July 81, 1886. } 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



96 



spread over tlio wholo of Egypt. As the valley of the Nile is 

 rather isolated in apiarian respects, this species cannot inter- 

 mingle with other varieties, and therefore maintains its purity 

 intact. This has been proved by singlo bees collected from 

 different parts of the country. Arabia, in nature African, has 

 likewise the Egyptian form of honey bee, which is proved by 

 the specimen in the Berlin entomological collection, which was 

 brought by Ehrenberg from Arabia Felix. The Syrian bee 

 differs only from tho Egyptian in being somewhat larger, and 

 having a hairy yellow corselet ; it is in other respects so much 

 like the Egyptian variety that it may be considered as belong- 

 ing to it. Even at the present day the Syrian form of tho 

 Egyptian bee exists in Palestine in hollow trees and clefts of 

 rock, and it was from this bee that honey was obtained by 

 Samson. Besides the Northern and Italian hybridouB bees, 

 and the so-called Grecian or Hymettus bee, bees are frequently 

 found in Asia Minor, which by their light-coloured corselet- 

 plate and small size again approach the Egyptian bee. The 

 Egyptian form of the species with dark hairy crown of the 

 head, goes through the Himalayas as far as China, and was 

 called by Fabricius Apis cerana.« 



" As the subtropical zone is the home of the Egyptian bee, it 

 was feared that this variety, which exists only in hot countries, 

 would soon perish in the climate of Germany. A friend of 

 mine informed me in 1864, that he had heard of the Egyptian 

 bee having been introduced into England years ago, and that 

 it had died there on account of the climate. + I can readily 

 believe that the acclimatisation of the Egyptian bee has been 

 attempted in England, and that it soon became extinct there ; 

 but, judging from the nature of the northern and Italian bee, I 

 do not believe that it perished on account of the climate. Any 

 effect of the Egyptian climate upon a being reared in Germany 

 could only be imagined if the so-called cellular or preformation 

 theory were true. According to the imitative or epigenese 

 theory, which rests r.pon the development of all being from 

 the bud or germ, it is quite natural to suppose that the germs 

 of propagation, like the germs of the other organs of the 

 animal body, should be formed and develope themselves in time, 

 so that the influence of the Egyptian climate upon beings de- 

 veloped in Germany cannot be supposed. From the beginning 

 I inferred that if the Egyptian bee could not at once bear our 

 climate, it was doubtful whether it would ever become ac- 

 customed to it. If Apis fasciata, in order to be kept with 

 profit, must be compelled to alter its nature, the acclimatisa- 

 tion of the insect would become impossible ; for the native 

 nature of the bee is, according to our experience, unalterable, 

 whilst its inborn impulses are unchangeable, the Creator not 

 enabling it to develope new instincts. The belief that bees in 

 the West Indies leave off storing honey because they find food 

 there uninterruptedly during the whole year i3 founded in 

 mistake. Such a change in the nature of the insect cannot 

 be imagined, as it is in direct opposition to the immutable laws 

 which govern the nature of the bee. Horses may be broken 

 in, dogs may be trained, nay, even lions, &c, may be tamed, 

 but the nature of the bee neither man nor climate can alter. 

 The latter can only regulate its instinct in every country of 

 the earth in accordance with the variation of the seasons." 

 (To be continued.) 



PAINLESS EXTINCTION OF DRONES. 

 Ir is a common opinion that the massacre of the drones in a 

 hive is a cruel and, I may almost say, unnatural proceeding. 

 As the time has arrived when the destruction commences some 

 of your readers may be interested in observing whether the 

 drones suffer a painful death. I am inclined to think not, but 

 that the body is sucked by the bees, so that the drone dies from 

 exhaustion, whilst part of the store he has consumed is returned 

 to the hive. I am strengthened in this opinion by the fact, 

 that the attack is always made on a particular spot behind the 



• The name "Egyptian bee" is, strictly speaking, incorrect, because 

 this bee is also met with in Arabia ; but the species being thus styled 

 in works on natural history, having been domesticated and cultivated in 

 Egypt from the earliest times, and finally introduced into Germany from 

 that country, we do not seek to change it. The un-German name. Apis 

 fasoiata Ifascio, nvi, atum, are, to wind or bind bands around), was given 

 t ' -t by tin' French naturalist Latrielle (1838), because he considered it a 

 Bpecies of that genus. The Latin name no doubt signifies that this bee 

 appears to be adorned with reddish-yellow and white bands. 



