colony is doomed. That other colonies may not be victims of similar accidents, owing to the scarcity of drones, Nature endows this worthless colony with the faculty of drone-raising. It is by the same provision of Nature that unhealthy trees, on the eve of death, are seen covered with blossoms and fruits. They make the strongest efforts to save their race from extinction, and perish afterwards. 178. The drone-laying of worker-bees is easily discovered by the Apiarist. Their eggs are laid without order, some cells containing grown larve, or sealed pups, by the side of cells containing eggs; while the eggs of a queen are very regularly Fig. 34. BROOD FROM DRONE-LAYING WORKER, (Forty Years Among the Bees.) By C. C. Miller. laid. Huber states that the fertile workers prefer large cells in which to deposit their drone eggs, resorting to small ones only when unable to find those of greater diameter. A hive in our Apiary having much worker-comb, but only a smal) piece of drone size, a fertile worker filled the latter so entireiy with eggs that some of the cells contained three or four each. 80 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 179. Sometimes the bees do not seem to know that these eggs are drone-eggs, and in their eagerness to raise a queen, they treat some of them as such, by enlarging their cells and feeding them on special food (109). The poor overfed drones, thus raised, usually perish in the cell (136). The workers soon dwindle away, and the colony perishes. 180. They often even fail to raise any queen from brood, which may be given them by the Apiarist, unless some hatch- ing bees are given at the same time. The latter, when informed of the needs of the colony, usually succeed in raising a queen. The introduction of a laying-queen in a laying-worker colony, is the best remedy. (533.) 181. The bees of the same colony understand each other very well for all their necessities, and they work with an entrain which is truly admirable. They know each other, probably by smell, for it is very rare to see a bee of the hive treated as a robber (664). They never use their sting exeept to defend themselves, when hurt, or their home, when they think it is threatened. 182. Their life is short, but their age depends very much upon their greater or less exposure to injurious influences, and severe labors. Those reared in the Spring and early part of Summer, upon whom the heaviest labors of the hive devolve, appear to live not more than thirty-five days, on an average; while those bred at the close of Summer, and early in Autumn, being able to spend a large part of their time in repose, attain a much greater age. It is very evident that “the bee” (to use the words of a quaint old writer) “is a Summer bird”; and that, with the exception of the queen, none live to be a year old. \ If an Italian queen be given, in the working season, to a hive of common bees, in about three months none of the latter will be found in the colony, and as the black queen removed has left eggs in the cells, which take twenty-one days to hatch, it is evident that the bees all die from fatigue or accident in the remaining seventy days, making their average life thirty-five days in the working season. THE WORKER-BEE. 81 The age which individual members of the community may attain, must not be confounded with that of the colony. Bees have been known to oceupy the same domicile for a great nwnber of years. We have seen flourishing colonies more than twenty years old; the Abbé Della Rocca speaks of some over forty years old; and Stoche says that he saw a colony, which COMBS OF BROOD. (Forty Years Among the Bees.) he was assured had swarmed annually for forty-six years! Such cases have led to the erroneous opinion, that bees are a long-lived race. But this, as Dr. Evans* has observed, is just as wise as if a stranger, contemplating a populous city, and personally unacquainted with its inhabitants, should, on paying it a second visit, many years after, and finding it equally populous, imagine that it was peopled by the same individuals, not one of whom might then be living. * Dr. Evans was an English physician, and the author of a beauti- ful poem on bees. : 82 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. ‘Like leaves on trees, the race of bees is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground, Another race the Spring or Fall supplies, They droop successive, and successive rise.’’?’ —Evans. Apiarists, unaware of the brevity of the bee’s life, have often constructed huge ‘‘bee-palaces” and large closets, vainly imagining that the bees would fill them, being unable to see any reason why a colony should not increase until it numbers its inhabitants by millions or billions. But as the bees can never at one time equal, still less exceed, the number which the queen is capable of producing in a season, these spacious dwellings have always an abundance of spare room. It seems strange that men can be thus deceived, when often in their own apiary they have healthy stoeks, which, though they have not swarmed for a year or more, are no more populous in the Spring, than those which have regularly parted with vigor- ous colonies. 183. There is something cruel in the habits of the bee. Whenever one of them becomes unable to work from some cause or other, if she does not perish in her efforts to go to the fields, the other bees drag her out pitilessly; their love being concentrated on the whole family, not on a single individual. Yet, when one is hurt, and complains, hundreds of others resent the injury and are ready to avenge her. 184, Notched and ragged wings and shiny bodies, in- stead of gray hairs and wrinkled faces, are the signs of old age in the bee, indicating that its season of toil will soon be over. They appear to die rather suddenly; and often spend their last days, and even their last hours, in useful labors. Place yourself before a hive, and see the indefatigable energy of these industrious veterans, toiling along with their heavy burdens, side by side with their more youthful com- peers, and then judge if, while qualified for useful labor, you ought ever to surrender yourself to slothful indulgence. Let the cheerful hum of their busy old age inspire you with better resolutions, and teach you how much nobler it is to die with harness on, in the active discharge of the duties of life. THE DRONE. 83 THE DRONES. 185. The drones are the male bees. They are much larger and stouter than either the queen or workers; although their bodies are not quite so long as that of the queen. They have no sting (@8) with which to de- fend themselves, and no suitable proboscis (48) for gathering honey from the flowers, no baskets on their thighs (59) for holding bee-bread, and no pouches (201) on their abdomens for secreting wax. They are, therefore, physically disqualified for the ordinary work of the hive. Their proper office is to impregnate the young queens, ‘‘Their short proboscis sips No luscious nectar from the wild thyme’s lips, From the lime’s leaf no amber drops they steal, Nor bear their grooveless thighs the foodful meal: On other’s toils in pamper’d leisure thvive The lazy fathers of the industrious hive.’’ —Evans. 186. The drones begin to make their appearance in April or May; earlier or later, according to the forwardness of the season, and the strength of the colony. Like the other inhabitants of the hive they cannot perform the work for which they are intended, till at least one week old. They go out of the hives only when the weather is warm, and at mid-day. P 18%. As we have seen (122), the mating of the queen with a drone always takes place in the air. Physiologists say that it cannot be otherwise, because the sexual organs of the drone cannot be extruded unless his abdomen is swelled | by the filling of all the trachee with air. This happens only in swift flight (74). 84 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ILONEY-BEE, Dzierzon supposes that the sound of the queen’s wings, when she is in the air, excites the drones. Evidently their eyes (11) and ears (25) which are highly developed, as proven by Cheshire, help them also in the search of the queen, which is their sole occupation, when in the field. In the interior of the hive, they are never seen to notice her; so that she is not molested, even if thousands are members of the same colony with herself. But outside of the hive, they readily follow her, led, according to Dzierzon, by the peculiar hum of her flight, and certamly also, by the senses of smell and of sight, which are more perfect than those of the worker, most likely for this single purpose. ‘‘When the queen flies abroad, the fleetest drone is more likely to suececd in his addresses than another, and thus he im- presses upon posterity some part of his own superior activity and energy. The slow and weak in the race die without heirs, so that the survival of the fittest is not an accident, but a pre- determination. In previous chapters we have considered his highly-developed eyes, meeting at the vertex of his head, his multitudinous smell-hollows, and his strong large wings, the ad- vantage of which ‘now appears in a clearer light; his quickness in discovering a mate, whose neighborhood is to him filled with irresistible odours, and his ability in keeping her in view dur- ing pursuit, are no less helpful to his purpose than fleetness on the wing....’’—(Cheshire.) 188. The drone perishes in ihe aet of impregnating the queen. Although, when cut into two pieces, each piece will retain its vitality for a long time, we accidentally ascertained, in the Summer of 1852, that if his abdomen is gently pressed, and sometimes if several are closely held in the warm hand, the male organ will often be permanently extruded, with a motion very like the popping of roasted pop-corn; and the insect, with a shiver, will eurl up and die, as quickly as if blasted with the lightning’s stroke. This singular provision is unquestionably intended to give additional security to the queen when she leaves her hive to have intereourse with the drone. Huber first discovered that she returned with the male THE DRONE. 85 organ torn from the drone, and still adhering to her body. If it were not for this arrangement, her spermatheca could not be filled, unless she remained so long in the air with the drone, as to incur a very great risk of being devoured by birds. In one instance, some days after the impregnation of a queen, we found the male organ, in a dried state, adhering so firmly to her body, that it could not be removed without tearmg her to pieces, Fig. 37. HEAD OF DRONE. (Magnified. After Barbd.) 