1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



We have put the matter in the hands of 

 our attorney, for we think it is hij:^h time to 

 make an object-lesson. Our own name, as 

 well as that of bee-keepers as a whole, 

 needs to be pi-otected, and it will be, too. 

 We expect to beffin both a civil and crimi- 

 nal action. 



PROF, gillettk's measurements of bees' 



tongues; some interesting figures. 



At the last session of the Colorado State 

 Bee-keepers' Association, at Denver, Prof. 

 C. P. Gillette, an able scientist and a care- 

 ful and conscientious investig-ator, read an 

 exceedingly interesting' and valuable paper 

 on bees' tong'ues and the measurements that 

 he has been making- during- the past sum- 

 mer, and the same is now published in the 

 Amer. Bee Journal. " To a student of bi- 

 olog"3'," he saj's, " particularly if he be an 

 entomologist, the idea of a long-tongued 

 race of honey-bees coming quickly into ex- 

 istence seems exti emely improbable. 

 Nature has been breeding this tongue to a 

 standard length for so long a time that it 

 is not likely to vary rapidly under artifi- 

 cial selection where parentage can be con- 

 trolled on one side only." He took " no in- 

 terest in the matter when it was first agi- 

 tated. Finally so m^my bee-keepers of 

 known honesty and sincerity of purpose be- 

 gan to advocate breeding for long-tongued 

 bees, and to advertise such bees for sale, 

 that it seemed necessary that some one hav- 

 ing the facilities and the necessary train- 

 ing should make a careful study of the sub- 

 ject and report the results," and he accord- 

 ingly went to work. 



i'or some time back he has been gather- 

 ing specimeus of blacks, of Italians, of 

 Cyprians, Carniolans, and of Apis dorsata; 

 but before giving his measurements he very 

 properly draws a distinction between 

 tongue reach and tongue length; and then 

 he goes on to say that he believes "for 

 practical purposes it may be always con- 

 sidered true that the bee with the longest 

 tcjngue has the longest possible tongue 

 reach." ... " lu my first measure- 

 ments," he adds, "tongue length only was 

 taken into account; but in the later ones, 

 the tongue reach, so near as I could mea- 

 sure, was also recorded ; and an examination 

 of the figures in the following table will 

 show a far greater variation in the latter 

 measurement than in the former." 



Next he describ s the various agents that 

 were used to kill the bees. Chloroform, al- 

 cohol, formalin, cyanide of potassium, and 

 boiling water were all tried; but the last 

 named was found to be the most satisfacto- 

 ry. In-Prof. Gillette's table I find the whole 

 tongue length of Italians averages, in hun- 

 dredths of an inch, a trifle over .25. The 

 average length of the ligulaonly was about 

 .16-2. In the matter of tongue reach he 

 found considerable variation — that is, the 

 distance that the bee can reach into a flow- 

 er-tube, measuring from the end of the 

 tongue up to the point where the tongue 

 comes out of the jaws. The longest tongue 



reach of those Italians already referred to 

 was .22, while the shortest was .15. The 

 variation in the tongue reach as shown in 

 Prof. Gillette's table corresponds very close- 

 ly with a similar set of measurements that 

 we made here in Medina, and the variation 

 is considerable. We never measured total 

 tongue length, or length of ligula, for the 

 simple reason that we did not have proper 

 facilities for dissecting the bees; and, more- 

 over, we felt that it was not length of the 

 ivhotc tongue but length of reach that was 

 the important point to know. 



Another interesting fact developed by the 

 table is that Cyprians furnished by Frank 

 Benton showed a greater tongue length and 

 a g-reater tongue reach than the Italian^. 

 The average tongue length for Cyprians 

 was something over .26, while the longest 

 tongue reach was .23, and the shortest .19. 



Ciirniolans, also from Frank Benton, 

 showed a tongue reach and a tongue length 

 corresponding very closely to the Italians; 

 while the same measurements for black bees 

 dropped down about a hundredth of an inch 

 for a total tongue length, while the tong-ue 

 reach itself of these same black bees fell 

 considerably short of the Italians clear 

 throug^h. The longest of the Italians was 

 .22, and of the blacks .19, 



Another striking fact is that both the to- 

 tal tongue reach and tongue length of the 

 Apis ciursata is nowise in excess of similar 

 measurements for Italians. Indeed, the 

 tongue reach itself is not so great. From 

 this it would appear that, if these measure- 

 ments are relatively correct, we should not, •' 

 as has been supposed, by importing these 

 bees secure greater length of tongues, nor 

 would there be any direct advantag-e in the 

 matter of fertilizings- certain flora having 

 flower-tubes so deep they can not be reach- 

 ed by the common bee. Apis niellijica. 



But the figures showing tongue length of 

 biiinble-hees, is in somewhat striking con- 

 trast to those showing the measurements of 

 the other bees. While the longest tongue 

 length of Italians is .26, the longest of the 

 Cyprians .27, Carniolans .26, and of blacks 

 .25, the bumble-bees show a maximum 

 length of .58 and .50 as the average, with 

 a minimum of .45. Apparently the tongue 

 length of bumble-bees varies considerably. 

 This might be accounted for by the dift'er- 

 ence in age of the bumble-bees measured. 

 It will be remembered that the bees of Apis 

 inellijica, when a week old, are as large as 

 they ever will be, while those of the Bom- 

 bus vary in size considerably, according to 

 age. 



In commentiiag on his table Prof. Gillette 

 says, " The extreme variation in tongue 

 lengs-th in Italians was but .02 of an inch. 

 It was the same with the Cyprians, and 

 was but .01,'.2 with the blacks. The aver- 

 age tongue length with the Italians exceeds 

 the averag-e of the blacks by only .014; and 

 the Cyprians' tongues exceed the Italians' 

 by .0065. An examination of the table will 

 show eight lots of Italian bees with an 

 average tongue length exceeding that of the 



