S96 



the ';hanue from nectar to honey. To inves- 

 tigate this supposition he used a vei7 active 

 honey antiserum, and tested separately a 

 number of watery extracts of heads, thorax, 

 and abdomens of bees of different age. 

 Later he extended the investigation to 

 drones and queens. Tue results are shown 

 in the following taLIe: 



Material used in the Watery extracts gave ppts. in 



experiments millimeter from the 



Workers shortJy after heads thorax iiljdomens 



hatching 0.0 0.0 0.0 



Workers from the 



hroodiiest 17.0 m/m 0.0 trace 



broodnest 2.5.0 " 0.0 



super 25.0 " trace " 



Field bees 0.0 " 0.0 



Drones 0.0 " 0.0 " ? 



Queens ...0.0 " trace .TO. m/m 



Chyme from larva3 Dilution of the chyme 1 : J 0,000 



of the workers. . 4,0 m/m precipitate 



of the drones 16.0 m/m precipitate 



of the queens 30.0 m/m precipitate 



The conclusion to be drawn from the 

 above is that the albumen in the honey is 

 from an organ located in the head. This 

 organ (salivary gland) in bees just hatched 

 seems not to have started its work, while in 

 the drone and queen it is either wanting or 

 exists only in a rudimentary state. 



It is known that in the head of the worker 

 there are three glands; in the head of the 

 queen, two of them, but only one well de- 

 veloped; while in the head of the drone 

 there are also two glands, but neither of 

 them well developed. 



The table further shows what practical 

 beemen liave long known from observation, 

 that the younger bees are the nurses of the 

 cclon^^ The newly hatched workers show 

 no precipitates, the organs have not yet be- 

 come active; but as soon as the glands of 

 rhe young bees begin to secrete, the bees 

 inslinctively turn nurses and feed the lar- 

 vpe. After a while the older nurses are 

 replaced by the younger bees, and start to 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



go to the field. The secretion not used or 

 needed is stopped; the glands become inac- 

 tive. If, however, by force of circumstances, 

 the old bees are compelled to feed the 

 larvaa the glands become active again. The 

 heavy precipitate shown in the table by the 

 abdomens of queens may be explained by 

 the fact that the queen receives as nourish- 

 tnent ch^^me from the bees in attendance. 

 It is this predigested food the queen receives 

 so profuse'y that enables her to perform 

 the tremendous task of laying 2000 and 

 even 3000 eggs in 24 hours. 



To prove that the chyme fed the young 

 larvfe is the secretion of glands in the head 

 of the bee. Dr. Langer shook a colony that 

 had 'consideraljle brood on empty combs, 

 and fed them sugar syrup to which albumen 

 from her eggs had been added, and then 

 dequeened it. Several queen-cells were 

 staited with much royal jelly in them. He 

 tlien examined the watery extracts of heads, 

 thorax, and abdomen with egg antiserum. 

 The abdomens showed a heavy precipitate 

 with the egg antiserum, but the royal jelly 

 gave no precipitate with the egg anti-serum. 

 This shows that the bees add nothing from 

 the contents of the stomach to the food for 

 the royal larvae, or the egg albumen is in 

 the stomach of the bee so changed or re- 

 duced that it cannot be detected by the 

 biological method. Dr. Langer concludes 

 that the chyme used as food for the larvae 

 is a pure secretion of Ihe glands in the 

 head of the bees. 



I'ischer, a well-known scientist, said in 

 ]S74 that the chyme is a secretion of the 

 salivary glands. These glands are, in the 

 young nurse bee, a juicy organ, while in 

 the old worker bee it has shriveled, leaving 

 in the liead an empty space of about two 

 millimeters. 



Bavaria, Germany. 



A NEW STARVATION METHOD OF QUEEN INTRODUCTION 



BY A. T. RODMAN 



The method of introduction which I have 

 used this season has proved the most satis- 

 faclory of any I ever tried. So far I have 

 not lost a queen when I followed the rules. 



But in the finst place I must explain that 

 all of my hives have metal covers with an 

 inner cover under the metal cover. This 

 inner cover has a half-itich hole near one 

 edge. I lay a piece of section over this hole 

 and taHc one end so I can swing the other 

 end around from over the hole. 



I use West queen-cell jirotectors to case 

 my queens in. I place a little tube in the 



small end of the cage, filled with queen 

 candy. I make the tube by bending a very 

 thin piece of tin. The tube is about % inch 

 long. The outer end is stuffed with paper. 

 I calch the queen late in the afternoon or 

 evening. When I locate the queen I place 

 the large end of the cage over her. As soon 

 as she crawls in on the side I remove the 

 cage, closing the end by inserting the piece 

 of tin between the wire coils. I now put 

 three bees in with her for escorts, and lay 

 them away till dark. 



As soon as it is about dark I remove the 