189. The number of drones in a hive is often very great, amounting not merely to hundreds, but sometimes to thousands. As a single one will impregnate a queen for life, it would seem that only a few should be reared. But as sexual inter- course always takes place high up in the air, the young queens 86 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEB. must necessarily leave the hive; and it is very important to their safety that they should be sure to find a drone without being compelled to make frequent excursions; for being larger than workers, and less active on the wing, queens are more Fig. 38. SEXUAL ORGANS OF DRONE. (Magnified. After Barbd.) a,a, testicles; b,b, mucous glands; v, seminal duct; d, part in which the spermatophore is formed; e, hollow horns and penis. THE DRONE. 87 exposed to be caught by birds, or destroyed by sudden gusts of wind. In a large Apiary, a few drones in each hive, or the num- ber usually found in one, would suffice. Under such cir- cumstances bees are not in a state of nature, like a colony living in a forest, which often has no neighbors for miles, Fig 39. PENIS AND SPERMATOZOIDS. (Much magnified. After Barbd.) 88 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, A good colony, even in our climate, sometimes sends out three or more swarms, and in the tropical climates, of which the bee is probably a native, they increase with astonishing rapidity. Every new swarm, except the first, is led off by a young queen; and as she is never impregnated until she has been established as the head of a separate family, it is im- portant that each should be accompanied by a goodly number of drones; this requires the production of a large number in the parent-hive. 190. This necessity no longer exists when the bee is do- mesticated, since several colonies are kept in the same place, and the breeding of so many drones should be discouraged. Their brood takes useful space that might as well be occupied with worker-brood. One thousand good-for-nothing drones take up as much breeding-space as fifteen hundred workers (224), and require as much food, with negative results. Some hives, in a state of nature, produce so many drones that a great part of the surplus crop is disposed of by these vora- cious loafers. Besides, the comparatively large volume of the male organs, in connection with the gluttony of the drones, explains why they usually void their dejections in the hive, while workers retain them till they are on the wing (73), and why the cells of the combs of hives which have a large quantity of these gormands, become dark and thick sooner than the others. : The importance of preventing the over-production of drones has been corroborated by the discovery of Mr. P. J. Mahan, that those leaving the hive have quite a large drop of honey in their stomachs—while those returning from their pleasure excursions, having digested their dinners, are prepared for a new supply (600). Aristotle (“History of Animals,’ Book IX, Chap. XI) speaks of the irregular and thick combs built by some colonies, and the superabundance of drones issuing from them. He describes their excursions as follows: ‘The ‘drones, when they go abroad, rise into the air with a circular flight, as though to take violent exercise, and when they THE DRONE. 89 have taken enough, return home, and gorge themselves with honey.’’ “‘The drone,’’ says quaint old Butler (1609) ‘‘is a gross, stingless bee, that spendeth his time in gluttony and idleness. For howsoever he brave it with his round velvet cap, his side gown, his full paunch, and his loud voice, yet is he but an idle companion, living by the sweat of others’ brows. He worketh not at all; either at home or abroad, and yet spendeth as much as two laborers: you shall never find his maw without a drop of the purest nectar. In the heat of the day he flieth abroad, aloft and about, and that with no small noise, as though he would do some great act; but it is only for his pleasure, and to get him a stomach, and then returns he presently to his cheer.’’ 191. The bee-keepers in Aristotle’s time were in the habit of destroying the exces: of drones. They ex- cluded them from the hive—when taking their accustomed airing —by contracting the entrances with a kind of basket work. Butler Fig. 40. recommends a_ similar Ae eens trap, which he ealls a ; “drone-pot.” One of the modern inventions to destroy them is Alley’s drone-trap* improved by J. A. Batchelder; but it is much better to save the bees the labor and expense of rearing such a host of useless consumers. This can readily be done, when we have the control of the combs; for, by removing the drone- comb, and supplying its place with worker-cells, the over- production of drones may be easily prevented. Those who object to this, as interfering with nature, should remember that the bee is not in a state of nature; and that the same objection might, with equal force, be urged against killing off *The perforated zinc, used in drone-traps, which we think was in- vented by Collin, (‘‘Guide,” p. 3, Paris, 1865), is so cut, that neither queen nor drone but only the worker bee can pass through its opening. 90 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE, or eastrating the supernumerary males of our domestic ani- mals. 192. Soon after the harvest is over, or if there is a lull in the yield of honey, the drones are expelled from the hive. The worker-bees sting them, or gnaw the roots of their wings, so that when driven from the hive, they cannot return. If not ejected in either of these summary ways, they are so per- secuted and starved, that they soon perish. At such times they often retreat from the comb, and keep by themselves upon the sides or bottom-board of the hive. The hatred of the bees extends even to the unhatched young, which are mercilessly pulled from the cells and destroyed with the rest. Healthy colonies almost always destroy the drones, as soon as forage becomes scarce. In the vicinity of Philadelphia, there were only a few days in June, 1858, when it did not rain, and in that month the drones were destroyed in most of the hives. When the weather became more propitious, others were bred to take their place. In seasons when the honey-harvest has been abundant and long protracted, we have known the drones to be retained, in Northern Massa- chusetts, until the lst of November. If bees could gather honey and could swarm the whole year, the drones would probably die a natural death. How wonderful that instinct which, when there is no longer any occasion for their services, impels the bees to destroy those members of the colony reared with such devoted atten- tion! 193. It is interesting to notice the actions of the drones when they are excluded from the hive. For a while they eagerly search for a wider entrance, or strive to force their bulky bodies through the narrow gateway. Finding this to be in vain, they solicit honey from the workers, and when refreshed, renew their efforts for admission, expressing, all the while, with plaintive notes, their deep sense of such a eruel exclusion. The bee-keeper, however, is deaf to their entréaties; it is better for him that they should stay without, and better for them—if they only knew it—to perish by his THE DRONE. 91 hands, than to be starved or butchered by the unfeeling work- ers. Towards dark, or early in the morning—when clustered, for warmth, in the portico—they may be brushed into a vessel of water, and given to chickens, which will soon learn to de- vour them. 194. Drones are sometimes raised in worker-cells (150). They are smaller in size, but apparently as perfect as the full-size drones, all their organs being well developed. For the stages of development of drones, see the compara- tive table at the end of this chapter (197). 195. We have repeatedly queried,, why impregnation might not have taken place in the hive, instead of in the open air. A few dozen drones would then have sufficed for the wants of any colony, even if it swarmed, as in warm climates, half a dozen times, or oftener, in the same season; and the young queens would have incurred no risks by leav- ing the hive for fecundation. 196. If a farmer persists in what is called “breeding in and in,” that is, without changing the blood, the ultimate degeneracy of his stock is the consequence.* This law extends, as far as we know, to all animal life, man himself not being exempt from its influence. Have we any reason to suppose that the bee is an exception? or that degeneracy would not ensue, unless some provision were made to counteract the ten- dency to “in-and-in breeding?” If fecundation had taken place in the hive, the queen would have been impregnated by drones from a common parent; and the same result must have taken place in each successive generation, until the whole species would eventually have “run out.” By the present arrangement, the young queens, when they leave the hive, often find the air swarming with drones, many of which be- long to other colonies, and thus, by crossing the breed, pro- vision is constantly made to prevent deterioration. *In the above, Mr. Langstroth refers to indiscriminate breeding. In-and-in breeding, by selection, intensifies certain qualities, such as the development of fat, or of muscle, but it also intensifies the de- fects, generally causing a decrease of vitality or of health in the race. 92 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. Experience has proved that impregnation may be effected not only when there are no drones in the colony of the young queen, but even when there are none in her immediate neigh- borhood. Intercourse takes place very high in the air (per- haps that less risk may be incurred from birds), and this favors the crossing of stocks. 197. Comparative TaBLE oF THE NorMAL DURATION OF tHE Ber’s TRANSFORMATIONS FROM Haas To WINGED INSECTS. Queen. Worker. Drone. BOS" ie wiagaida tals cena wanes days 3 3 3 Growth of larva............. “ 514 6 6% Spinning of cocoon........... ee 1 2 1% Period of rest............005 ef 2 2 3 Metamorphosis into pupa..... as 1 1 1 Duration of this stage........ a 316 7 9 Av. time from egg to winged insect...16 21 24 q CHAPTER II. THE BUILDING OF BEES.—COMB. 198. When a swarm (406) has found a suitable habita- tion, some of the bees clean it of its rubbish, if necessary, while others, at once, prepare to build the furniture, which is intended as cradles for the young bees, and as a store-room for the provisions, and is called comb. According to Webster, this word is probably taken from Fig. 41. COMBS BUILT UPWARDS. the Anglo-Saxon “comb,” which means a hollow; the combs being hollow structures, with exceedingly light walls. 199. The combs are usually begun at the highest point of the hive and built downwards, yet, when some breaking hap- 93 94 THE BUILDING OF BEES. pens, or when the harvest is short and the weather is cool, the bees sometimes build them upwards; but: they are far from having the usual regularity. Combs are made of wax, a natural secretion which is produced by bees somewhat as cattle produce fat, by eating. 