1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



905 



they can not differ greatly in size from the 

 workers. I suspect they are very much 

 akin to ants in their internal economy. 



Usually the combs are horizontal, while 

 the bladders containing- the honey and pol- 

 len are distributed around these — not in 

 confusion but after a regular plan, hence it 

 will not be difficult to construct a hive to 

 suit their habits and inclinations. 



The honey varies very much in quality. 

 Tn some species it is positively sickening- to 

 the taste and smell. Usualljs however, it 

 is highly aromatic, very clear and thin, and 

 usually acid or sub-acid, and seems to con- 

 tain citrate, probably due to the decompo- 

 sition of the sug-ar. If put on ice it crystal- 

 lizes into beautiful white cr3'stals like refin- 

 ed sug-ar, indicating- that it contains su- 

 crose, whereas the sweetening in honej' is 

 due to glucose. The wax is dark, very 

 plastic, and usually made in liberal quan- 

 tities. In the South-American countries it 

 is used for various purposes, but does not 

 seem suitable for candles, as the priests as- 

 siduously cultivate Apis mellifica for the 

 purpose of g-etting- beeswax. 



As a matter of fact, it is wrong- to speak 

 of the wax as wax or the honey as honey. 

 Both are radically different from the honey 

 and wax of commerce, and I have thought 

 that we had better not term it honey but 

 inellipona, and so avoid confusion of terms. 

 Possibily cerise would suit the wax prod- 

 uct. In any case, different names are de- 

 sirable. 



As to the prospects of domestication, no 

 doubt this can be effected; but what species 

 to hold for the purpose, and where to take 

 it, ai e questions not eas3' of settlement. I 

 have my own notions of what species would 

 suit, but there may be better ones, for South 

 America is a large continent, a g-reat part 

 of it unexplored and almost unexplorable. 

 T have mentioned that one species is domes- 

 ticated in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 

 This is done by cutting- out the log-s with 

 the nest, and carrying- it to the home of the 

 apiarist. To arrive at any thing- definite 

 and trustworthy, more study of these in- 

 sects in their native haunts is required; for 

 what I have been able to glean is very lit- 

 tle, jet at a good deal of personal discom- 

 fort, fo'- traveling in South America is no 

 joke, no matter how well equipped one may 

 be, and to live for years in the native haunts 

 of our subject is no light affair. One would 

 think the natives and Creoles would be able 

 to give some fair knowledge of these bees, 

 but they seldom can. Usually some woods- 

 man, a native Carib, supplies the villages 

 with the honey required, if any, and his 

 stock of knowledge is usually limited; more- 

 over, these people do not like to answer 

 questions. 



To get any extended knowledge, the stu- 

 dent of stingless apiculture will have to 

 live at a considerable distance from the sea- 

 board. Bogota would be a good point, 

 probably. If the United States were to do 

 as the Germans do, and appoint scientists 

 to represent them in the South American 



towns, it would simplify things very much. 

 For example, the Germans have Prof. Ernst 

 in Caracas, who is a very famous savant; 

 Prof. Lehmann, in Colombia, who is a well- 

 known botanist; Baron Eggers, in Ecuador, 

 another famous botanist; Fritz Muller, the 

 Darwinian, in Brazil; Kurtz, in Argentina, 

 and so on. The people take it as a great 

 compliment to have distinguished men sent 

 to them. They don't pursue science, but 

 they admire it. Some severely practical 

 men may suggest, " Why bother with sting- 

 less bees when the others answer very 

 well?" In the first place, there can be no 

 standing still. We must progress or go 

 backward. These bees work on flowers but 

 little noticed by the others; they work in 

 wet weather better, and their productions 

 are quite different. To know them they 

 must be well studied in their native home, 

 not by rushing at them and carrying them 

 off and submitting them to conditions they 

 are entirely unsuited to. It may be sup- 

 posed that they are suited only to the heat 

 of the tropics; but there are large areas of 

 temperate lands in South America, doubt- 

 less, containing species suited to the cli- 

 mate. 



The only question to be considered in this 

 connection is, "Shall we tackle this prob- 

 lem now or leave it to a future generation?" 



[This is the most interesting and valua- 

 ble article we have ever had on stingless 

 bees. There is a possibility that the right 

 species might be domesticated. If any of 

 our subscribers in South America are in 

 position to give any further facts we should 

 be glad to hear from them. — Ed.] 



THE WORKI.NQ POWERS OF BEES. 



Do They Not Depend Upon Their Brains ? Not Long 

 Tongues but Knowing How to Get the Nectar. 



BY L. O. WESTCO TT. 



Since our experimenting apiarists and 

 scientific men agree it is neither tongue- 

 reach nor tongue-length that enables the 

 red -clover-hone J' gatherers to obtain the lu- 

 cid nectar from the deep tubes beneath the 

 corolla of the red clover, would it not be 

 well for them to turn their search-lights in 

 other directions, and, if possible, discover 

 the true secret, even if it does not exactly 

 tally with old ideas? 



For manj' years we have been extolling 

 the wisdom of the honey-bee. In the ABC 

 of Bee Culture Mr. Cowan is qudted as 

 showing the brain of the honcj'-bee to be 

 superior to all other insects. One can hard- 

 ly find a book written on the apiary which 

 has not something to say of the wonderful 

 knowledge possessed by the honej'-bee. 

 Have we not good evidence at hand to prove 

 that thej' are not all endowed with the 

 same amount of wisdom and skill any more 

 than the human family is? P^or instance, 

 we see a vast difterence in their skill and 

 workmanship in comb-building, in their 



