342 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



May 



APIS DORSATA ONCE MOHE. 



WILL THKV BKAH DOM ESTICATIO N '/ 



fKIEND ROOT:— .4pis dorsata, after staying- for 

 tnclvc (lays with me, has absconded, and I 

 hasten to g-ive you the results of my first ex- 

 periment with this bee. 

 1. Why did the bees abscond? On examina- 

 lion of the comb I found about lialf a ])ound of 

 brood had been jammed into a fold of the c(nnb 

 made, when putting the comb into the basket for 

 t ransportation from the hills. It was smelling very 

 rank, and this of itself was enough to drive them 

 otf. doubtless. 



2. I am not sure they had a queen. Before I got 

 tliem into shape, about a quart of old bees swarmec^ 

 up on a limb of a tall mango-tree, and after two 

 <lays thej" left. At first the entrance to the hive 

 was too small, and I think they could not readily 

 find their comb, and so left. The quceu might have 

 lieeu among them. 



;t. Perhajjs this bee can not be made to stay in a 

 liive at all, yet 1 am not at all satisfied that this is 

 the case, and shall not be without much more expe- 

 rience. 



We have gained some knowledge by this experi- 

 ment. The young bees, when first hatched, are 

 long and slender, very graceful in their shape and 

 movements, of a soft dark yellow, approaching 

 brown, which changes as they grow older. The ab- 

 domen grows fuller, and black bands appear, until 

 the bee appears much darker, not only on the abdo- 

 men, but all over. The head, however, at first 

 changes to jet black. 



As there was a very little unsealed brood when I 

 got them, and all hatched out in twelve days, I 

 judge the time from egg to tee is about 21 days, as 

 with common bees. I have a swarm of the Apis flo- 

 rrn under observation (this is a unicomb bee also). 

 I amstruck with many things in common in the hab- 

 its of these two kinds of bees, and have an idea that 

 the study of the Apis florea will show us how to 

 manage the Apis dorsata. But much observation is 

 yet necessary. The comb of the Apis dorsata left 

 with me measures about 3 ft. long by I'i ft. deep. 

 The honej'-comb and brood-comb are quite distinct. 

 The honey-comb is placed always hii/licst up on the 

 limb of the tree on which the nest is built, and is 

 called by the natives the "honoy-chattei." It does 

 resemble a native chattel not a little in shape. From 

 lliis, which is on the right in my comb, the brood- 

 comb extends to the left, new coml) being added 

 along the whole edge, from the honey-comb around 

 1<) the limb again. The honey-comb is 8 inches thick 

 in its thickest part, but built in a cylindrical form. 

 The natives say they have seen this honey-chattel (i 

 inches in diameter. The cells are IVi inches deep, 

 and less as the slope changes. There are three 

 honey-cells to the inch. This comb is beautifully 

 white. The walls of the cells ai-e almost transpar- 

 ent. Honey is also deposited among the brood, but 

 It seems to be of a ilitlerent kind from that in the 

 honey-chattei. 



The brood-cells are from '^ to ,; inch deep. The 

 number to the inch varies from 4 to 4>4, or SJ cells 

 lo .') inches. The brood-comb varies a little in thick- 

 ness, and is about l':i inches, and is a light brown in 

 c-olor. These bees on the comb form one of the 

 most beautiful sights in nature I ever saw. During 

 their stay they built comb and brought honey and 

 water, but they did not at any tjmc work as if Ihey 



were happy. Just before leaving there was great 

 running to and fro, and preening of wings and legs, 

 preparatory to flight. Not more than half a dozen 

 bees were left. I put one, just hatched out, on the 

 alighting-board of an A. Indica swarm, and she im- 

 mediately marched in like a queen, and the bees all 

 made way for her. I suspect they got over their 

 surprise and slew her, but 1 have not seen any re- 

 sults of such punishment. So much for experiment 

 No. 1 with Apis dorsata. 



P. S.— Wife says I've no eye for color; that, when 

 first hatched, the Apis dorsata are light orange, 

 which changes to darker orange, and then the black 

 stripes appear. She says you don't know what a 

 chattel is, and perhaps she is right. It is a cylin- 

 drical vessel shaped like a rather flat onion, only it 

 is open on top, and the edge of the hole comes a lit- 

 tle above the vessel, and then flares back some- 

 what. It is, in fact, a jar. This shai)e proves a 

 very curious feature in the A. dorsata comb, and. 

 when filled with pure white honey, is a sight worth 

 seeing. A. Bunkeu. 



Toungoo, Burmah, March IS, 1885. 



Frientl B., these are matters of great inter- 

 est to us, and I would suggest that you get 

 another swarm of Apis dorsata and experi- 

 ment with them further. If you are out any 

 in the way of funds in accomplishing this, let 

 me know, and I will indemnify you. I do not 

 (luite malce out how it is thata single coml) 

 built on a limb is in a cylindrical form. If 

 I iniderstand you, the comb of the Apis dor- 

 sata is not much different in dimension of 

 cells from our own honey-combs. The large 

 cells yon describe, I shoidd infer, are drone 

 cells " or what we sometimes call "store 

 cells. ■■ And, by the way. does the Apis dor- 

 sata have drones similar to ours? 



THOSE FIVE COMBS, ETC. 



MOKE AHOL'T THK " XO-POLLEN " EXPEIUMEXT. 



0N page 232 friend Root seems to desire further 

 knowledge regarding the experiment I gave 

 on page 231. I took away all the combs the 

 colony had. and gave them five clean emptj- 

 combs, which were very carefully examined, 

 to see if they contained a single cell of pollen, not 

 one of which was found. This was done about Sept. 

 15th to 20th. I now led them 2'. lbs. of sugar 

 syrup each night for ten nights in succession, mak- 

 ing 25 lbs. fed. As the queen was not laying at the 

 time the combs were taken away, I examined the 

 colony after feeding fls'e days, to see if any brood 

 had been started, for I have never known a queen 

 to start laying, in this locality, after she has once 

 stop])ed, by feeding them for that purpose, as 

 friend Root, Prof. Cook, and others, claim they do 

 with them. 



A careful examination at this time revealed only 

 sugar syruj), for neither eggs nor pollen was found. 

 I again examined them on the morning of the 

 eleventh day from the time I commenced to feed, 

 at which time I found no eggs nor pollen, although 

 a space was left in their combs for a brood-nest, or, 

 as 1 call it, a nest to winter in. Hence the insinua- 

 tion of Prof. Cook, on page 288, thfft I guessed at 

 the nuitter, is groundless. Again, I examined the 

 colony about Oct. 25th, when tucking them up for 

 winter, and found them clustered in and about 

 their winter-nest, with no brood, nor any that look- 