200. ‘‘Wax is not chemically a fat or glyceride, yet it is nearly allied to the fats in atomic constitution, and the physiological conditions fa- voring the formation of one fja2re curiously similar to B\those aiding in the produc- tion of the other. We put Fig, 42, our poultry up to fat in con- WAX SCALES. finement, with partial light, (Masniteds) to secure bodily inactivity, we keep warm and fccd highly. Our bees, undcr Nature’s teaching, put themselves up to yield wax under conditions so parallel, that the suitability of the fatting coops is vindi- cated.’’—(Cheshire.) Yet let it not be thought that beeswax is the fat of the bee, but its preduetion is on similar lines. 201. If they remain quietly clustered tezether, when gorged with honey, or any liquid sweet, the wax is se- ereted in the shape of deucate seales in four small pouches, on each side of the abdomen, of worker-bees. ‘“‘These scales, of an irreg- ular pentagonal shape, are so thin and light, that one hun- dred of them hardly weigh as much as a kernel of wheat.’’ —(Dubini, ‘‘L’Ape.’’) 202. In the young bees, which are endowed with a great appetite, they form, probably, without their knowledge, dur- Fig. 43. SECRETION OF WAX SCALES. (Magnified. ) (Frem the “Jllustrierte Bienen- vedduny.’') COMB. 95 ing the honey season; and if there is no place to use them, they are gathered in small knots here and there. This only happens when the combs are entirely: filled and sealed. It has been noticed, most especially, in hives in which a comb had been broken down by heat. (333.) In such cases, many of the bees gorge themselves with the wasting honey, and Fig. 44. THE WAX-PRODUCING ORGAN OF THE WORKER. (Magnified. After Barbd.) cluster on the outside, until the heat has subsided, and the running honey has been gathered up. Seales of wax, in lumps, ean then be found where they have clustered. 203. Although the faculty of producing wax is diminished in old bees, who are subject to the natural law which makes it more difficult to fatten an old animal, it is proved that they may also produce small scales of wax. 96 THE BUILDING OF BEES. ‘‘During the active storing of the past season, especially when comb building was in rapid progress, I found that nearly every bee taken from the flowers contained wax scales of varying sizes in the wax-pockets.’’—(A. J. Cook.) 201. The first condition indispensable for bees to pro- duce wax, is to have the stomach well filled. It is an interesting fact that honey-gathering and comb- building go on simultaneously; so that when one stops, the other ceases also. As soon as the honey harvest begins to fail, so that consumption is in advance of production, the bees cease to build new comb, even though large portions of their hive are unfilled. When honey no longer abounds in the fields, it is wisely ordered that they should not consume, in comb-building, the treasures which may be needed for Winter use. What safer rule could have been given them? It takes about twenty-four hours for a bee’s food to be- come transformed into wax. 205. ‘‘Having filled themselves with honey, they gather in chains; not in a single group, but in a number of groups, hang- ing in a parallel curtain, in the direction of the comb to be constructed. Thus a bee clings to the ceiling with her claws, or the sticky rubber of her feet, her posterior limbs hanging down; another bee grapples the claws of these posterior feet, with the claws of her anterior limbs, letting her hind limbs hang also, to be grappled by a third, and so on, till the first chain meets another, and both united form an arch, top down- ward. This single chain becomes compound when several are in the same line, and grouped near one another.’’—(Sartori and Rauschenfels, ‘‘L’Apicoltura in Italia,’’ Milan, 1878.) 206.1 ‘‘If we examine the bees closely during the season of comb-building and honey-gathering, we shall find many of them with the wax scales protruding between the rings that form the body, and these scales are either picked from their bodies, or from the bottom of the hive or honey boxes in which they are building. If a bee is obliged to carry one of these wax scales but a short distance, he takes it in his mandibles, and looks as business-like with it thus, as a carpenter with a board on his shoulder. If he has to carry it from the bottom of the honey- (2) In this witty quotation, the worker should have been in the feminine and not in the masculine, PuaTE 12, PROF. A. J. COOK, Author of ‘The Bee-Keeper’s Guide.”’ This writer is mentioned pages 6, 11, 39, 54, 96, 142, 260, 490, 507. COMB, 97 box, he takes it in a way that I cannot explain any better than to say he slips it under his chin, in the mandibles or jaws. When thus equipped, you would never know he was encumbered with anything, unless it chanced to slip out, when he will very dexterously tuck it back with one of-his forefeet. The little Fig. 45, COMB BUILDERS. (From Advanced Bee Culture. By W. Z. Hutchinson.) plate of wax is so warm, from being kept under his chin, as to be quite soft when it gets back; and as he takes it out, and gives it a pinch against the comb where the building is going on, one would think he might stop a while and put it into place; but not he; for off he scampers and twists around so many dif- ferent ways, you might think he was not one of the working 98 THE BUILDING OF BEES. kind at all. Another follows after him sooner or later, and gives the wax a pinch, or a little scraping or burnishing with his polished mandibles, then another, and so on, and the sum total of all these manoeuvres is that the comb seems almost to grow out of nothing; yet no bee ever makes a cell himself, and no comb building is ever done by any bee while standing in a cell; neither do the bees ever stand in rows and ‘excavate,’ or any thing of the kind. “‘The finished comb is the result of the united efforts of the moving, restless mass, and the great mystery is, that anything so wonderful can ever result at all, from such a mixed-up, skip- ping-about way of working, as they seem to have. ‘‘When the cells are built out only part way, they are filled with honey or eggs, and the length is increased when they feel disposed, or ‘get around to it,’ perhaps; as a thick rim is left around the upper edge of the cell, they have the material at hand, to lengthen it at any time. This thick rim is also very necessary to give the bees a secure foothold, for the sides of the cells are so thin, they would be very apt to break down with even the light weight of a bee. When honey is coming in rap- idly, and the bees are crowded for room to store it, their eagerness is so plainly apparent, as they push the work along, that they fairly seem to quiver with excitement; but, for all that, they skip about from one cell to another in the same way, no one bee working in the same spot to exceed a minute or two, at the very outside. Very frequently, after one has bent a piece of wax a certain way, the next tips it in the opposite direction, and so on until completion; but after all have given it a twist or a pull, it is found in pretty nearly the right spot. As near as I can discover, they moisten the thin ribbons of wax, with some sort of fluid or saliva (41). As the bee always preserves the thick rib* or rim of the comb he is working, the looker-on would suppose he was making the walls of a consid- erable thickness, but if we drive him away, and break this rim, we will find that his mandibles have come so nearly to- «The constant preserving of this rib or heavy edge of the comb while the work progresses, explains why old comb lengthened and sealed with new wax, sometimes retains a part of its dark color throughout. Some of the old wax is undoubtedly mixed with the new, in the constant remodeling of this heavier edge, till the comb is sealed. COMB. 99 gether, that the wax between them, beyond the rim, is almost as thin as a tissue paper.’’—(‘‘A B C of Bee Culture.’’). 20%. It is very difficult to ascertain who first discovered these scales of wax. According to Mr. 8. Wagner, J. A. Overbeck, in his Glossarium Melliturgium, p. 89, Bremen, 1765, claims that a Hanoverian pastor, named Herman C. Hornbostel, described them in the Hamburg Library, about 1745. Mr. L. Stachelhausen informed us that they were men- tioned by Martin John in Lin Neu Bienenbuchel, 1691. They were also discovered, in Germany, by a farmer. This discovery-was communicated to the naturalist Bonnet by Wil- lelmi, under the date of August 22, 1765. (Huber.) In 1779, Thos. Wildman had noticed the scales of wax on the abdomen of the workers; and he was so thoroughly con- vineed that wax was secreted from honey, that he recommended feeding new swarms, when the weather is stormy, that they may sooner build comb for the eggs of the queen. From the books written in the French language, it seems that it was Duchet, who, in his “Culture des Abeilles,” printed in Freiburg in 1771, wrote first that beeswax is produced from honey, of which they eat a large quantity, “which is cooked in their bodies, as in a stove,’ increasing thereby the warmth of the hive, and that beeswax “exudes out of this stove” through the rings of their body which are near the corselet. This idea of Duchet led Beaunier to examine bees, and he discovered that they produce, at one time, not two scales of wax only, but nine, the last ring having seemed to produce one. He adds: 208. ‘‘To employ this material, bees use their jaws, their tongues, and their antenne. In favorable years you can see a great quantity of these pieces of wax which have fallen on the bottom of the hives.’’—(‘‘Traité sur l’Education des Abeilles,’’ Vendéme, 1808.) 209. When bees are building combs, some scales of wax are often found on the bottom board, the bees having been unable to use them before they became too tough. Sometimes they pick them up afterwards and use them; some races of 100 THE BUILDING OF BEES. bees, the Italian (551), for instance, often use also pieces of old combs, which may be within their reach. The comb, thus built, is easily detected on account of its darker color. Queen-cells (1O4) seem to be always built of particles, taken from the comb on which they hang, and are never of pure wax. ‘«Thus, filtered through yon flutterer’s folded mail, Clings the cooled wax, and hardens to a scale. Swift, at the well-known call, the ready train (For not a buz boon Nature breathes in vain) Spring to each falling flake, and bear along Their glossy burdens to the builder throng. These with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth, Pare each excrescence, and each angle smoothe, Till now, in finish’d pride, two radiant rows Of snow white cells one mutual base disclose. Six shining panels gird each polish’d round; The door’s fine rim, with waxen fillet bound; While walls so thin, with sister walls combined, Weak in themselves, a sure dependence find.’’ Evans. 210. The cells of bees are found to fulfill perfectly the most subtle conditions of an intricate mathematical problem. Let it be required to find what shape a given quantity of matter must take, in order to have the greatest capacity and strength, occupying, at the same time, the least space and con- sting the least labor in its construction. When this problem is solved by the most refined mathematical processes, the answer is the hexagonal or six-sided cell of the honey-bee, with its three four-sided figures at the base! The shape of these figures cannot be altered ever so little, except for the worse. 211. The bottom of each cell is formed of three lozenges, the latter forming one-third of the base of three opposite cells. “«Tf the little lozenge plates were square, we should have the same arrangement, but the bottom would be &» sharp pointed COMB. 101 as it were, to use wax with the best economy, or to best ac- commodate the body of the infantile bee. Should we, on the contrary, make the lozenge a little longer, we should have the bottom of the cell too nearly flat to use wax with most econ- omy, or for the comfort of the young bee.’’—(‘‘A B C of Bee Culture.’’) 212. ‘‘There are only three possible figures of the cells,’’ saye Dr. Reid, ‘‘which can make them all equal and similar, without any useless spaces between them. These are the equi- lateral triangle, the square, and the regular hexagon. It is well known to mathematicians, that there is not a fourth way pos- sible in which a plane may be cut into little spaces that shall be equal, similar, and regular, without leaving any interstices.’’ An equilateral triangle would have been impossible for an insect with a round body to build. A circle seems to be the best shape for the development of the larve; but such a figure would have caused a needless sacrifice of space, materials, and strength. The body of the immature insect, as it undergoes its changes, is charged with a superabundance of moisture, which passes off through the reticulated cover of its cell; may not a hexagon, therefore, while approaching so nearly to the shape of a circle, as not to incommode the young bee, fur- nish, in its six corners, the necessary vacancies for a more thorough ventilation ? Is it credible that these little insects can unite so many re- quisites in the construction of their cells? 213. The fact is that the hexagonal shape of the cells is naturally produced, and without any calculation, by the bee. She wants to build each cell round; but as every cell touches the next ones, and as she does not wish to leave any space between, each one of the cells flattens at the contact, as would soap bubbles if all of the same diameter. It is the same for the lozenges of the bottom. The bee, wanting the bottom of the cell concave inside, makes it, naturally, convex outside. As this convexity projects on the opposite side of the median line, the bee who builds the opposite cells begins, naturally, on the tip of the convexity, the walls of cells just begun, since 102 THE BUILDING OF BEES. she wants also to make their bottom concave. The final re- sult is that one-third of the bottom of each of three cells makes the bottom of the one cell opposite, and each one of the lozenges is flattened, so as not to encroach on the opposite cells. 214. The cells are not horizontal, but inclined from the orifice to the bottom (fig. 46), so as to be filled with honey more easily. The thickness of —— eS worker-brood comb is about a a one inch, with cells opening a EE on each side. The distance between combs is about 7-16 = ae of an inch. This space is —— not always exact, but is never ae under 5-16, that being neces- vA sary for the bees to travel be- tween the combs without in- SHOWING THE SLOPE OF THE CELLS AND SHAPE OF THE BASE, : terfering with one another. (From Sartori and Rauschenfels.) These distances can be a little inereased without troubling the bees, and we place the combs in our hives one and a half inches from center to center, for easier manipulation. 215. When the combs are newly built, they are white, but they get color shortly afterwards, especially during the har- vest of yellow honey. When used for breeding, the cast skins and residues from the larve (16%) give them a dark color, which becomes nearly black with age, especially if bees have suffered with diarrhea (784), or raised a great many drones. (190.) As wax is a bad conductor, the combs aid in keeping the bees warm, and there is less risk of the honey candying in the cells. 216. Is the size of the cells mathematically exact? When the first Republic of France inaugurated the decimal system of weights and measures, Réaumur proposed to take the cells of the bees as a standard to establish the basis of the system, but it was ascertained that cells are not uniform in size. COMB. 103 217. The cells in which workers are reared are the smallest. Those in which the drones are reared are larger. It is generally admitted that five worker-cells measure about a linear inch, or twenty-five cells to the square inch, but this is ineorrect. If five worker-cells measured exactly an inch, the number contained in a square inch would be about twenty- nine. As they are usually somewhat larger, the average num- ber in a square inch is a trifle over twenty-seven. Drone-cells number about cighteen, in the same area. Fig. 47. WORKER COMB AND DRONE COMB WITH CELLS OF ACCOMMODATION, L’Abbé Collin measured the average dimensions of the cells very carefully, and the measurements given in his work (Paris, 1865) are about the same as those given above. 218. The queen-cells have already been described. (104.) As bees, in building their cells, cannot pass immediately from one size to another, they display an admirable sagacity in making the transition by a set of irregular intermediate 104 THE BUILDING OF BEES. eells. Fig. 47 exhibits an accurate and beautiful representa- tion of comb, drawn for this work from nature, by M. M. Tidd, and engraved by D. T. Smith, both of Boston, Mass. The cells are of the size of nature. The large ones are drone- cells, and the small ones, worker-cells. The irregular, five- sided cells between them, show how bees pass from one size to another. Mr. Cheshire, in his book, has criticized this engraving, on account of the acuteness of the cells of transition, or as he terms them, of accommodation. He writes: “The head of a bee could not reach the bottom of the acute angles as they’ are represented.” Our first impression, on reading the criticism, was that Mr. Cheshire was right. Then the thought that Mr. Langstroth had his engravings made from nature led us to inspect some combs, when we found several cells of accom- modation with angles at least as acute as in the cut. But we noticed also that this acuity exists only on the rims of the cells and not inside; the bees, inside the cells, having pushed out the walls, to be enabled to reach the bottom of the angles which were thus rounded inside. Myr. Langstroth wrote to us, in regard to this criticism of Mr. Cheshire: “This piece of comb was actually copied from nature by a man of extraor- dinary accuracy.” 219. The combs are built with such economy, that the entire construction of a hive of a capacity of nine gallons does not yield more than two pounds of beeswax when melted. According to Dr. Donhoff, the thickness of the sides of a cell in a new comb is only the one hundred and eightieth part of an inch! Cheshire states that he found some that measured only the four hundredth of an inch. 220. Most Apiavists before Huber’s time supposed that wax was made from pollen, either in a erude or digested state. Confining a new swarm of bees to a hive in a dark and cool room, at the end of five days he found several beautiful white combs in their tenement; these being taken from them, and the bees supplied with honey and water, new combs were again constructed. Seven times in succession their combs were re- moved, and were in each instance replaced, the bees being all COMB. 105 the time prevented from ranging the fields to supply them- selves-with -pollen. By subsequent experiments, he proved that sugar-syrup answered, the same end with honey. Giving an im- prisoned swarm an abundance of fruit and pollen, he found that they subsisted on the fruit, but refused to touch the pollen; and that no combs were constructed, nor any wax- scales formed in their pouches. Notwithstanding Huber’s extreme caution and unwearied patience in conducting these experiments, he did not dis- cover the whole truth on this important subject. Though he demonstrated that bees can construct comb when fed honey or sugar, without pollen, and that they cannot make it if fed pollen without honey or sugar, he did not prove that when permanently deprived of it they can continue to work in wax, or if they can, that the pollen does not aid in its elaboration. Some pollen is always found in the stomach of wax-pro- dueing workers, and they never build comb so rapidiy as when they have free access to this article. It must, therefore, in some way, assist the bee in producing it. 221. The experiments made by Berlepsch show that bees, which are deprived of pollen when they construct combs, con- sume from sixteen to nineteen pounds of honey to produce a pound of comb, while, if provided with it, the amount of honey _is reduced to ten or twelve pounds. If the experiment is con- tinued without pollen for some time, the bees become exhausted and begin to perish. It is therefore demonstrated that although nitrogen, which is one of the elements of ‘pollen, does not enter into the composition -of beeswax, yet it is indispensable as focd to sustain the strength of bees during their work in eomb making. 222. Honey and sugar contain by weight about eight pounds of oxygen to one of carbon and hydrogen. When converted into wax, these proportions are remarkably changed, the wax containing only one pound of oxygen to more than sixteen of hydrogen and carbon. Now as oxygen is the grand supporter of animal heat, the large quantity consumed in secreting wax aids in generating that extraordinary heat which always accompanies comb-building, and which enables the bees 106 THE BUILDING OF BEES. to mould the softened wax into such exquisitely delicate and beautiful forms. This interesting instance of adaptation, so clearly pointing to the Divine Wisdom, seems to have escaped the notice of previots writers. 