758 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 10, 1WI4. 



then watch their actions a moment, and if they show fight 

 I give them a little more. It takes quite a long experience 

 to understand thoroughly the use of smoke in handling 

 bees. d. Fingers. 



Wm. Rohrig (Ariz.) — a. Usually I do not. b. Very lit- 

 tle, c. A few light puffs over the frames just as the cover 

 is raised, and before it is entirely removed, is in most cases 

 sufficient; in some cases a little more may b e necessary, 

 after the cover is removed, d. The fingers. 



C. P. DadanT (III.)— a. Yes, it is important, b. Just 

 enough to bewilder the bees at the entrance, except early or 

 late in the day, when we use more. c. That depends upon 

 the behavior of the bees. No rule can be laid. d. The 

 thumb, if the smoker is made according to our idea. 



t 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown (Ga.) — I usually give a few puffs a 

 the entrance, and only enough to keep the bees out of the 

 way when removing the cover. Too much smoke is worse 

 than not enough. When bees are gathering honey they 

 need but little smoke; when idle, they may need more. 



O. O. POPPLETON (Fla.) — a, b and c. These all depend 

 upon conditions when opening the hives, whether honey is 

 flowing freely or not, whether colonies are strong or not, 

 whether irritable or mild, etc. It is impossible to have any 

 set rule. Each colony makes, and sometimes enforces, a 

 rule of its own. d. The fingers. 



Dr. C. C. Mii,i:,hr (111.) — a. Generally, b. A puff or two 

 at the entrance, c. Depends upon circumstances and the 

 temper of the colony. Usually three or four puffs over the 

 top, more if the bees show fight. If a queen is to be found, 

 extra pains is taken to avoid smoke, d. Fingers. I wouldn't 

 want to twist my arm out of ioint. 



E. Whitcomb (Nebr.) — a. That depends entirely upon 

 conditions. If in the middle of the day, and the colony is 

 one marked with docility, they will become sufficiently 

 alarmed while removing the cover. If the colony is a 

 hybrid, I would not only use smoke freely, but at the same 

 time the toe of my shoe against the hive in order to thor- 

 oughly alarm them. I would then allow four or five min- 

 utes to intervene before uncovering them. I use only the 



amount of smoke necessary according io the breed of the 

 bees inside, and conditions. Too much smoke injures the 

 bees, or disarranges the inside workings of the colony. _ d. 

 I have never taken much pains as to that. Use which 

 comes handiest, taking care to keep both thumb and fingers 

 off the fire-box. 



James A. Green (Colo.) — a andb. Unless honey is com- 

 ing in very freely, I always give a light puff or two at the 

 entrance before removing the cover, c. Just enough to 

 keep the bees peaceable. The amount depends upon the 

 kind of bees, the season, and various other things, d. I 

 almost invariably have the fingers on the side next to the 

 fire-box. 



R. C. AiKiN (Colo.)— a. If no flow of nectar, hit the en- 

 trance first ; during flow just from the top only, blowing in 

 the instant the cover raises enough, b and c. Quantity 

 according to temper of bees, time and kind of -day, etc. 

 Altogether too variable to describe. Practice only tells in 

 this matter, d. Don't know; never stop to think ; probably 

 both ways. 



S. T. Pettit (Ont.)— a. Yes. b. Not much. I want 

 every bee in the brood-chamber to smell smoke, c. Very 

 little indeed when looking for the queen ; and more for 

 other operations. Smoke should more or less generally 

 stream in with the light under the cloth or cover. Not room 

 here to do justice to the subject, d. The thumb. It may 

 not be the best way, but that is the way I started. 



G. W. Demaree (Ky.)— a. For the past 2S years I have 

 experimented with the use of smoke to control bees in and 

 out of their hives, and I have found that conditions of 

 weather, temperament of the bees being handled, etc., 

 makes it impracticable to adopt any precise rules in the use 

 of smoke to control bees. I seldom use smoke till the hive- 

 cover is removed, b. Lightly at the start, and more if 

 necessary to quiet the bees. c. I apply the smoke just as 

 circumstances demand, d. When using the smoker the 

 position of the fire-pot is above the bellows so as not to 

 heat the latter, as is the case when the fire department is 

 below the bellows. Thus handled the thumb goes on the 

 top side of the bellows next the fire-box. 



P. S. — This is a long answer, but the query is important. 



The Bee's Tongue— Its Formation and Use. 



EY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



I am often questioned by readers of the bee-papers in 

 regard to the precise anatomy of the bee's tongue. I am 

 glad to give this as it is one of the most wonderful chapters 

 in the whole book of nature. I know of few insects that have 

 such diverse habits as do our bees of the hive. They accom- 

 plish very much with their mouth organs and thus these 

 organs must be very greatly differentiated, as indeed they are. 

 Wonderful as is the anatomy of the honey-bee, no part of 

 Us structure is quite so marvelous as is its tongue. What 

 makes this ail the more interesting, the exact structure and 

 work of the bee's tongue was not understood by any one till 

 the present generation. Even the last edition of the Encyclo- 

 paedia Brittanica speaks of it as a solid organ, and the whole 

 description is one series of blunders. When we remember 

 that this organ sips honey from the deepest flowers, sucks it 

 in from the mammoth drop, or laps it up as it is spread thinly 

 upon glass or platter, we may well conceive that the organ 

 itself must be exceedingly modified to perform such varied 

 functions; especially as all is done so perfectly. 



The tongue is called "labium," and consists of the thick, 

 heavy, shorter basal portion- — the mentum — and the long, 

 hairy, flexible terminal portion— the ligula. From the base 

 come the two jointed organs, common to almost all insects — 

 undoubtedly feelers — the labial palpi. Besides these, are the 

 maxillas, grooved and pointed, and nearly as long as the 

 ligula. When these arc brought together they make a tube 

 of themselves, and are used, as I have proved by feeding 



bees colored syrup, as a sucking-tube when they can get at 

 the honey in quantity. 



But the ligula itself is the most interesting part of this 

 wondrous mechanism. This is really a tube within a tube. 

 But the inner tube through which the honey is drawn is not 

 complete. It is slitted on its under side to near the end, 

 where there is a sort of button. The edge of this slitted 

 inner tube is attached by a thin, much-folded membrane with 

 the edge of the outer one. We see, theii, that both tubes are 

 incomplete cylinders, a little section being omitted. But as 

 these edges are united by the membrane, the outer tube is 

 really complete, and though it has no connection with the 

 outside, it is connected at the base of the tongue with the 

 blood cavity of the bee. We see, then, how the bee can dart 

 its tongue out so quickly. It simply forces the blood into 

 this blind outer tube, and of course the tongue shoots out to 

 its full length. 



When not in use, the ligula is not only drawn back, but 

 also, with the inaxills, is doubled back under the head. We 

 have seen how the bfie gets honey from a great drop by suck- 

 ing it through the extemporized tube- by approximating the 

 grooved maxilla;. We now have only to consider how the 

 bee sips from long, deep flower-tubes, or wipes the honey, 

 if we mav so speak, from glass or oilier surface. By use of 

 muscles within the tongue, the bee can push the inner tube 

 entirely outside of the outer, thus straightening the folded 

 membrane which united the two. In this way it laps up the 

 honey. I have proved this by watchin- the bee closely as I 

 held it in niv finger, and permitting ii to wipe up the honey 

 on a piri o'f glass. The timidity of .he bee never prevents 

 it from , iking the honev, no matter :• it is a prisoner in 



