272 N. E. McINDOO 



window. No screen was used to prevent the bees from seeing 

 the observer because they never showed any response to move- 

 ments other than rapid ones. 



Nine middle-aged workers marked by cHpping the wings in 

 various ways were placed in each case. A lump of queen-cage 

 candy (made by kneading powdered sugar in a small amount of 

 honey) was kept continually in each case. At various times these 

 bees were given water, sirup, or honey on a piece of cotton. To 

 ' make conditions in these cases more natural for the bees, a small 

 piece of comb was inserted. 



Queens were introduced at various times and now and then 

 one or more drones. Queens were tested while they were in 

 observation cases with workers, but drones were tested when 

 several of them were in the same case without workers. 



WORKEES 



To learn whether the results obtained in experimenting with 

 bees in observation cases may be considered as normal, it was 

 necessary to study the behavior of bees in these cases and to 

 compare this behavior with that of bees in an observation hive. 

 The behavior of individual bees in such captivity is in many 

 respects similar to that of bees in the hive. With only nine in 

 each case, it is possible to study the peculiarities in the behavior 

 of each individual bee and each detail may be recorded, along 

 with the bee's number. In these observation cases middle-aged 

 workers live from 3 to 24 days, with an average of 9 days and 

 3 hours; queens 12 to 27 days, with an average of 16| days; drones 

 6 hours to 13 days, with an average of 3 days and 9 hours. 



When introduced into the observation cases workers are 

 extremely restless and go about touching everything with their 

 antennae. In a few minutes they usually begin to eat the candy, 

 and after that they behave more normally. They are always 

 more or less restless, and half of them are never perfectly quiet 

 for even a few seconds, except when eating. Some bees eat dur- 

 ing nearly the entire day, while others eat little at any time. 

 The majority eat more frequently in the forenoon and are more 

 restless in the afternoon. 



