April 18, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



247 



heat to be produced, and will in their 

 turn produce as much as the drones 

 would have furnisht. Therefore, the 

 only contention between the two writ- 

 ers, that needs any consideration, is 

 whether or not the drones that remain 

 after a colony has cast a swarm are of 

 more use in keeping the hive warm 

 than workers would be. 



The contention of Abbott is that 

 if the}' had been workers, they would 

 have gone with the swarm, while being 

 drones they stay in the hive. This is 

 not altogether correct, for a colony 

 with many drones shows many drones 

 in its swarm. But perhaps more of 

 them return home than of the workers. 

 Yet, Dzierzon, we must remember, is a 

 great observer ; he it was who discov- 

 ered parthenogenesis in the queen-bee 

 and we must be sure that he does not 

 make statements without good cause, 

 but perhaps the diiference in observa- 

 tions comes from the difference in lo- 

 cation. Dzierzon experimented in Ger- 

 many, while Abbott experimented in 

 England, and there is but little'doubt 

 that the summer nights are cooler in 

 England than in German)', so this 



would explain Abbott's regard for the possible use of the 

 drones in keeping the brood warm for a day or two after 

 the casting of the swarm. I say a day or two, because we 

 all know that at that time the bees are constantly hatching 

 in great numbers, and it takes only a short time to recuper- 

 ate the loss enough to keep the hive warm. In a colon)' 

 that swarms, the daily hatch of worker-bees is between 

 two and three thousand, sometimes more, and but little 

 time is needed to recuperate the strength of the colony so 

 as to enable it to take care of itself. Then let us suppose 

 a colony with a minimum of drones. Is it very likely that 

 this colony will actually suffer? Are such instances on 

 record ? And in domesticity, is it not entirely practicable 

 for the apiarist, if a hive is left too bare of its bees, by 

 the swarm, to mend this defect by returning a number of 

 the bees to the old hive, after the swarm is hived 7 Surely, 

 this one item of a possible use of thousand of idlers for a 

 day or two for the sake of warmth, is not sufficient to jus- 

 tifiy their presence. They are the very ones that help 

 induce the bees to swarm early, by their noise every warm 

 day, and by their encumbering presence on the combs at 

 all other times. 



So my conclusion would be that we should give but 

 little attention to the possible use of drones for any but 

 fertilizing purposes. If we can avoid the breeding of 

 them, we must surely be well repaid by the additional num- 

 ber of workers that we can rear in their stead. 



I will next consider the diiferent methods of getting 

 rid of the drones, or of preventing their being produced, 

 and of making a selection of them for breeding purposes. 



iTobe continued.; 



Mediterranean Flour-Moth Infesting Honey-Combs. 



BV PR01-. C. P. GILLETTE. 



IN the American Bee Journal for March 29, 1900, under 

 the caption, " No Wax-moth in Colorado," I said : 



" But there is a smaller moth that is prenerally distributed over the 

 country, coininonly known as the Mediterranean Hour-moth, which I 

 have repeatedly seen infestins.' honey-comb. The larv.p of this insect 



FIG. 3. — FKAME OF HONEYCOMB SHOWING COCOONS OF MEUITERKANEAN FLOI/li-MUTH. 



do not seem to care for wax or honey, but feed upon pollen, and per- 

 haps propolis as well.... and I have seen them in crated sections of 

 comb honey." 



I do not wish to change a word of the short item 

 referred to, but as some fear that my statements might lead 

 a careless reader to think that this insect is common in 

 crated sections of honey from Colorado, I should like to 

 say further that such is not at all the case. As stated 

 above, this insect seems to care only for pollen, and possi- 

 bly propolis, but not for wax or honey. I do not suppose it 

 would ever be found in sections of crated honey except 

 where the sections are kept for a time in the same building 

 or room with old lioney-combs that are infested with this 

 insect. It is only in two or three cases of this sort that I 

 have seen the larv;e on sections of comb honey in sections. 

 On one occasion I saw them in considerable numbers over a 

 small number of sections, and on some of the sections 

 they seeiTied to be feeding upon propolis which the bees had 

 deposited in the corners in considerable quantity. 



So this insect would only he of rare occurrence, at 

 most, in section honey, and could no more be lookt for from 

 Colorado than from other States, as it is a generally dis- 

 tributed and a well-known pest in flouring mills in this* 

 country. 



To enable bee-keepers to recognize this insect and dis- 

 tinguish it from the old " wax-moth," I will refer them to 

 the accompanying illustration (Fig. I) from Insect Life, 

 Vol. II, U. S. Dep. of Agr. The moth is shown at a and 6, 

 the larva at r and at the exteme right, and the pupa or chrys- 

 alis at d — all enlarged. The lines at the sides of the fig- 

 ures give the real lengths. 



That these larva- can infest old combs badly is illustrated 

 in the reproduction of a photograph of a frame of old 

 comb that is nearly covered with their cocoons, shown 

 at Fig. 2. This engraving is from Bulletin 47 of the Colo- 

 rado Experiment Station. Larimer Co., Colo. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



FIG. 1. MEnlTI-.liKlNEAN FLOUH-MOTII. 



ftueens— Tlie Best None Too Good. 



Read at the convention of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association at 

 Niagara Falls, in December, 1900. 



BY XI. B. HOLMES. 



AS stated in the program of this convention, I am to 

 give an address on the subject of "Queens" and it 

 may be presumed that the punster, as he scans the list, 

 will see his opportunity. If he be a sporting man he will 

 at once suggest " The (Jueen of the Turf;" or if he be a 

 society man his thoughts will immediately become centered 

 on " The queen of the party," force of habit and influence 

 of association acting as a matter of course, as the prompter 

 behind the scene in these and other similar flights of fun 

 and fancy. 



To this class of individuals, if such there be present, I 

 have only to say, that this Association of practical men 

 has convened in this city for purely practical purposes ; 

 that it is composed of individuals who are not speculative 



