October 13, 1863. ] 



JOTJENAIi OF HOBTICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



303 



respect. Also, if I am not much mistaken, Mr. Kirwan in- 

 formed me that his black bees had done nothing as com- 

 pared to his stocks of Ligurian blood. 



Notwithstanding that I am fuUy convinced of the supe- 

 riority of Ligivrians with regard to the extraordinary breeding 

 powers of the queen, and that the bees are apparently far 

 more actively engaged in prosecuting their out-door labours ; 

 and notwithstanding my admiration of the beauty of both 

 queens and workers, in which they greatly excel the common 

 queen and bees, yet I am by no means satisfied that they 

 possess any superiority over the common bees as honey- 

 gatherers. The excessive fecundity of the queens and the 

 extraordinary manner in which the combs are filled with 

 eggs by them, must be an enormous tax on the labours of 

 the foragers. There is also, I think, a much greater dispo- 

 sition to throw off swarms, which militates against the filling 

 of supers. On the whole, therefore, I am inclined to think 

 that the common bees carry off the pahn in honey -gathering; 

 bat do not consider that we have as yet had sufficient 

 experience to wan-ant us in coming to any definite conclu- 

 sion on this point. 



In Kingsbridge and its neighbourhood swarms have pre- 

 vailed to a great extent, the majority of which have, I hear, 

 done very well. Mr. G. Fox lately took a walk into the 

 country to ascertain the truth of a report, that a person has 

 had eleven swai-ms from two stocks, and found the state of 

 the case to be actually thus : — 



Two old hives, A and b — a threw off three swarms, b threw 

 off two swarms. First swarm from A threw off two swarms, 

 first swarm from b threw off three swarms. A second swarm 

 from one of the first swarms also sent off a swarm. AU the 

 swarms were sold excej^t one. One of the two old stocks 

 was burnt, and yielded 50 lbs. of honey. In truth this has 

 been a remarkable season for bees, both as respects honey- 

 gathering and swarming. I fear it may be many years 

 before we experience its equal. — S. Bevan Fox, Exeter. 



viegi:n queens— paethenogenesis. 



The first case referred to by Mr. Shearer in page 283 is a 

 very remarkable one. I gather from the dates given that 

 the queen commenced egg-laying at the usual time of a 

 fecundated queen — viz., when she was from fifteen to seven- 

 teen days old. As I learn from a private letter that she 

 stUl lays the eggs of drones only, she may now, of course, be 

 looked upon as a confirmed drone-breeder. This case com- 

 pletely negatives Huber's hypothesis of retarded impregna- 

 tion ; and if Mr. Shearer has no use for her I should be much 

 obliged by his sending me the queen alive in a smaU box 

 by post, in order that I may ascertain beyond doubt, by 

 means of the microscope, whether or not she remains a virgin. 



The second is an instance of fertile workers, several of 

 which have ah-eady come under my observation, but in which 

 I never coiUd distinguish fertile from ordinary workers. 



I look upon parthenogenesis in the honey bee as one of 

 those grand discoveries in the light of which many perplexi- 

 ties become clear, and many apparent contradictions are 

 reconciled. As I have before stated, it has been established 

 by evidence of the most incontrovertible character, on the 

 strength of which it is now received as an unquestionable 

 fact by all our most distinguished naturalists as well as 

 by — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



comb, and then introduced her to her new subjects ; but they 

 seized her at once and would have killed her had I not taken 

 her away. 



I then formed a cylinder of perforated zinc 1 inch in 

 diameter and 3 inches long, with a cork in each end, j^ut in 

 a smaU piece of honeycomb in case her rebellious subjects 

 would not feed her whEe in the cage, and suspended her 

 in the centre of the hive till the following day, when again 

 bringing her into close contact with the bees, still some of 

 them would have killed her, although not so much incUn ed to 

 do so as before. I examined the combs to see if the bees were 

 rearing any more queens, and found two of a good size 

 which I destroyed, and I again suspended her till the foUow- 

 ing day, when I introduced her to the bees. They took to 

 her with apparent delight, and in ten days after leaving 

 Exeter she was laying eggs ; so that with a little comb I 

 see no difficulty in introducing Ligurian queens into stocks 

 of common bees. 



