SCENT OF BEES. 



892 



SKEP. 



cued from the workers, and confined in the 

 hive in an introducino-cage containing can- 

 dy, but in a short time died, probably of 

 starvation, for we are sure she was not stung 

 by the bees in tlie ball, for she was taken 

 out at once and we never lost sight of her. 

 Although there was candy in her cage she 

 evidently did not recognize it as food, since 

 she was not attracted to it by smell, and 

 on account of the loss of her antennse she 

 was not fed through the meshes of the wire 

 cloth. 



Wlien the workers are deprived of their 

 antennae they remain inactive in the hive, 

 and soon desert it since they are attracted 

 only by light. We cut the antenna? from sev- 

 eral workers, marked them on the thorax 

 to make it more easy to follow their ac- 

 tions, and then i)ut them in an observatory 

 hive from Avhicli they had been taken. The 

 other bees at once recognized that there was 

 something wrong with them, and gathered 

 around them much as they surround the 

 queen, and repeatedly tried to feed them ; 

 but the injured workers could not guide 

 their tongues, and consequently did not take 

 food readily. One worker with its antennae 

 off was put on the alighting-board of its own 

 hive, but was at once repelled and carried 

 away by one of its own hive-mates. 



Drones act in a very similar manner, but 

 are frequently rejected by the workers as 

 soon as they are put in the hive. Huber 

 reports that, as soon as the light was exclud- 

 ed from his observatory hive, although it 

 was late in the afternoon, and no drones 

 were flying out, the drones from which the 

 antennas had been cut deserted the hive, 

 since light was the only thing which attract 

 ed them. 



From these observations it seems clear 

 that bees recognize each other very largely 

 by scent, but also by touch. The workers 

 and drones operated on were returned to 

 their own hive, and we might suppose that 

 they would retain the odor of that hive ; but 

 since they were not able to extend their an- 

 tennge to the other bees they were at once 

 recognized as differing in some way, and 

 received different treatment. Langstroth 

 says of these experiments, " The inference 

 is obvious, that a bee deprived of her an- 

 tennas loses the use of her intellect;'' yet 

 this statement should be modified some 

 what, for the intellect is in no way influenc 

 ed by the operation. The bee continues to 

 respond normally to all sensations which it 

 has the organs to receive, for we see that 

 light still attracts them as it did before ; 



but on account of the one sided rece])tion 

 of stimuli its actions become abnormal. 



It remains to be seen which segments of 

 the antennas receive certain odors, for prob- 

 ably they are not all alike. It has been 

 found in ants that the different segments 

 of the antennae perceive different kinds of 

 odors, and the same is very probably true 

 of the bees. 



For a further consideration of this subject 

 see Introducing Queens. 



SECTIONS See Comb Honey. 



SELF-SPACING mAMES. See Fixed 

 Frames and Hives. 



"^^PARATORS. See Comb Honey. 



SHIPPING BEES. See MOVING Bees. 



SIZE OF FRAMES. See Hives. 



SEEP. The term "skep" is often used 

 by old-fashioned bee-keepers to refer to a col- 

 ony of bees in any kind of hive ; but more 

 properly it applies to box hives and straw 

 skeps— the last named rarely seen in this 

 country. In England and even many of the 

 countries on the continent of Europe, the 

 old straw skep is still used quite largely, be- 

 cause lumber is expensive and straw cheap, 

 but movable frames are never used in these 

 hives. The bees are allowed to build the 



combs just the same as mentioned under 

 the head of Box Hives; also see Hives, 

 Evolution of. On top of these skeps 

 modern supers containing sections are some- 

 times used. The making of straw skeps for 

 cottagers is quite a little business of itself— 

 requiring a certain degree of skill. We do 

 not know what these skeps are sold for, but 

 we are told at a much less price than modern 

 movable-frame hives. 



Straw skeps are never used in this country 

 —at least at the present time ; and if it were 

 not for tlie familiar pictures of " ye olden 

 times'' we Americans would know but little 

 about them. 



SMARTWEED. See Heartsease. 



