July 11, 1865. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUliE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



39 



miiarioB in tliis iioighbourhood not 15 per cent, (if tho HtoekM 

 have Bwiirmcil id all. I had a capital natural swarm last Tliurs- 

 day (2ytli of .Time), from a hylirid stock, from wlilcli I had 

 [M-OTiously taken two artificial swarms, tho last of which was 

 during tho preceding week. This is tho only natural swarm 

 I have had. 



A curious aherration of nature has taken place with the first 

 pure Ligurian artificial swarm, and which for some time 

 puzzled me exceedingly. It was made on May 'iOth, and is as 

 strong u swarm as ever I saw. Somehow they seemed to work 

 vei-y hard, hut yet make very slow progress in tilling the box. 

 Li ahout three weeks I examined them, and found the (jueeii 

 to be a beauty, and breeding well (I might say that in forming 

 the swarm the queen escaped into the parent stock again 

 during the transfer of combs, so that tho swarm formed the 

 nucleus and raised nine royal cells, six of which I excised when 

 sealed for other stocks) ; but on examining the combs them- 

 selves I discovered that all the new ones were constructed with 

 circular cells instead of hexagonal ones, and I ccmsider that 

 this requires fully four times the quantity of botli wax and 

 labour. On June'iOtli, a remarkably hot day, two small combs 

 iu this hive fell, having been partially melteil at top, this 

 caused a great commotion. Of course I replaced them when I 

 got home, and was surprised to find that after this hexagiraal 

 cells have been constructed for a few days, but now again they 

 have gone back to circular ones. I have never heard of a 

 similar instance. Is it a common occurrence ? 



The above may, perhaps, tend to strengthen the faith of 

 some of your readers in the superiority of so-called " artificial " 

 swarming, though it really seems to me a perfectly natural 

 operation. — G. F. B., Sjxihlinrj. 



p.S. — I should have had one more swarm, but in removing 

 the stock I stumbled, and down came self, and bees, and all. 

 This caused a great commotion, and the greater portion followed 

 the parent, so of course I sacrificed the swarm. 



[Combs with circular cells are a phenomenon I never met 

 with, and I should therefore be greatly obliged by a specimen 

 of this description of abnormal comb being forwarded to — A 

 Devonshike Bee-keeper.] 



DISSECTION OF A DRONE-BREEDING QUEEN. 



About the middle of August last year, I reared, artificially, 

 a queen, which with a numerous colony of bees was put into a 

 Woodbury frame-hive containing combs partially furnished 

 with honey. On the 24th of the same month I joined to this 

 virgin queen and colony a swarm headed by a fertile queen. 

 The queens fought ; one fell, to all appearance the fertile one, 

 but not having marked her I cannot be certain. The hive, 

 however, seemed to prosper, and but for drones continuing to 

 be sent forth from it late in autumn might have been pro- 

 nounced the most flourishing in my apiary. It got through 

 the winter beautifully, kept up its large population till the 

 arrival of spring, and showed gi-eat activity on fine days by 

 diligently eoUectiug pollen. 



On March 24th, lively drones issued from it, but being of a 

 small size I at once concluded all was not right. However, I 

 determined to leave matters alone for the present, fanej-ing 

 that if the weather proved favourable, my virgin queen, if still 

 a virgin, might incline to take an airing in the company of the 

 drones. Some of the days that followed were warm and sum- 

 mer-like, the drone population increased, but no young workers 

 appeared. 



On April 6th, I made an inspection of the combs (whicli, by- 

 the-wfty, did not contain a drone cell originally), and found the 

 central ones filled with drone-brood, all in worker cells, which 

 the bees had been at some pains to enlarge and elongate. 



In some cells two and three eggs were laid, and placed at 

 random in the apex or on the sides. Replacing the combs, I 

 allowed matters to remain as I foimdthem till the 7th of June, 

 when about three-fourths of the population would be drones, 

 the working part having sadly decreased. The result that 

 would follow was sufficiently obvious. So without loss of time 

 I removed the unprofitable queen and despatched her to Mr. 