When they rejected her on the second trial, having kept 

 their own queen in a box in case of accident, I introduced 

 her to them, and they knew her at once although she had 

 been parted fi-om them ten days. 



I always understood that if the eggs were more than three 

 days old they would not form a queen. In this case they 

 attempted it from eggs ten days old. — Alex. Sheaeee. 



[The risk is much diminished when the original queen 

 can be removed some days beforehand ; but even with this 

 precaution it is very probable that the operation might have 

 terminated fatally but for the apiarian skill displayed by 

 Mr. Shearer.] 



HONEYDEW. 



SUCCESSFUL INTEODUCTION of a LIGUBIAN 

 QUEEN. 



Havinq had a Ligurian queen sent to me by Mr. Wood- 

 bm-y to put into a hive of common bees, which I had de- 

 prived of their own qrieen on the 9th of September, on 

 the 14th I destroyed seven queen cells which they were 

 rearing ; foiu- were sealed up, the others had a grub in each. 



The queen having arrived from Exeter on the 16th, too 

 late in the evening to have done anything with her, on the 

 folloK-ing day I found her rather weak and some of the bees 

 dead. After giving her some honey, which she devoured 

 greedily, she soon revived and took to flying, when I should 

 have hist her had I not been in a vinery. 



Being aware of the danger of introducing a strange queen 

 into a hive, I took out a bar-frame with a few beee on the 



I WAS astonished to observe that some of youi- apiarian 

 readers doubted the fact of bees working on honeydew. 



In this part of the country every one knows that when 

 there is honeydew the bees do well. This year it was 

 plentiful on the oak. the beech, and lime, and on these trees 

 I saw them alight in great numbers, suck up the drop of 

 honey on the edge of the leaf, and then fly away. Those 

 mornings in which there was plenty of dew the bees were at 

 work an hour or two earlier. 



The honeydew is only on certain individual trees of the 

 kinds mentioned : some have it less or more every year. If 

 a slight shower or a dewy night happens then it is in 

 abundance. — Alex, Sheaeee. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE— FOUL BEOOD. 



In reply to a query from an esteemed correspondent, I 

 may state that the supernumerary queen whose presence 

 under such pecviliar circumstances so much puzzled me, wa.s 

 unquestionably reared in the hive. This fact became ap- 

 parent upon a subsequent examination, which disclosed a 

 natm-ally-opened and otherwise perfectly-formed royal cell 

 at the bottom of one of the combs. 



Having, therefore, afforded every information in my 

 power regarding the ephemeral existence and preruature 

 death of the sovereign, which when first discovered occupied 

 so anomalous a position, I would remark, that although Mr. 

 Lowe's article, in page 283, affords indubitable proofs of 

 accurate observation and great apiarian skiU, I do not think 

 he has succeeded in solving the problem submitted to him. 

 Whilst venturing to hint that my experience in such matters 

 may possilaly be equal to his own, I may add that although 

 it unquestionably confirms the con-ectness of his general 

 conclusions, it fails to throw light on the queries which I 

 again take leave to submit — •' What under the circum- 

 stances can have caused the bees to raise a second queen ? and 

 what can have induced the queen regnant to brook so near a 

 rival to the throne ?" As before, " I pause for a reply." 



With regard to foul brood, it appears to me that Mr. Lowe, 

 finding the weight of evidence so entu-ely against him, may 

 not be unwilling to withdi'aw fr-om the discussion ; but after 

 saying, " If it is to be termed a disease at all, let it be 



described as an entu-ely ai-tificia! one," I cannct 



understand his declaring " A Ste-svarton AriAKiAN " to be 

 '- quite at sea " in supposing that he treated the subject en 

 these principles. 



