740 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



used over 15 lbs. of honey (all they had) in winter- 

 ing out of doors, even if it was a mild winter, for 

 I can hardly realize it myself, even when I see the 

 figures in my yard-book now before me. 



When you try the experiment of slaking the lime, 

 notice the heat development, but not with your 

 finger (unless for a cartoon). I used the lime in 

 a feeder a la Van Deusen, made flat, and laid 

 broadside next the bees under a cushion. This was 

 troiiblesome, requiring frequent refilling. I will use, 

 this winter, on my weak stocks, a box made like 

 your chaff-cushion division-board, and to hold about 

 half a peck of lime. 



Chloride of calcium (calcined) will absorb much 

 more water than lime, and I expect much from it 

 f<i" these same purposes ; but it will have to be 

 contained in a water-proof vessel, as it is one of the 

 most deliquescent substances I know of. Absence 

 of actual experiments is the only reason that pre- 

 vents me from recommending this substance to the 

 careful beekeeper, although I am certain it would 

 be a success. C. Lover. 



Reisterstown, Md., Oct. 18, 1880. 



[In case of a weak colony with stores of 

 poor quality, we can see that the lime might 

 be of advantage in preventing dysentei'y. 

 Or it might prove beneficial in any instance 

 where conditions are so unfavorable as to 

 cause dysentery. When all conditions are 

 favorable we do not believe that the lime 

 would pay for itself, for the amount of 

 heat generated would be so infinitesimal 

 at any given time that it would have no 

 practical value. — Ed.] 



FURTHER NOTES ON HOW THE CORBICULA, 



OR POLLEN-BASKET, IS LOADED WITH 



POLLEN 



BEES WORK ON DEAD-RIPE MUSHY BERRIES 

 ONLY 



BY WILLIAM BELSHAW 



There is some question as to whether bees 

 will trouble berries, p. 540, Sept. 1. I can 

 safely say they will suck the ripe juices 

 from blackberries. I purposely went to my 

 blackberry patch, and saw them busy doing 

 it. But what if they do? There are berries 

 there enough and to spare — bushes just 

 loaded down with berries in all stages; 

 some just formed, and others in all shades 

 of green, red, and black. Among the black 

 alone there are the solid black such as 

 would do for long shipment and for jelly; 

 others a little riper that would do for im- 

 mediate sale for making sauce and for can- 

 ning; and some mushy-ripe ones that burst 

 in the fingers while picking, and that are, 

 consequently, useless. Now, the bees work 

 on these mushy-ripe ones. They do not in- 

 terfere with any of the others, thei'efore 

 they are taking fruit that is beyond value 

 for food. 



This work of the bees is welcome; for 

 since they take the berries on the verge of 

 decay, they save to some extent the rest of 

 the berries from contamination of the 

 germs of decay. For my part I prefer to 

 let the bees remove the dead-ripe fruit that 

 has passed beyond the point of usefulness. 



Snohomish, Wash. 



BY F. W. L. SLADEN^ F. E. .S. 



On page 172,* March 15, the writer ad- 

 vanced the theory that the pollen is loaded 

 in the corbicula, or pollen-basket, situated 

 on the outer side of the tibia of the hind leg 

 of the worker honeybee, and of the queen 

 and worker bumblebee, by being combed 

 into a receiver situated on the end of the 

 tibia and then forced up into the corbicula 

 by a projection at the base of the metatar- 

 sus called the auricle. Three reasons for 

 the support of the theorj^ were given : first, 

 the structure of the parts; second, an ex- 

 periment made with a dead queen bumble- 

 bee's leg in which the auricle was made to 

 force pollen into the corbicula artificially ; 

 third, the rubbing-together, exclusively in 

 a longitudinal direction, of the hind meta- 

 tarsi, observed in a worker honeybee col- 

 lecting pollen from Eranthis hiemalis. 



Since that article was written the flowers 

 have opened and have offered many oppor- 

 tunities for investigating pollen-collecting. 



On a fine morning, some weeks ago, I 

 sto])i!ed the entrance of one of my hives 

 with grass, and in a few minutes about a 

 hundred pollen-laden bees had gathered 

 there. Among them were two or three 

 whose loads consisted of pollen of two 

 colors. These I caught and dropped into 

 my killing-bottle. 



Going to other hives, I soon secured 

 many bees with parti-colored loads. A 

 careful examination of these indoors not 

 only confirmed the above theory but showed 

 exactly how the pellet of pollen grows. 

 The accompanying drawing shows the load- 

 ed right leg of one of the bees that were 

 caught. The pellet consisted of white pol- 

 len, with the exception of a small quan- 

 tity of orange pollen, evidently added af- 

 terward, for the metatarsal brushes con- 

 tained orange grains. The orange pollen 

 had been forced in as a wedge between the 

 white pollen and the corbicula, the wedge 

 having been driven in at the corner of the 

 corbicula that comes into contact with the 

 auricle. The new pollen could not have 

 gotten into the corbicula by being scraped 

 on the upper edge of the corbicula, as 

 Cheshire supposed, nor could it have been 

 plastered on to the pellet with the meta- 

 tarsus of the middle leg, which is the way 

 that propolis is loaded in the corbicula (see 

 my article, page 335, June 1), for the or- 



* See also my article in the British Bee Journal, 

 Dec. 14, 1911. 



