MARCH 1, 1913 



that do not have foul-brood laws should 

 secure the necessaiy legislation at once. 

 Unfortunately, California is handicapped 

 by a very ineffective county law. These 

 county laws are not worth much at best. 

 What is needed is a law that gives the State 

 Entomologist or State officers police author- 

 ity over the wliole State to clean out bee 

 disease wherever it may exist, and at the 

 same time put a stop to the kind of work 

 above described. A federal law should be 

 enacted at once; for unless something is 

 done speedily, such tramp beekeepers can 

 spread more disease than all the inspectors 

 in the country can eliminate. 



" THE MANIPULATION OP THE WAX SCALES OF 

 THE HONEYBEE.-'^ 



This is the title of a new bulletin from 

 the Bureau of Entomology, Circular No. 

 161, by Dr. D. B. Casteel, who has been in 

 the Bureau for the past two summers, pur- 

 suing various kinds of work under the di- 

 rection of Dr. E. F. Phillips, in Charge of 

 Apiculture. We have read carefully this 

 bulletin, and regard it as one of the most 

 interesting and valuable that have ever been 

 put out by the Bureau. We say it is inter- 

 esting, and it is intensely so; and valuable, 

 because there are certain facts presented 

 wliich may enable the ordinary beekeeper 

 to determine when he can have comb build- 

 ing, and when, perhaps, he may not. 



About 35 years ago the writer was inter- 

 ested in this very subject covered by Dr. 

 Casteel; and especially how bees put pollen 

 in their pollen-baskets; but at that time we 

 were not in possession of the apparatus, 

 the time, nor the skill necessai-y to do this 

 work. We watched the operation, or tried 

 to, whereby the bees remove their wax 

 scales; but it was done so rapidly that the 

 whole performance seemed but little short 

 of sleight of hand. Somehow the scales 

 would be removed from the under side of 

 the bee's abdomen, and transferred to its 

 mouth; and likewise pollen would be 

 transferred from the fore feet to the hind 

 legs; but just how, we could not determine. 

 But Dr. Casteel has worked this out by 

 means of a binocular microscope that makes 

 every detail of it, from start to finish, clear 

 and plain. He then goes on to prove up 

 his work from a purely mechanical and 

 structural point of. view. 



Briefly stated, the process is this: The 

 wax scales are scraped off by one of the 

 large joints, or planta, of one hind leg, 

 the spines of the planta piercing or catch- 

 ing into the scale; then the leg, by a pe- 

 culiar maneuvering, is moved up to where 

 the fore legs may grasp the scale. At this 



point of proceedings the scale is manipu- 

 lated or masticated in the mandibles, when 

 it is applied to the comb. During the proc- 

 ess just explained, the bee stands on three 

 legs (the two middle legs on either side, and 

 one hind leg not in action), while the other 

 hind leg and the two fore legs, in connec- 

 tion with the mandibles, perform the man- 

 ipulation. The whole thing is shown by 

 some elaborate and careful drawings. We 

 hope to have the privilege of i^resenting 

 some of these later on in these columns. 



Dr. Casteel shows that the so-called "wax- 

 pinchers " in the hind legs have nothing to 

 do with the manipulation of wax, but are 

 designed for another purpose, and that each 

 individual bee removes its own wax scale. 



It has been popularly supposed that the 

 bees remove the scales from each other; but 

 the author shows that tliis is not the case. 

 The scales are sometimes found scattered 

 throughout the hive and on the bottom- 

 board. In some instances they show the 

 marks of the spines on the planta of the 

 hind legs. In others they were probably 

 dropped accidentally by the bees in that 

 wonderful sleight-of-hand performance of 

 which we have been speaking. In still other 

 cases the scales show no markings whatever, 

 and the presumption is that they simply fell 

 off the bees when they reached a certain 

 stage of development. 



Dr. Casteel also confirms the observation 

 of Dreyling, that there are certain ages and 

 certain seasons Avhen the bees will develop 

 these wax scales more than others. From 

 this it would appear that there will be times 

 when bees could not construct combs to any 

 great extent, even though they were liber- 

 ally fed. In a practical way it has been 

 found that sometimes even when the bees 

 are fed they will not build combs; and the 

 probabilities are that they simj^ly can not, 

 because the colony is made up of bees too 

 young, too old, or both. Usually the con- 

 dition of a honey-flow can be suijplied arti- 

 ficially by feeding. 



This paper or bulletin may be obtained 

 by simply addressing the Superintendent of 

 Documents, Government Printing Office, 

 Washing-ton, D. C. Ask for Circular No. 

 161, Bureau of Entomology, by D. B. Cas- 

 teel, and enclose 5 cents. We hope our sub- 

 scribers will ask for it, as we should like to 

 have the Secretary of Agriculture, or, more 

 exactly, the Bureau of Entomologj^, know 

 that the beekeepers of the country appi'eci- 

 ate this kind of work. 



In our next issue we shall refer to anoth- 

 er bulletin equally interesting and valuable 

 by the same author on the subject of how 

 the bee gathers pollen. 



