Dec. 20, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



805 



Contributed Articles. 



Review of Thos. W. Cowan's Book— The Honey- Bee. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



IT seems almost unnecessary to criticise so accurate and 

 admirable a work as "The Honey-Bee," by Thos. W. 

 Cowan. However, a small horse is quickly curried. 

 On pag'e 1 it is stated that the honey-bee belongs to the 

 sub-kingdom Annulosa. There has never been very good 

 authority for Annulosa as a Phylum. At present all our 

 best authorities place insects in the Branch or Phylum, 

 Arthropoda. 



On page 2 I should prefer Ichneumon Flies to Ichneu- 

 mons, both for euphony and symmetry. On the same page 

 I notice Mr. Cowan still uses the old word, " mellifica " for 

 the honey-bee. I think I prefer this to "mellifera," altho 

 the latter would take precedence if we follow the latest 

 rules of priority. In a popular work, it is always better, I 

 think, to use names that have generally been used in our 

 literature. 



It is the usage at present, not to capitalize specific 

 names, even tho they may be derived from proper nouns. 

 Thus, Bombus virginica or Xylocopa californica should be 

 written as here shown. 



On page 4, we have "workers w/io represent." Of 

 course this was a case of faulty proof-reading. 



Is it true, as stated on page 5, that the worker-bees are 

 unloaded of their burden at the entrance to the hive ? From 

 the middle of page 7, we learn that the same bee that gath- 

 ers pollen, not only pushes it into the cell, but packs it with 

 her head, and then goes to other cells to empty her honey- 

 stomach. Does the same bee that gathers the pollen pack 

 it? And do bees generally gather pollen and honey at the 

 same time? They certainly do sometimes, but I think not 

 usually. 



On page 10, it is stated that the egg contains a vital 

 germ. The seed contains a germ, but never the egg. The 

 egg is simply a cell and usually receives another cell which 

 is incorporated into its substance before development com- 

 mences. While it would be perfectly proper to say that a 

 seed contains a germ, I do not think it would be correct to 

 speak in like way of an egg. 



On page 12, pupa, chrysalis and nymph are all given as 

 synonyms. It were better to confine chrysalis to the pupa 

 of butterflies, while entomologists now use nymphs for both 

 the larva and pupa of such insects as pass thru incomplete 

 metamorphoses like the locust. 



On page 13, IS days is given as the term of a queen's 

 development from the time the egg is laid till the queen 

 emerges. I believe the usual 16 days is a more correct aver- 

 age. Fifteen and even seventeen days may occasionally 

 mark this time. 



On page 18 we read " clypeus or nose." Neither form, 

 position, nor function would warrant the use of nose in this 

 place. 



On page 20, we read that the compound eyes of the 

 imago are developt from the simple eyes of the larva. 

 This is certainly not always the case. Is it ever true ? 



On page 22, pharynx, gullet and mouth mean the same. 

 I supposed, as with us, that pharynx refers to the enlarge- 

 ment just back of the mouth, and that gullet was synony- 

 mous with (fsophagus. 



On page 30 we read. " Bees are also able to distend the 

 infolded membrane on the under side of the tongue, and 

 expose the rod, probably for the purpose of cleaning it." I 

 have demonstrated by using colored sweets that this unfold- 

 ing is sometimes for the purpose of lapping thick honej'. 

 I am inclined to think this is its true function. 



The naming of the wing, on page 39, is misleading. 

 The front long vein is called the costal, and the one towards 

 the tip from this, the marginal. The large cell back of the 

 costal is called the median, while all those that touch the 

 marginal are called sub-marginal, sub-costal or cubital. 



On page 40 it is stated that the hooklets of the posterior 

 wing are on the outer margin. I should say they are on 

 the inner two-thirds of the front margin, as shown in the 

 beautiful figure on page 39. 



At the bottom of page 62, we find, " the others are 

 termed ganglions." All the masses of gray cells are termed 



ganglia. I prefer the Latin plural which is certainly the 

 more euphonious. 



On page 64, certain nerve fibres are spoken of as reflex. 