223. Careful experiments prove that from seven to fifteen pounds of honey are usually required to make a single pound of wax. As wax is an animal oil, secreted chiefly from honey, this fact will not appear incredible to those who are aware Prow many pounds of corn or hay must be fed to eattle to have them gain a single pound of fat. From experiments made by Mr. P. Viallon here, and by Mr. De Layens in Franee, it seems that in good cireumstances bees use only about seven pounds of honey to produce a pound of wax. But the actual cost of comb to the bees is not to be reckoned only by the amount of honey digested by them to produce this wax. It must also be borne in mind that there is nearly always a loss of time, in comb-building, since the bees must digest the honey before the wax cells are formed. As stated before, comb building and honey gathering go on simultaneously, but when a swarm is hived, it takes quite a little time before any . amount of comb is built, and in the meantime the harvest is on and the bees that have to build comb are unable to take full advantage of it. Many bee-keepers are unaware of the value of empty comb. Suppose honey to be worth only ten cents per pound, and comb, when rendered into wax, to be worth thirty cents, the Apiarist who melts a pound of comb loses largely by the operation, even without estimating the time his bees have con- sumed in building it. It is, therefore, considered a first prin- ciple in bee-culture never to melt good worker-combs. Fig. 121, THE BENTON CAGE. 599. Some years ago, A. I. Root practiced the shipping of bees by the pound for the stocking of apiaries, but this ( @ had aj e * ele Fig. 122. BENTON CAGES, (From “The Rearing of Queen FPes.’’) (U. §. Bulletin No. 55, Bureau of Entomology. By E. F. Phillips.) method has not proven successful and although bees may still be bought by weight, it bas been found advisable to ship 326 SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTING BEES. them with some brood and combs. A two-comb nucleus pro- vided with a liberal supply of bees and put into a shipping box of right size and of light weight, may be sent to great distance and will build a very fair colony if purchased at the opening of the clover harvest and properly cared for and supplied with combs already built. 600. How many bees are there in a pound? This ques- tion has been propounded to us several times. L’abbe Collin, by careful experiments, found that in a normal condition it takes about 5,100 bees to weigh a pound; while in the swarm, when they are supplied with honey, it takes less than 4,300. According to Bernard De Gelieu, their weight will vary from 3,640 to 5,460. He ascertained that, in a good season, a thousand bees carried in about an ounce of honey from the field, at each trip. The same writer, testing the weight of drones found that about 2,000 weighed a pound. This was verified by the tests of Prof. B. F. Koons, of Connecticut, quoted in the A B C of Bee Culture. But Collin, who was very accurate in these matters, tested drones, both at their leaving the hive and at their return from the field and found that the outgoing drones number about 1,950 to the pound, while the returning drones number 2,100, which shows a loss of nearly eight per cent in their weight, through the taking of their daily exercise. This is evidently caused by their discharging their excrements and gives a faint idea of the amount of food they must consume while in the hive, for they also discharge their excrements in the hive (190), without much regard to propriety. It also confirms the facet that they harvest nothing but always come home with an appetite. 601. Parties contemplating the breeding of bees and queens for sale, will do well to locate themselves as far South as convenient for easy shipment, as it is by far more lucrative to raise them there than in the North. This is very easy to understand. In the South, the bees usually winter safely, and TRANSPORTING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 327 breed early, so that the colonies are strong, while those of the Northern latitudes are still confined in their hives, strug- gling against the rigors of Winter. If an Apiarist purchases bees or queens at the proper time —Spring—to recruit his Winter loss, he will most likely buy them from some location South of him, as he ean there ob- tain stronger colonies, and earlier queens, than in his own latitude. : 602. On the other hand, as the honey of the Northern States is superior in quality to Southern honey, bee-culture for honey production can be made fully as profitable in the North, in spite of the difficulties of wintering. TRANSPORTING Bers SHORT DISTANCES. Confine the hive, so that it cannot be jolted, in a wagon with springs, and be sure, before starting, that it is impossible for a bee to get out. It will be next to impossible, in warm weather, to move a hive which contains much new comb or much fresh honey. Indeed, we would strongly urge beginners not to transport bees in warm weather. Just before fruit-blossom is the best time to transport full colonies of bees. Some advise trans- porting them in Winter, on sleds, but after trial we con- demned this method also. The joltings of a sleigh, though few, are hard, and will break combs; and disturbing bees in cold weather should always be discouraged. When hauling bees in warm weather, do not load or unload them while the horses are hitched to the wagon. We have seen serious acci- dents resulting from a hive dropping from a man’s hand to the ground, causing the bees to escape, and to sting both the driver and the horses severely. If a colony, in hot weather, is to be moved any distance in movable-frame hives, it will be advisable to fasten frames of wire-cloth, both to the top and bottom of the brood apart- ment, and to transport the bottom-board, cloth, mat, or sur- plus cap or cover, separately. $28 SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTING BEES. A specially made rack, similar to a hay-rack, is often used, in large apiaries. Hives with movable-frames should be ar- ranged in such a position that the frames run from side to side, and not from front to rear, in the wagon. 603. Upon arrival at the apiary, if the weather is warm, you should at once set the hives in proper position, and re- lease the bees. It is good policy to place a shade board (572) in front of the entrances for a day or two. The object of this is to cause the old bees to notice that something is changed in their location, and to turn around and mark the place, instead of starting out as usual in a bee-line with- out looking behind. 604. New swarms may be brought home in any box which has ample ventilation. A tea-chest, with wire-cloth on the top, sides, and bottom-board, will be found very convenient. The bees may be shut up in the box as soon as they are hived. New swarms require even more air than old colonies, being full of honey and closely clustered together. They should be set in a cool place, and, if the weather is very sultry, should not be removed until night. Many swarms are suffocated by the neglect of these precautions. The bees may be easily shaken out from this temporary hive. CHAPTER XII. Freping Bess. 605. Few things in practical bee-keeping are more im- portant than the feeding of bees; yet none have been more grossly mismanaged or neglected. In the Spring, the prudent bee-keeper will no more neglect to feed Ins destitute colonies, than to provide for his own table. At this season, being stimulated by the returning warmth, and being largely engaged in breeding, bees require a liberal supply of food, and many populous colonies perish, which might have been saved with but trifling trouble or ex- pense. “Tf e’er dark Autumn, with untimely storm, The honey’d harvest of the year deform; Or the chill blast from Eurus’ mildew wing, Blight the fair promise of returning Spring; Full many a hive, but late alert and gay, Droops in the lap of all-inspiring May.’’ —Evans. “‘Tf the Spring is not favorable to bees, they should be fed, because that is the season of their greatest expense in honey, for feeding their young: Having plenty at that time, enables them to yield early and strong swarms.’’—(Wildman.) A bee-keeper, whose colonies are allowed to perish after the Spring has opened, is on a level with a farmer whose cattle are allowed to starve in their stalls; while those who withhold from them the needed aid, in seasons when they cannot gather a supply, resemble the merchant who burns up his ships, if they have made an unfavorable voyage. Columella gives minute instructions for feeding needy colonies, and notes approvingly the directions of Hyginus— 329 330 FEEDING BEES. whose writings are no longer extant—that this matter should be most carefully (“diligentissime”) attended to. Sprinc FEEDING. G06. When bees first begin to fly in the Spring, it is well to feed them a little, as a small addition to their hoards encourages the production of brood. Great caution, how- ever, should be used to prevent robbing. Feeding should always be attended to in the evening (666), and as soon as forage abounds, the feeding should be discontinued. Feeding to induce breeding should be done with diluted honey or thin sugar-syrup, warmed before using. This watery and warm food given in small quantities takes the place of fresh honey and, like fresh harvested nectar, saves the bees the necessity of going after water for breeding. It thus serves two purposes, it induces more plentiful breeding and supplies water for the larval food (662, 271). Mr. J. E. Johnson of Williamsfield, Illinois, reported to us great suc- cess by this method which is not usually followed, owing to the care required, for one must be careful not to overdo the feed- ing or feed when the weather is too cold. If a colony is over-fed, the bees will fill their brood-combs, so as to interfere with the production of young, and thus the honey given to them is worse than thrown away. The over-feeding of bees resembles, in its results, the noxious influences under which too many children of the rich are reared. Pampered and fed to the full, how often does their wealth prove only a legacy of withering curses, as, bankrupt in purse and character, they prematurely sink to dishonored graves. Colonies, which have abundant stores, may be incited to breed, by simply bruising the cappings of a part of their honey. This causes them to feed their queen more plentifully, and more eggs are laid. 60%. Bees may require feeding, even when there are many FALL FEEDING. 