 Woodbury for dissection, requesting him to tell me whether or 

 not she had made a successful wedding trip. I told him not 

 one word regarding her age or history, my object being to test 

 as far as possible the truth of parthenogenesis. On June lOtli, 

 Mr. Woodbni'y replied as follows : — "I have dissected out the 

 spetmatheca of the queen sent by you, and find it destitute of ■ 



tho slightest trace of spermatozoa. If a young queen, she has, 

 therefore, never been impregnated ; if an old one, she has be- 

 come completely exhausted, and if she laid eggs they would 

 (like those of a virgin queen), jiroduce drones only." I have 

 thus stated a few simple facts, and I leave tho apiarian readers 

 of the Journal to draw their own inferences. 



Tho hive though destitute of a ipieen still survives, and as 

 none of tho bees were hatched subsequent to the 22nd of 

 .\ugust, the youngest of them is rather more than ten months 

 old. They are all black, but I have a few Liguriaus wluch I 

 know, certainly to be still older. 



From several circumstances I am led to tliink the average 

 age of bees is six months. Those hatched in spring dying off 

 late in autumn, and those hatched from about July keejiing in 

 vigour till spring is a little advanced. — K. b. 



VOLUNTARY UNION OF SWARMS. 



I MENTIONED in my note at page 19, the frequent occurrence 

 of double swarms iu this neighbourhood, or, more properly 

 speaking, of swarms that voluntarily unite, either from both 

 coming off at the same time, or the noise and excitement of a 

 subsequent swarm rousing the new settlers to turn out again 

 and join their fortunes with those on the wing. I am now able 

 to record the case of a triple swarm, which may serve as a pen- 

 dent to that of Mr. Stuttle, recorded in the Journal of Juno 13th. 



On the 14th of June my neighbour, Mr. S., had an after- 

 swarm from one of his hives, which was secured about noon. 

 Very shortly afterwards a prime swarm from another hive 

 joined it, but some little fighting must have taken place, as a 

 hundred or two of dead bees were found stre^vn in front of the 

 hive. The double swarm worked briskly, for on the 2.5th the 

 hive was quite fuU of comb, and four large glass supers were 

 progressing fast. The hive was already inconveniently crowded, 

 but on the 27th an after-swarm from a hive which had been 

 removed to a little distance, joined it at 8.45 a.m. Both the 

 fact itself, the long interval that had elapsed since the second 

 imion, and the hour at whicli the third union was effected, are, 

 I think, somewhat remarkable. The bees for the last three or 

 four days have been hanging out in a great mass, looking more 

 like swarming than a swanu. I shall be glad to take note of 

 the proceedings of this colony, but thus far no such iU-luck 

 has befallen it as in the instance recorded by " T. G.," and it 

 seems now beyond the reach of harm. — F. H. West, FoUer- 

 newton, Leeds. 



DYSENTERY IN BEES. 



This complaint has been very prevalent this last winter in all 

 sorts of hives, and as some of the books say it is caused by 

 dampness and some by feeding on certain flowers, &c, I should 

 be glad to hear from your correspondents what they consider is 

 the cause, as I cannot tliink dampness has to do with it, although 

 it may help to cause it, as most of my bees were in straw skeps. 

 A hive of common bees that I had joined a small Ligurian 

 swai-m and 'queen to had it very bad, and I thought it would 

 have died out, and had it not been for the Ligurians being 

 stronger, it certainly would, as the black bees died out at least 

 a month before the Liguriaus or some hybrids that I joined at 

 the same time. If the " Devonshiue Bee-keepek," "B. &W.," 

 and some of your able Scotch correspondents would be so kind 

 as give your readers their opinion on this complaint, we might 

 find out some preventive or remedy. — A. W. 



ADDING A LIGURIAN QUEEN. 



Having examined the hive into which I put a Ligurian queen 

 and finding her safe and healthy, with larva in abimdaute in 

 the cells, I need not say that I am well satisfied at the result. 

 They travelled to me from Devon remarkably safe, as there 

 were only two dead bees, ^\^len I ventured to allow the bees 

 to get beside the queen, I uncovered the box and opened the 

 hole at the top of the hive, when they immediately crowded 

 into the little box, amalgamating with the Italians and queen 

 in a very friendly manner, with that immistakeable hiuu when 

 they discover what they are in search of — a sovereign. 



I thought all was now quite safe and just placed it mouth 

 down on the top of the hive to allow them to go down at their 

 leisure during the night. However, contrary to my antici- 



