1%8 GLEANINGSIIN BEE CULTURE. 227 



Further, I can not regard this, the only experiment which Bethe employed (1. c, p. 71), 

 as conclusive, since very many circumstances which have nothing to do with the hive odor 

 effect the friendly or hostile attitude of bees, be they sisters or strangers. The forage, 

 weather, time of year, strength of the colonies, quantity of provisions, etc., all have an 

 influence, as is well known to those who have studied the peculiarities of bees for many 

 years. In my experience, estrangement seems to take place between separated hive mates 

 generally much more quickly than Bethe states, yet I think this is on the whole a second- 

 ary matter which does not touch upon the principal point. 



MODIFICATION OF REACTIONS TOWARD THE HIVE ODOR. 



It is contested by Bethe that the "various reactions" are based upon hive-mate and 

 hive-stranger modifications." It seems to me that it is hardly possible to grant such a 

 far-reaching conclusion when Bethe's investigations give no striking proof that reactions 

 toward the hive odor are incapable of modification. We learn nothing from the illus- 

 tration given above. In the critical examination of robbing between colonies, we find that 

 a great number of factors enter, which can be discovered only after years of keen obser- 

 vation and fortunate circumstances. In the manual of bee instruction which I helped to 

 publish" (see p. 9), I recommended also fumigation of the hive of the robbing and not of 

 the robbed colony, but that is no proof that the hive stimulus can not be modified. Bethe 

 believes that no psychic elements enter into the actions of a colony and apparently the 

 short time he could devote to bees led him to this view. I submit the following investiga- 

 tions on this question. 



THE SWARM ING-OUT OF A QUEENLESS COLONY. 



If two hives are placed close together, and the qTJeen and brood are removed from 

 one, it sometimes happens that the entire colony, from which every possibility of rearing 

 a queen has been removed, will enter the queen-right" (weiselrichtigen) colony, humming 

 "joyfully." These bees seldom sting, and are received in a friendly manner, although the 

 normal queen-right colony should react hostilely, if it followed a chemical reflex inca- 

 pable of modification. What causes this swarming-out of the queenless colony we shall 

 sec further on. 



INTENSIFYING THE REACTION. 



If a colony tolerates robbing without attempting to suppress it, a stimulating food 

 should be given it, such as fermenting buckwheat honey " several years old or a mixture 

 of honey and brandy, and the hive should be shaken to arouse the anger of the bees, etc. 

 Then a better defense is made, the irritability of the colony is increased, and robbers are 

 better recognized and repulsed. 



The "courage" and the "attention" of the colony are increased, and therefore we 

 have intensified reactions toward hive strangers.** 



" "It has been thought possible to make the individuals of a hive 'recognize' each other better by 

 fumigating the colony with some strong smelling substance — camphor, naphthaline, baldrian, for instance. 

 If this be done to a colony exposed to frequent plundermg it is thought that the bees of this hive will 

 more readily detect the robbers to whom the scent does not adhere. Were this correct, then it would 

 prove that the various reactions toward hive mates and hive strangers could be artificially modified. 



"I believe that I can assert positively that such treatment does not increase the reaction toward 

 strange bees in the least, but only that the bees of all strange colonies react more vigorously toward 

 the individuals thus scented. (Therefore if it is desired to defend a colony from robbing, it i* 

 the robbing and not the robbed which must be fumigated.) 



"We see, therefore, that here, as in ants, the various reactions toward hive mates and hive strangeri 

 bring us back to a simple chemical reflex" (Bethe, 1. c, p. 71). 



" G. Dathe, Lehrbuch der Bienenzucht, 5 Aufl., published by R. Dathe and H. Reepen (v. Buttel- 

 Reepcn), Bensheim, 1892, p. 181. 



" There is no word in common use among English-speaking bee-keepers to indicate the normal con- 

 dition of a colony in the possession of a queen, cither mated or unmated. It seems desirable, there- 

 fore, to translate the Cierman term literally, although "queen-right" is an undesirable term. It ha* 

 already been used by some American writers. — E. F. P. 



"Dathe, 1. c. p. 179. 



^ The Liineburger bee-keepers sometimes employ a particular method for putting a stop to robbing. 

 If the honey-flow is strong, so that the powerful odor of honey issues from the hive-entrance, a 

 general robbing occasionally goes on; but the robbers are hardly noticed by the bees of the hive, 

 apparently the strong odor of honey covering the strange odor of the robbers, or the certain, quiet 

 entrance deceiving the inmates of the robbed colony. In order to call out a stronger reaction, the 

 hee-keepers turn over the skeps so that the wider opening of the skep is turned to the front. One 

 would think that, since the whole honey-comb is now open to the air, robbing could be effected more 

 easily; but this is not the case, for the powerful odor of honey is now easily "dissipated," and the 

 robbers, because of the change in the position of the entrance, are uncertain, and hesitate. Thus the 

 attention of the colony is drawn to the robbing, the fortification is well protected, and every attack it 

 beaten off (cf. G. Lehzen, Hauptstiicke der Luneburger Bienenzucht, 1900, Hannover). 