331 blossoms in the fields, before the beginning of the main har- vest, if the weather is unfavorable to the honey flow. Large quantities of brood hatch daily, requiring much food, and a few days without honey sometimes endangers the life of eolo- nies, on the eve of a plentiful harvest. Few people realize the great risk of starvation just at the opening of the honey crop. A good way to feed destitute colonies in Spring is to give them combs of honey, which have been saved from the previous season for this purpose. If such cannot be had, the food may be put into an empty comb, and placed where it can be easily reached by the bees. Honey partially candied, or granulated (830), may be given them, in small quantities, by pouring it over the top of combs in which the bees are clustered. , ie Jane at to the labial palpi (46) of the bees, who (From “A B C of Bee- cannot easily get rid of them, and perish. SmI In some parts of Ohio and Western Illinois, a variety of the conimon kind, the Asclepias Sullivantii, does not present to bees these difficulties to the same degree. We have seen bees gathering honey freely on four or five different varieties which grow in our neighborhood, and especially on the Tube- PASTURAGE. 415 rosa or Pleurisy root (Fig. 174), fitly reeommended by James Heddon, This kind is noticeable by its orange flowers. Fig. 177. EPILOBIUM SPICATUM. (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) Fig. 178. Fig. 179. VALERIAN. OENOTHERA GRANDIFLORA, (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) Cruciferae:—Rape, Mustard, Cabbage, Radish, Candytuft, stock, Wallflower, Moonwort, Sweet Alyssum, Cress. 416 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. Ericaceae:—This family, on the Old Continent, ineludes the numerous varieties of Heath, on which bees reap a large Fig. 180. HYACINTH. (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) harvest of inferior honey, so thick that it is impossible to extract it. Blueberry, Sour Wood, Laurel, Clethra alnifolia, Fig. 181. Fig. 182. LILY OF THE VALLEY. SOLOMON’S SEAL. Cowberry, Huckleberry, Whortleberry, Gaultheria procum- bens, or Creeping wintergreen,— which is indicated, by some PASTURAGE. 417 English bee-keepers, as preventing bees from stinging the hands when they are rubbed with its leaves,—belong to this family. Valerianaceae:-— Valerian (Fig. 178), Corn Salad or Lamb lettuce, belong to this family. Onagraceae:— (Evening Primrose family) Gaura, Fuschie, Oenothera (Fig. 179) Epilobium (Willow Herb, Fig 177). Liliaceae:—Lilies, Asparagus, Wild Hyacinth (Fig. 180), Star of Bethlehem, Lily of the Valley (Fig. 181), Solomon’s Fig. 183. MIGNONETTE, Seal (Fig. 182), Dog’s tooth Violet, three-headed Night-shade, Garlic, Onion, Crocus. Malvaceae:—Common Mallows, and others, Hollyhock, Cot- ton, Abutilon. Caprifoliaceae :—Honeysuckle, Snow and Coral berries, Arrow-wood. Cucurbitaceae:—Cucumber, Melon, Squash, Gourd. Umbelliférae :—Parsley, Angelica, Lovage, Fennel, Parsnip, Coriander, Cow-parsnip. Caryophyllaceae:—Pink, Lychnis, Chickweed, Saponaria. We can name also: Rib-Grass, or Plantain, Goosefoot, Blue-eyed grass, Corn-flag, Buckthorn, Barberry, Sumac, 418 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. Grape-vine, Polanisia, Button weed, Mignonette, or Reseda (Fig. 183), Teasel, Skunk cabbage, Waterleaf, Hemp, Touch- me-not, Amaranth, Crowfoot, St. Johnswort, and among the trees: Willow, Poplar, which have their sexual organs on dif- ferent trees; Oak, Walnut, Hickory, Beech, Birch, Alder, Fig. 184. CRIMSON CLOVER. (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) Elm, Hazelnut, Maple, whose organs of reproduction are separated, although on the same tree. : Horse chestnut, Persimmon, Gum-tree, Dogwood, Button- bush, Cypress, Liquidambar, Linden. We should mention also, Ailanthus glandulosus (Varnish tree of China), a large, ornamental tree, which gives an PASTURAGE. 419 abundance of honey so bad in taste, as to compel the bee- keepers who have some in their neighborhood to extract it as soon as it is gathered, that it may not injure the quality of their crop. Bees also visit some of the plants of the grass family, such Fig. 185. SAINFOIN OR ESPARCET. (From Vilmorin-Andrieux.) as corn and sorghum. A plant of this family, the Setaria, or bristly foxtail grass, is known in France under the name of accroche-abeilles, (bee-catcher). Its curved hairs grasp the bees’ legs, and the poor insects, unable to free themselves, are soon exhausted, and die, 420 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. Strange to say, the principal crop of honey in a country may be harvested from a flower_ which yields nothing in other countries. The white clover, so well known in the Mis- sissippi valley as the very best melliferous plant, yields nothing in Switzerland. The alfalfa, mentioned as the prin- cipal crop of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, is not a honey pro- ducer in Illinois. Some plants also attract the bees con- tinuously, by their fragranee, which yield little or no nectar. The Eryngium giganteum is one of these. Mr. Bertrand tested its yield by marking with flour bees that were working upon it. The same bee was seen to work about the same bunch of these flowers, for five consecutive hours, without any apparent result. He nicknamed this plant “the honey-bee’s bar-room” because the more they sip, the drier they are. As a rule it is not advisable to plant for honey anything that has not value otherwise either as forage, ornament or shade. For this very reason, however, there are foreign forage plants which would be desirable everywhere. We will name among these the Crimson Clover and the Sainfoin or esparcet, of which we give engravings, figs. 184 and 185. The Sainfoin (healthy hay) is a very desirable forage plant. OVERSTOCKING. OUR COUNTRY NOT IN DANGER OF BEING OVERSTOCKED WITH BEES. 707. If the opinions, entertained by some, as to the danger of overstocking were correct, bee-keeping in this coun- try would always have been an insignificant. pursuit. It is difficult to repress a smile when the owner of a few hives, in a district where hundreds might be made to pros- per, gravely imputes his ill-suecess to the fact, that too many bees are kept in his vicinity. If, in the Spring, a colony of bees is prosperous and healthy, it will gather abundant stores, in a favorable season, even if many equally strong are in its immediate vicinity; while, if it is feeble, it will be of little OVERSTOCKING, 421 or no value, even if it is in “a land flowing with milk and honey,” and there is not another colony within a dozen miles of it. As the great Napoleon gained many of his victories by having an overwhelming force at the right place, in the right time, so the bee-keeper must have strong colonies, when num- bers can be turned to the best account. If they become strong only when they can do nothing but consume what little’ honey has been previously gathered, he is like a farmer who suffers his crops to rot on the ground, and then hires a set of idlers to eat him out of house and home. 708. Although bees can fly, in search of food, over three miles, still, if it is not within a circle of about two miles in every direction from the apiary, they will be able to store but little surplus honey.* If pasturage abounds within a quar- ter of a mile from their hives, so much the better; there is no great advantage, however, in having it close to them, unless there is a great supply, as bees, when they leave the hive, seldom alight upon the neighboring flowers. The instinct ‘to fly some distance seems to have been given them to pre- vent them from wasting their time in prying into flowers already despoiled of their sweets by previous gatherers. Bees will go farthest in a direction where no obstacles exist, such as-hills, woods or large areas of unproductive land. If the blossoms from which they gather honey extend out in a continuous stretch in one direction, they may travel five miles away or perhaps farther when the wind brings to them the smell of flowers. But the fact that apiaries only four miles apart give different yields under the same management shows that the opportunities differ even at that short distance. ‘‘Mr. Kaden, of Mayence, thinks that the range of the bee’s flight does not usually extend more than three miles in all directions. Several years ago, a vessel, laden with sugar, * “Judging from the sweep that bees take from the side of a railroad train in motion, we should estimate their pace at about thirty miles an hour. This would give them four minutes to reach the extremity of their common range.”—London Quarterly Review. 422 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. anchored off Mayence, and was soon visited by the bees of the neighborhood, which continued to pass to and from the vessel from dawn to dark. One morning, when the bees were in full flight, the vessel sailed up the river. For a short time, the bees continued to fly as numerously as before; but gradually the number diminished, and, in the course of half an hour, all had ceased to follow the vessel, which had, meanwhile, sailed more than four miles.’’—Bienenzeitung, 1854, p. 83. Our own experience corroborates the statements of Kaden. We have known strong colonies of bees to starve upon the hills in a year of drouth, while the Mississippi bottoms, less than four miles distant, which had been overflowed during the Spring, were yielding a large crop. It is evident that dis- tricts, where honey blossoms are scarce, can be much more readily overstocked than those rich lands which are covered with blossoms, the greater part of the Summer. A great amount of land in cultivation, is not always a hindrance to honey production, for eultivated lands often grow weeds, whieh yield an abundance of honey. Heartsease and Spanish needle grow plentifully in cornfields and wheat stubble in wet seasons. Pasture lands abound with white clover. 709. It is impossible to give the exact number of eolo- nies that a country can support profitably. In poor locations, a few hives will probably harvest all-the honey. to be found, while some districts can support perhaps a hundred or more to the square mile. The bee-keeper must be his own judge, as to the honey capacity of his district. ‘¢When a large flock of sheep,’’ says Oettl, ‘‘is grazing on a limited area, there may soon be a deficiency of pasturage. But this cannot be asserted of bees, as a good honey-district cannot readily be overstocked with them. To-day, when the air is moist and warm, the plants may yield a superabundance of nectar; while to-morrow being cold and wet, there may be a total want of it. When there is sufficient heat and moisture, the saccharine juices of plants will readily fill the nectaries, and will be quickly replenished when carried off by the bees. Every cold night checks the flow of honey, and every clear, warm day OVERSTOCKING. 