Apr. 15, 1912 



containing only a single egg. As Figs. 2 A 

 and B show, the external openings of the 

 poison apparatus on the one hand, and the 

 spermatheca and vagina on the other, are 



AGID 



SpmClD^ 



BGl 



PsnScD 



Fig. 2.— a, poison apparatus and sex organs of ab- 

 normal queen from above: B, ovary and oviduct of 

 abnormal queen. AGID, duct of acid gland; BGl, 

 alkaline gland: Ov, ovary; OvD, oviduct; PsnSc, 

 poison-sac: FsnScD, duct of same; Spm, spemathe- 

 ca: SpmD, duct of same. 



very close together. In the normal queen 

 this is not the case, since they are separated 

 by a considerable interval which is taken 

 up by the dorsal wall of the vagina. It is 

 evident, therefore, in the case under con- 

 sideration, that the vagina is very much 

 shortened in correlation with the short- 

 ening of the sternite of the 7th abdominal 

 segment. 



The cause of the abnormalities recorded 

 here is entirely unknown. The cell from 

 which this (jueen emerged was, to all ap- 

 pearances, entirely normal. Moreover, these 

 abnormalities can not be related to the sex- 

 ual characters of the drone or the worker, 

 except in so far as the reduction of the 

 ovaries is peculiar to the worker, but in the 

 latter case they are symmetrical. The 

 queen is not in any way herma])hroditic, but 

 merely abnormal in the reduction of certain 

 parts of the abdominal wall and viscera. 



liureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, I). C. 



[These abnormal cases are very interest- 

 ing, to say the least, for they show that even 

 nature sometimes apparently makes mis- 

 takes. 



249 



A short time ago we received a dead bee 

 from one of our subscribers, which had all 

 the appearances of an undersized drone. 

 The head was clearly not that of a worker, 

 the eyes being the exact shape of those of a 

 drone. However, the bee had a sting, 

 which, though it seemed to be rather small, 

 was nevertheless a perfect sting with poison- 

 sac and all. — Ed.] 



PROBLEMS IN CELLAR WINTERING 



House Apiaries vs. Chaff Hives 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER 



C. H. Gebhardt asks some questions that 

 I will answer without repeating them. 



Your cellar, where the bees are, being 

 some distance from their summer stands, 

 toward spring, if the bees become too un- 

 easy, you might set them out near the cel- 

 lar for a cleansing tlight, then return to the 

 cellar till time to put on their summer 

 stands, and no harm would come of it. But 

 if you take them out, as you say, "once in 

 a while," there would be more likelihood 

 that some bees would go back to the loca- 

 tion of the cellar when set on summer stands. 

 Better give up the idea of " once in awhile." 

 Once is enough, and that toward spring, 

 and not then if you can keep them at all 

 contented in the cellar. 



With winter-cases over hives you can not 

 very well use Alexander feeders in spring. 

 At that time it will be much better if you 

 have saved over from the previous year 

 combs of sealed honey, putting a comb near 

 the brood nest, but never between two 

 combs containing brood. 



Your mating boxes containing four or five 

 shallow extracting- frames ought to do fairly 

 well to winter over queens in cellar, if each 

 one is well stocked 'with honey and has a 

 good force of bees. 



I don't know whether your bees would Hy 

 three miles across the lake to reach those 

 linden trees. If nothing was to be had else- 

 where, they might, especially if the wind 

 should come from that direction. I don't 

 think you or I could smell basswood blos- 

 soms three miles away; but I suspect that 

 bees are better smellers. 



I don't know why it is that your bees did 

 worse in your warmly built building than 

 in chaff hives outside; but it is the usual ex- 

 perience, although some succeed with such 

 buildings. I suspect, however, that the 

 chief trouble is just because the house is so 

 warmly built. When the temperature went 

 down 25 degrees below zero it did not get so 

 cold in the house as outside. On the ot her 

 hand, when it went up above freezing, those 

 same close walls kept it colder inside than 

 outside. There was a more steady tempera- 

 ture in the house, making the house better 

 in the colder times and worse when the 

 weather moderated; and it is quite possible 

 that the bees stand it better to be outside 

 with the temperature ranging from 25 below 

 to 40 above than to be in a house with the 