This appears to be a mistake, as I believe no such attempt at that re- 

 ferred to was ever made. — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



wings, and that dronoa recently killed are lighter than liva 

 bees. — Henby Huones, Loughborough. 



[We are unable to endorse your theory of the " painless 

 extinction " of drones. Numbers, doubtless, polish of exhaus- 

 tion, or are worried to death, few, if any, being actually stung ; 

 but this exhaustion seems to be the result of starvation, the 

 unfortunate males being rigidly denied access to the stores of 

 tho hive some time before active hostilities are commenced. 

 The attack which you notice as being made behind tho wing is 

 the mode in which a worker always endeavours to seize a 

 hostile bee, and has, probably, this advantage, that it often 

 enables her either to disable her adversary by dislocating the 

 wing, or to inflict a fatal wound by curving her body and 

 piercing with her sting the vulnerable parts underneath the 

 abdomen.] 



HIVING A SWARM SETTLED IN A CHIMNEY. 



Will you inform me what is the best method of hiving a 

 swarm of bees which settled in a chimney leading from a flue ? 

 They cannot be reached by anything from beneath. They 

 have been there about two months. — W. P. 



[We must again confess ourselves puzzled, and shall be 

 olliged to any of our correspondents who may be able to 

 advise " W. P." in his difficulty. Why have the bees been 

 permitted to remain in the chimney for so long a time as two 

 months ?] 



IS THE LIGURIAN BEE REALLY MORE 

 PROLIFIC THAN THE COMMON BEE? 



Mr. Law's account of his Ligurian bees proves them to have 

 been in his case certainly " prolific to a degree," but as the 

 article is headed " Superiority of the Ligurian Bee," I must 

 put in a claim to equal merit on this point for my old black 

 friends, and I think I am justified in doing so by the following 

 facts which occurred in my apiary this season. 



I had, from a stock two years old, a remarkably fine swarm 

 on the 27th of May, which, by the way, appears to have been a 

 great swarming day in England, as well as here. This was 

 followed in six days afterwards (the 2nd of June) by a very re- 

 spectable second swarm ; and this again in six days, the 8th of 

 June, by without exception the largest and finest swarm I ever 

 hived. The bees came away from the hive exactly at three 

 o'clock in the afternoon, and I never remember to have seen 

 the air in such a state of commotion, or to have heard such 

 joyous music discoursed by my little favourites. For ten 

 minutes at least I was quite uncertain where their final desti- 

 nation would be, when suddenly her majesty came down from 

 her honeymoon flight, as I suppose, and rested on a currant bush 

 by my side, and to my gratification she was instantaneously 

 surrounded by her faithful subjects. The productive powers of 

 the parent hive were, however, yet far from being exhausted, 

 for on the 15th of June, for the fourth time, a gallant army 

 sallied forth, all, like their predecessors, to be taken prisoners 

 without striking a blow. These last I joined to No. 2. 



Thus in less than three weeks I obtained from one hive three 

 magnificent stocks. All of these have since not only filled the 

 bodies o£ their hives, but are working merrily in glass supers, 

 and two of them have, to my great disappointment, within the 

 last few days thrown virgin swarms (very fine ones), but too 

 late, I fear, to set up housekeeping arrangements for them- 

 selves this season, so I have obtained furnished lodgings for 

 them with some kind neighbours. I do not, however, know 

 that I am justified in using the term " kind," for I regret to 

 say that in almost every case of uniting which I have attempted — 

 and I have carried out my operations to the letter, as directed 

 by all the best authorities — I have, like " G. J.," in your Num- 

 ber 277, be?n horrified by the number of dead and dying on 

 the white cloth ; in fact, tho dreaded "needle gun " could not 

 carry on the work of destruction with greater rabidity, or more 

 fatal effect than the stings of these little rascals, when their 

 territory is invaded at night. I have not tried peppermint ; 

 has it the effect of soothing their ire? 



Although I think the facts I have stated above show that 

 with proper management the black bee is sufficiently pro- 

 ductive to satisfy the most exacting bee-master, still I am very 

 anxious to introduce the Ligurian bee into this neighbourhood, 

 and as many of my friends are equally so, any hints as to the 

 best mode of procedure would be most acceptable. The prices 