433 teopens the fountains. The flowers expanded today must be visited while open; for, if left to wither, their stores are lost. The same remarks will apply substantially in the case of honey-dews. Hence, bees cannot, as many suppose, collect to- morrow what is left ungathered to-day, as sheep may graze hereafter on the pasturage they do not need now. Strong col- onies and large apiaries are in a position to collect ample stores when forage suddenly abounds, while, by patient, persevering industry, they may still gather a sufficiency, and even a surplus, when the supply is small, but more regular and protracted.’’ Although we believe that a district can be overstocked, so as to make bee-culture unprofitable, yet the above extract gives a correct view of the honey harvest, which depends much on the weather, and must be gathered when produced. The same able Apiarist, whose golden rule in bee-keeping was, to keep none but strong colonies, says that in the lapse of twenty years since he established his apiary, there has not occurred a season in which the bees did not procure adequate supplies for themselves, and a surplus besides. Sometimes, indeed, he came near despairing, when April, May, and June were continually cold, wet, and unproductive; but in July, his strong colonies speedily filled their garners, and stored up some treasure for him; while, in such seasons, small eolo- nies could not even gather enough to keep them from starva- tion. In countries where the entire area of the farming land is devoted to honey-producing plants,—as in the irrigated plains of Colorado, where the only crop is alfalfa and thousands of acres of this plant are to be seen in a body,—the over- stocking of land with bees is almost an impossibility. Ex- amples of this kind are to be found in California, with a natural honey plant, the sage, which covers the uncultivated hillsides. In New York State, buckwheat is raised in such large areas that as many as seven hundred colonies are kept in one apiary. We will name that of Mr. E. W. Alexander of Delanson, N. Y., the deseription of whose methods attracted much attention in “Gleanings in Bee Culture” at the 424 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. end of the year 1905. Mr. Alexander reported a crop of about 70,000 lbs. of honey in one-~season. But in years of searcity of honey, it is quite probable that many colonies will starve in a very large apiary, while a small apiary might gather enough for Winter. 710. According to Oettl (p. 389), Bohemia contained 160,000 colonies in 1853, from a careful estimate, and he thought the country could readily support four times that number. This province contains 19,822 square English miles. We say square English miles, and we insist on the word English, for we have read of reports from Germany, show- ing incredible figures as to the number of bees, and the amount of beeswax and honey gathered on areas of a few square miles; and yet, some of these reports may have been true, for there are different sized miles, in Germany. The German geographical mile is equal to 4. 611-1000 English miles; the German short mile, to 3. 897-1000; and the German long mile to 5. 753-1000, &e., the shortest German square mile being as about 15 of the English, and the long being about equal to 33 of our square miles. This we glean from “Chambers Enceyelopedia.” According to an official report, there were in Denmark, in 1838, eighty-six thousand and thirty-six colonies of bees. The annual product of honey appears to have been about 1,841,- 800 Ibs. In 1855, the export of wax from that country was 118,379 Ibs. In 1856, aceording to official returns, there were 58,964 colonies of bees in the kingdom of Wurtemberg. In 1857, the yield of honey and wax in the empire of Austria was estimated to be worth over seven millions of dollars. Doubtless, in these districts, where honey is so largely pro- duced, great attention is paid to the cultivation of crops which, while in themselves profitable, afford abundant pas- turage for bees. 711. California, which seems to be the Eldorado of bee- OVERSTOCKING. 425 culture, can probably support the greatest number of bees to the square mile, and yet in some seasons the bees starve there in great numbers owing to the drouth. We have no official statistics of the honey crops of the United States, but the following extract from the American Bee-Journal (1886), will give an idea of the immensity of our honey resources, considering the comparatively small areas of this country now occupied by Apiarists. ‘‘The California Grocer says that the crop of 1885 was about 1,250,000 pounds. The foreign export from San Fran- cisco during the year was approximately 8,800 cases. The ship- ments East by rail were 360,000 pounds from San Francisco, and 910,000 pounds from Los Angeles, including both comb and extracted. We notice that another California paper estimates the crop of 1885 at 2,000,000 pounds, and the crop of the United States for 1885 was put down at 26,000,000 pounds. We do not think these figures are quite large enough, though it was an exceedingly poor crop.’’ But former years have given still better results. Through the courtesy of Mr. N. W. McLain, of the U. S. Apicultural Station, we have received the following statistics from “The Resources of California, 1881”: The honey shipped from Ventura County, California, dur- ing 1880 amounted to 1,050,000 Ibs. The Pacific Coast Steam- ship Company of San Diego shipped 1,191,800 pounds o honey from that county in the same year. The crop of the five lower counties in California that year, was estimated by several parties at over three million pounds. According to a report of 8. D. Stone, Clerk of the Mer- chants’ Exchange of San Francisco, the actual amount of honey shipped to that city from different parts of California in the sixteen months ending May 1, 1881, was 4,340,400 pounds, equal to two hundred and seventeen carloads. One hundred tons of honey, in one lot, were shipped during the same year, from Los Angeles to Europe on the French 426 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. bark Papillon. This had ali been purchased from Los Angeles Apiarists. 712. In the excellent season of 1883, the honey crop of Haneock County, Illinois, was estimated at about 200,000 pounds, which made an average of less than half a pound per acre. 36,000 pounds of this was our own erop, and the county did not contain one-tenth of the bees that could have been kept profitably on it. Yet, at this low rate, the crop of Illinois alone, with the same percentage of bees, would have been 15,000,000 pounds. We cannot form an adequate idea of the enormous amount of honey which is wasted from the lack of bees to harvest it. 413. In our own experience in the Mississippi valley, we have found eighty to one hundred colonies to be the number from which the most honey could be expected in one apiary. Dr. C. C. Miller in his interesting work “A Year Among the Bees,” says also that one hundred colonies is the best number in one location. Mr. Heddon strongly urges bee-keepers not to locate within any area already oceupied by an apiary of one hundred colonies or more. The extensive experience of both these Apiarists confirms ours, but we must remember that locations differ greatly. 914. In all arrangements, aim to save every step for the bees that you possibly can. With the alighting-board prop- erly arranged, the grass kept down, or better still, coal-ashes or sand spread in front of the apron-board, bees will be able to store more honey, even if they have to go a considerable distance for it, than they otherwise could from pasturage nearer at hand. Many bee-keepers utterly neglect all suitable precautions to facilitate the labors of their bees, as though they imagined them to be miniature locomotives, always fired up, and capable of an indefinite amount of exertion. A bee cannot put forth more than a certain amount of physical effort, and a large portion of this ought not to be spent in con- tending against difficulties from which it might easily be guarded. They may often be seen panting after their return PASTURAGE. 427 from labor, and so exhausted as to need rest before they enter the hive. 715. With proper management, at least fifty pounds of surplus honey may be obtained from each eolony that is wintered in good condition. This is not a “guess” estimate, it is the average of our crops during a period of over twenty years in different localities. Such an average may appear small to experienced bee- keepers, but we think it large enough when we consider that we are in a district where wheat, corn, oats, and timothy are the staple crops, none of these being honey producing plants. A careful man, who, with Langstroth hives, will begin bee- keeping on a prudent scale, enlarging his operations as his skill and experience increase, will succeed in any region. But, in favorable localities, a much larger profit may be realized. Bee-keepers cannot be too cautious in entering largely upon new systems of management, until they have ascertained, not only that they are good, but that they can make a good use of them. There is, however, a golden mean between the stupid conservatism that tries nothing new, and that rash experimenting, on an extravagant scale, which is so char- acteristic of our people. CHAPTER XVII. Honey Propuction. 716. History does not mention the first discovery of honey, by human beings. Whether it became known to primitive man by accident, from the splitting of a bee-tree by lightning, or by his observation of the fondness of some animals for it,— certain it is that when he first tasted the thick and transparent liquid, the fear of stings was overcome, and the bee-hunter was born. Since that time, the manner of securing honey has undergone a great many changes, improving and retrograding, as we can judge from writings now extant. Killing bees for their honey was, unquestionably, an in- vention of the dark ages, when the human family had lost— in apiarian pursuits, as well as in other things—the skill of former ages. In the times of Aristotle, Varro, Columeila, and Pliny, such a barbarous practice did not exist. The old cultivators took only what their bees could spare, killing no colonies, except such as were feeble or diseased. The Modern methods have again done away with these customs among enlightened men, and the time has come when the following epitaph, taken from a German work, might properly be placed over every pit of brimstcned bees: HERE RESTS, CUT OFF FROM USEFUL LABOR, A COLONY oF INDUSTRIOUS BEES BASELY MURDERED BY ITS UNGRATEFUL AND IGNORANT OWNER, 428 ne i HONEY PRODUCTION, 429 To the epitaph should be appended Thomson’s verses: ‘Ah, see, where robbed and murdered in that pit, Lies the still heaving hive! at evening snatched, Beneath the cloud of gilt-concealing night, And fixed o’er sulphur! while, not dreaming ill, The happy people, in their waxen cells, Sat tending public cares. Sudden, the dark, oppressive steam ascends. And, used to milder scents, the tender race, By thousands, tumble from their honied dome Into a gulf of blue sulphureous flame! ’’ 717. The present methods are as far ahead of the old ways, as the steel rail is ahead of the miry road; as the palace car is ahead of the stage coach. It is to the production of surplus honey that all the efforts of the bee-keeper tend, and the problem of apiculture is, how to raise the most honey from what colonies we have, with the greatest profit. 