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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Do Bees Lose Their Stings After Using Them on 

 Other Bees? 



Dr. Miller's Straw, page 540, Sept. 1, was a sur- 

 prise to me. On many occasions I have noticed that 

 it is a rule that has few e.xceptions that bees do not 

 lose their stings when using them on workers, 

 queen, or drones. 



The ABC book in speaking of bees living after 

 having lost the sting, says, "The author has seen 

 a colony so infuriated that the bees stung every 

 thing in sight — fence-posts, etc." They surely did 

 not lose the stings in a board. Cotton gloves coated 

 give full protection. Now for the exception. 



I released a queen too soon last week, and she 

 was soon stung in the thorax. The bee that stung 

 her lost its sting. I recovered the queen at once 

 and removed the sting, and caged her again with 

 some of her bees. The front leg on the side where 

 fhe was stung is paralyzed ; otherwise she seems all 

 right. 



I once saw a very strong colony on twenty combs 

 (three of which were drone) sting hundreds, prob- 

 ably thousands, of their drones to death — no doubt 

 of it. It was 5 P. M. on a hot day some days after 

 the flow had stopped, when these bees attacked the 

 drones. The drones would fly away only to return. 

 After a while I noticed that many a drone had a 

 worker clinging to it when leaving, and those would 

 soon fall to the ground, where the drone often es- 

 cpped. Often both the worker and the drone flew 

 a'vay. Many times, however, the drone was stung. 

 Tht worker would then release the drone, turning 

 about and pulling until the sting came out. The 

 worker then returned to the hive ; but the drone 

 so stung never flew again. I did not notice a sting 

 being lost. I think a bee that "curls up," as Mr. 

 Holmes says, p. 660, Oct. 15, has been stung in the 

 ebdomen. At least the abdomen is very frequently 

 stung. This is my personal observation — not guess- 

 work nor hearsay. 



Tola, Kansas, October 22. P. E. Waugh. 



[Our correspondent, as well as the one who fol- 

 lows, has given some interesting facts to show that 

 bees may use their stings in a wholesale way to 

 kill both drones and workers without losing either 

 their lives or their stings. We certainly have seen 

 cases where the sting of a worker was left in the 

 thorax of a queen. We can not recall that we have 

 ever found a worker or a drone with a sting lodged 

 in its side. We would conclude that bees do not 

 lose their stings when they use them against each 

 other. It is probably not necessary that they should; 

 but nature has evidently designed that, when they 

 attack men or animals, their weapon shall lodge 

 in the wound in order that its effect may be much 

 more severe. The mere prick of a sting probably 

 would not have any serious effect on any man 

 or animal; but when the sting is left in the wound 

 to force out all the poison in the poison bag into 

 its victim the effect is tenfold greater. 



In this connection it is proper to observe that 

 some other insects do not have barbs to their stings. 

 For instance, the ordinary yellow-jacket can sting 

 several times — or at least it has been reported that 

 it will, while a honeybee stings only once. If any 

 one else has any further facts to corroborate, we 

 should be glad to hear from him. — Ed.] 



No Stings Found in Bees Stung to Death 



Under Dr. Miller's Stray Straws, p. 540, Sept. 1, 

 "Do bees sting drones to death?" the editor says, 

 "We do not believe that nature has designed that 

 worker bees shall sacrifice themselves, etc." I take it 

 for granted that a worker would make the same 

 sacrifice in stinging a worker that it would in sting- 



ing a drone. But does it kill a worker when it 

 stings either a drone or a worker? 



A few days after I read the Straw I noticed a 

 small swarm out (probably with a virgin that ran 

 off and left them). Anyhow, the swarm came back, 

 and went in with a weak colony that had a three-' 

 months-old queen. Knowing that this particular 

 swarm would not be likely to supersede, I looked 

 for a fight. Well, there was a fight sure enough, and 

 I did not try to stop it. I wanted to see how many 

 stii-gs I could find in the dead bees. The next 

 morning. I looked the pile over (about a quart), 

 and there was nothing to indicate that they had 

 been stung to death. So far as I could judge, the 

 swarm they went in with had not lost any bees. 

 I m from Missouri, and want to be shown. 



Redlands, Cal., Oct. 22. M. J. Meeker. 



Was the Clipped Queen Killed Because She was 

 Unable to Accompany the Swarm ? 



Does clipping the queen ever lead to trouble when 

 her bees swarm ? The following incident would 

 seem to indicate that it may under some conditions. 

 During the past season I was forced to be away 

 from home several days each week ; unfortunately, 

 the rest of the family were also absent. I made the 

 best arrangement I could to keep the bees from 

 swarming, giving the queens plenty of room, and, 

 in fact, according to Mr. Dundas Todd, our foul- 

 brood inspector, rather overdoing it. Queens were 

 all clipped, and I thought every thing was all right. 

 My hives were arranged in pairs, with about six-foot 

 intervals between the pairs — just a nice space for 

 a newly hatched litter of chickens ; and so, not 

 knowing what else to do (the garden is small, and 

 I had about thirty hives scattered about), I placed 

 the chickens, with the old hen, in a coop immedi- 

 ately in front of two hives of gentle black bees, and 

 left for the day with a peaceful mind. 



About the middle of the day a lady visitor fonnd 

 the chickens all dead, and the old hen in bad 

 shape. Also quite a number of dead bees around, 

 and on trj'ing to rescue the hen the lady herself at- 

 tracted some very pointed attention, and was finally 

 forced to vacate in favor of the bees, which, I un- 

 derstand, were flying in greater numbers than usual, 

 and were very cross. I found every thing quite 

 normal in the evening, and could not account for 

 the accident. 



I afterward found a young undipped queen in 

 one of these hives, and came to the conclusion that 

 the bees must have swarmed out, and, finding that 

 the queen did not accompany them, returned and 

 killed her, and incidentally the hen and chickens, 

 after which they raised another queen. 



Feed E. White. 



North Vancouver, B. C, .Tune 10. 



[ Your solution is probably the correct one ; but 

 it is possible that the chickens themselves killed the 

 queen, which they might have done if they had ac- 

 quired a liking for bees, and if a swarm had issued 

 leaving the clipped queen crawling around in the 

 grass. — Ed.] 



Poison Not Found in the Honey when Fruit-blos- 

 soms are Sprayed 



On p. 559, June 15, I see the question, "Is 

 spraying of fruit-trees while ir. bloom injurious 

 to either bees or brood?" While at first thought 

 we might be led to believe that the bees in question 

 were killed by the spraying, I am of tlie opinion 

 that this can not be; neither do I think that 

 the brood is in any sense injured by the very 

 small amount of arsenic that is usually found in 

 the various sprays used. I have used the Bor- 

 deaux mixture and the arsenate of lead very lib- 



