290 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUPvE 



May 1 



should be, and should have the cordial co- DO HONEY-BEES PERFORATE THE NEC- 

 operation of the mainland leaders in api- TARIES OF FLOWERS? 



culture. 



Washington, D. C. by .iohn h. i.ovell. 



TRANSFERRING FROM AN OLD STUMP TO 

 A MODERN HIVE. 



BY CHARLES M. KOLB. 



The engraving shows an oak stump and a 

 Danzenbuker hive, re])resenting the old and 

 the new home of my bees. I found tlie col- 

 ony in November, during the gunning sea- 

 son, and in February found that they had 

 wintered well, l']) to this time I had never 

 handled bees nor seen a hive. excei)t at a dis- 

 tance, but I wished to take them home: so 

 T tacked a piece of wire cloth over the hole 

 in the stump, and cut ofT the trunk of the 

 tree above the hollow part. I then sawed 

 oflf the stump close to the ground, turned it 

 over and tacked a sheet of tin on the bot- 



COI.oNV TK'.V.NJ^FEHKEIJ FROM A STI'MP 

 IXTO A MODKRX HIVE. 



torn. After hauling it home, a distance of 

 four miles, on a wagon, we placed it in the 

 yard on a Hat stone, and removed the wire 

 cloth from the entrance. 'I'he next day be- 

 ing warm the yani was full of bees. 



Later, my friend and I sawed the slump 

 in two. took the combs out and tilled six of 

 the Danzenbaker frames with brood and 

 honey, tying them in with string. We plac- 

 ed the hive where thestumj) had stood. For 

 three days and nights the bees worked clean- 

 ing house and making rei)airs. removing 

 dead brood and rotten wood. 



AVe found that we had the hive located 

 too close to the sidewalk, so we move<l it 

 forward three feel every day. and on the 

 fourth day we reversed the entrance so that 

 it faced the old location. In all. we moved 

 the hive To feet to the rear of the vard and 

 the bees followed it without any ai)parent 

 concern. Occasionally one would drop to 

 the old location, circle around, and i)ie]i 

 shoot into the hive. 



Jladdonfield. X. .1. 



Mr. Jiooi : — After reading your comments 

 on i)age 1\A I am inclined to think that you 

 are right, and that there isat present no sat- 

 isfactory evidence of li(>n( i/-l>( (^ perforating 

 the nectaries of tiowers. I would use the 

 term " nectary " in a strictly technical sense; 

 for. as I will show. honey-l)ees doj)ierce suc- 

 culent tissue. Perha])s they have not suf- 

 ficient strength to puncture the walls of nec- 

 taries, which are fre(|uently tough and thick- 

 ened. I have been imable to find any reli- 

 able records of honey-bees biting holes in 

 flowers. In one instance, as mentioned in 

 my ])aper, I obser\ed a honey-bee ai)parenl- 

 ly attem[tting to jjuncture the S})ur of the 

 touch-me-not; but it is not all unlikely, as 

 you suggest, that there may have been al- 

 ready a small hole, which it was seeking to 

 enlarge. The holes were, however, undoubt- 

 edly made by bumble-bees, for the beetles 

 and spiders seen in the flowers were far too 

 small and few in number for this purpose. 

 The number of tiowers with the spurs punc- 

 tured was very large. 



On the other hand, there is not the slight- 

 est reason to <loubt that bumble-bees fre- 

 (piently inmcture llowers. They have been 

 seen to do so by many observers besides my- 

 self, as Mueller. Knuth. etc. In the case of 

 the scarlet ruimer. the llowers were \isited 

 only by bumble-bees and honey-bees, and 

 were i)roin])tly i)unctured as fast as they 

 mature<l. If we exclude the honey-l)ees. 

 there were no other insects i)resent. except 

 the bumble-bees, which could have done 

 this work. Wasjjs do not visit these flowers 

 since they are short-tongued insects, and 

 the nectar is inaccessible to them. While 

 wasi)s can masticate other insects, I have 

 never read of an instance of their jjunctur- 

 ing llowers. In all the other cases mention- 

 ed in my pajjcr the bees referred toare bum- 

 ble-V)ees. 



I have just examined the maxilla' and 

 mandibles of a worker of the h(niey-bee un- 

 der the compound microscope, and com])ar- 

 ed them with the same mouth-i)arts in a 

 worker of Honihiin f( rricoht. While they 

 are essentially alike, smaller differences can 

 Vje easily discerned. The lacinia' of the 

 bumble-liee a])i)ear narrower, more rigid, 

 and more acutely pointed, while its man- 

 dibles are toothed at the ai)ices. and those 

 of the honey-bee are entire. Still if the hon- 

 ey-bee is strong enough I should think it 

 might be able to ])uncture floral leaves: but 

 this is ])erhaps the difficulty — it is a less 

 powerful insect than the worker, and not to 

 be corni)are(l with the (|ueen bumble-bee. 

 and it i)robal)l>' has not suflicient strength 

 to i)uncture nectaries. The maxilla of a 

 bumble-bee or honey-bee iscomi)osed of two 

 joints — a basal part called thesti))esor stipe, 

 and a blade-like terminal part called the la- 

 cinia. .\ccording to .Mueller the lacinia* are 

 shari)ened at the ends for the jjurpose of 