718. In raising honey, whether comb or extracted, the Apiarist should remember the following: 1st. His colonies should be strongest in bees at the time of the expected honey harvest (565). 2d. Each honey harvest usually lasts but a few weeks. If a colony is weak in Spring, the harvest may come and pass away, and the bees be able to obtain very little from it. During this time of meagre accumulations, the orchards and pastures may present. ‘*One boundless blush, one white empurpled shower Of mingled blossoms;.’’ and tens of thousands of ‘bees from stronger colonies may be engaged all day in sipping the fragrant sweets, so that every gale which “fans its odoriferous wings” about their dwellings, dispenses 430 HONEY PRODUCTION. “Native perfumes, and whispers whence they -stole Those balmy spoils.’’* By the time the feeble colony becomes strong—if at all— the honey harvest is over, and, instead of gathermg enough for its own use, it may starve, unless fed. Bee-keeping, with colonies which are feeble, except in extraordinary seasons and locations, is emphatically nothing but “vexation of spirit.” 3rd. Colonies that swarm cannot be expected to furnish much surplus, in average localities and seasons. 4th. A hive containing or raising many drones (189) cannot save as much surplus as one that has but few, owing to the cost of production of these drones, who do not work and are raised in place of workers. We have insisted on this point already, but it is of such importance, that we eannot refrain from recalling it. The hives should be over- hauled every Spring, and the drone comb eut out and re- placed by neat pieces of worker comb, or of comb foundation (674). Every square foot of drone comb, replaced with worker comb, represents an annual saving, in our estimation, of at least one dollar to the colony. Coms Honey. 719. Although more extracted honey can be produced than comb honey, from the same number of colonies, yet a newly made and well sealed comb of honey is unquestionably most attractive, and, when nicely put up, will find a place of honor, even on the tables of the wealthy. White comb honey will always be a fancy article, and will sell at paying prices. ; Dark honey in the comb does not usually find ready sale. Hence, the bee-keepers, in districts where white honey is har- * The scent of the hives, during the height of the gathering season, usually indicates from what sources the bees have gathered their sup- plies, COMB HONEY. 431 vested, are mostly producers of comb honey; while those in the districts producing dark honey, in the South mainly, rely more on extracted honey. 920. We have not the space to describe the different evolutions, through which the production of comb honey has passed since box-hive times; production in large frames in glass boxes, in tumblers, ete. ee | 2% | OPER TSIDE ee | | eee es ee [aie | exsas— Bo Pas | ran: i _[axxexee PAIN | 2] ans W Fig. 186. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS. Honey in large frames does not sell well, and cannot be safely transported. Were it not for this, its production in this way would be advisable. The experienced bee-keeper well knows that bees will make more honey in a large box, than in several small ones whose united capacity is the same. In small boxes, they cannot so well maintain their animal heat 432 HONEY PRODUCTION. in cool weather and cannot ventilate so readily in hot weather. In the exceedingly hot season of 1878, the colonies that were provided with glass boxes yielded on an average, less than one-fourth of the average yielded by others. The bees have another important and natural objection to the small receptacles, mentioned by a noted Apiarist, as will be seen farther (741). Practically, there is more labor for the bees in small receptacles, as the joints and corners of the combs require more time and more wax. #21. But to produce salable comb honey, we have no Fig. 187. FOLDED SECTIONS. choice. We must produce it in a small receptacle. The Adair section boxes, which we used as early as 1868, marked the first progressive step, so far as we know. These sections forming a ease by the overlapping of their top and bottom bars, and furnished with glass at each end, were much admired, and we sold several tons of honey, in this shape, in St. Louis, at the now fabulous prices of from 25 to 28 cents per pound. : 722. But the one pound sections, as now made, have been universally adopted of late years. COMB HONEY. 433 These sections are made of two kinds, dovetailed in four pieces, or in one piece and folded. The first can be made of any kind of white wood, while the latter are made of bass- wood only. 723. Sections are usually made 1% inch thick and 11% to 2 inches wide. The standard section for Langstroth hives is 4l,x4l/, inches, with openings at the bottom and top. @24. They are given to the bees in the upper story. Stor- Fig. 188. SUPER WITH PATTERN SLATS. age room, on the sides of the brood chamber, has been periodi- cally advised by inventors of new hives, but bees never fill and seal sections placed at the side as fast as if put above the brood chamber. Sections are placed on the hive in supers with pattern slats on which the sections rest as in fig. 188, in T supers with metal rests, fig. 201, or in wide frames, figs 189 and 199. With either of these methods, some principles must be ad- hered to, 434 HONEY PRODUCTION. 725. These principles are based on the difficulties, that have to be overcome in comb-honey production, as follows: ist. Inducing the bees to work in small receptacles; 2d. Forcing them to build the combs straight and even, without bulge, so that the sections can be interchanged with- out being bruised against one another, when taken off and erated for market; Sd. Keeping the queen in the brood apartment, and p1t- venting her from breeding in the sections; 4th. Preventing swarming as much as possible; 5th. Arranging the sections so as to have as little propolis put on them as possible (2377) ; 6th. Getting the greatest number of sections thoroughly sealed, as unsealed honey is unsalable. Fig. 189. FULL DEPTH SECTION FRAME. (From ‘Bees and Honey.’’) 926. 1st. INDUCING BEES TO WORK IN SMALL RECEPTACLES. Rather than work in small, empty receptacles, the bees sometimes crowd their honey in the brood chamber, till the queen ean find no room to lay in, and swarming, or a smaller crop of honey, is the consequence. To remedy this evil, some of our leading bee-keepers have resorted to an old, discarded, French practice, “reversing.” Reversing consists in turning the brood chamber upside down and placing hives containing empty combs, whose bees died the preceding Winter, or empty COMB HONEY. 435 supers, over it. The honey contained in the brood chamber, which is always placed above and be- hind the brood, safe from pilfering in- truders, is now at the bottom, near the entrance. The cells are wrong side up (fig. 190), and the most watery honey is in danger of leaking out. Hence an uproar in the hive, and the imme- diate result is, that the bees promptly occupy the upper story, and store in it all this ill-situated honey. THe result is so radical, that “reversing bee-keep- ers” admit that their bees have to be fed in the Fall, as too little honey is left in the brood chamber for the hives to winter on. In the box-hive times, the following was already the almost unanimous report of bee-keepers on ‘ Fig. 190. the results of “reversing.” The re- store or THE CELLS eruiting and feeding for Winter of WHEN INVERTED. reversed colonies being considered too costly and risky, the apiaries were supplied every year with new colonies bought from bee-keepers whose business was to raise swarms to sell, “‘If you want the greatest quantity of honey, reverse your colonies; but if reversing was practiced everywhere, we would diminish the number of our colonies, and would finally even destroy the race of bees, for as far as bee reproduction is con- cerned the ‘reversing Apiarist’ reaches the same result as the ‘primstoning Apiarist.’’’—French Apiarian Congress, Paris, 1861. L’Apiculteur, Volume, 6, page 175. In. the present state of progress in bee culture, “reversing” is less damaging, but its disadvantages to the bees cannot over- balance its advantages, unless it is practiced very cautiously and sparingly. 727. Yet this practice is sufficiently enticing—as it forces the bees to occupy the supers so quickly—to have caused the 436 HONEY PRODUCTION. invention of a number of reversible hives or frames. The re- versing method caused quite a craze about 1888, but it was a “fad” which soon wore itself out. Tl An il | Cua, — i ‘ii ; A ivi ll Fig. 191. HEDDON’S REVERSIBLE HIVE, (From Cheshire.) st, stand; bb, body; hb, honey board; sr, section racks; v, cover: hh, hand holds; 1b, entrance blocks; e, entrance; 2, cleat to give bee space; ys, screws to hold frames. 728. Reversing during the harvest does not cause the bees to gather any more honey; nay, they harvest even a little COMB HONEY. 437 less, owing to the time occupied in transporting the honey, but tt is all placed in the surplus apartment at the mercy of their owner. A much safer method to induce the bees to work in the supers, is to place in them, nearest the brood, a few unfinished sections from the previous season. This is what Dr. C. C. Miller calls a “bait.” These unfinished sections have been emptied of their honey by the extractor, and cleaned by the bees the previous Fall. The supers should be located as near the brood apartment as possible, with as much direct com- munication as can be conveniently given. 729. But, with the greatest skill, it is impossible to attract the bees into the supers, as long as there are empty combs in the brood-chamber. If the queen is unable to occupy all the combs with brood, the empty ones should be removed at the beginning of the honey harvest, and either given to swarms or divided colonies, or placed outside of the division board (349). This is called “eontraction.””’ We would warn our readers against excessive contraction, for, after the honey season is over, a hive which has been contracted to, say, two-thirds, of its capacity, has become dwarfed in honey, brood, and bees, and will run some risks through the Winter. Besides, that part of the super, which is above the empty space, is but reluctantly occupied by bees. 1 ‘