 The word reflex better refers to a sensation. It is probable 

 that every nerve is more or less the track of reflex nervous 

 actions. 



Mr. Cowan's statistics on page 70, regarding the size of 

 the brain of different insects, are very interesting. It is 

 stated that the peduculated bodies of the brain form one- 

 fifth part of the volume of the brain, and 1-940 of the whole 

 body, while in the ant, they are nearly half the volume of 

 the brain and 1-286 part of the whole body. Yet in the next 

 paragraph it is stated that the whole brain of the worker- 

 bee is 1-174 of the body, while in the ant it is 1-286 of the 

 body. Of course there is some mistake here. When we 

 read that the brain of the water-beetle is only 1-4200 part of 

 the body, our respect for the bee's position in the insect 

 world is augmented. The first figures would seem to put 

 the ant at the head of the insect world. It has seemed to 

 me that it rightly belongs there, tho we must say that the 

 bee is a close second. " 



I think the wrong impression is given on page 79, as I 

 think the removal of the sting always proves fatal, tho 

 death may not occur for some days. This opinion was the 

 result of numerous careful experiments. 



The fact as given on page 82 that the poison of the 

 queen is very different from the poisonous contents of the 

 sac of the worker, is very interesting. 



That Mr. Cowan is up with the latest is shown by his 

 explanation of vision as shown on page 104. 



Mr. Cowan says on page 105, last line, that white-eyed 

 drones are blind. Are we sure of this? Albino people, it is 

 true, have defective vision, but can see. I believe the same 

 is true of white-eyed bees. 



Digestion is not to separate the nutrient food from the 

 other ingesta. as we read on page 106. Absorption or 

 osmosis performs the separation. Nor is digestion neces- 

 sarily to make the food liquid, tho this is generally the 

 case. Some liquids, like blood albumen, are yet non-osmotic, 

 and so must be digested. I think the best definition for 

 digestion is the process by which the food is rendered 

 osmotic. 



On page 107, we are told that the food is digested by the 

 action of the gastric juices secreted by cells in the chyle 

 stomach. I believe that the pollen is mostly digested by the 

 secretion from the lower head-glands, while the nectar is 

 digested by secretion from the upper head and thoracic 

 glands. The stomach-cells may furnish some digestive fer- 

 ment tho I doubt if they do more than to keep the stomach 

 moist and absorb the digested food. Near the bottom of 

 the page, the action of the stomach mouth is referred to as 

 voluntary. I believe all the muscles of the alimentary 

 canal are involuntary. 



I do not like the use of the word "chyme." Its use is 

 almost discontinued in human physiology, and better be 

 everywhere. I suppose we shall continue to use the word 

 chyle for the digested food of the true stomach, tho I do not 

 like it. It is now used in human physiology to designate 

 the digested fat, and to give it so different a meaning in 

 discussing bees is confusing. 



I was glad to note, as stated on page 112, that Mr. 

 Cowan has actually seen the queen void her fa;ces. I had 

 supposed that she utilized all her aliment, and that there 

 were no excretse. Mr. Cowan saw the workers sucking 

 this up. 



On page 117, it is stated that the upper head-glands 

 and thoracic glands — Mr. Cowan uses singular number — 

 are larger in the queen and absent in the drone. It is 

 strange that in the modification of the queen, these glands 

 have not diminisht in size or disappeared. If their secre- 

 tion, as I believe, is to digest the nectar, they would seem 

 hardly more necessary for the queen than the drone. Pos- 

 sibly the food must be more thoroly digested in winter, and 

 so as the queen lives thru the winter, she requires these 

 glands. It is an interesting fact, as given on page 124, that 

 the drones die in three days if not fed by the workers, and the 

 fact that this food is withheld by the workers accounts for 

 the quiet taking off of the drone at the last. 



On page 135, the ovaries are called glands. If this be 

 correct, then the eggs are a secretion. I would call neither 

 the ovaries nor testes, glands. 



It is stated on page 136 that eggs are not found in the 

 ovaries. As the queen emerges from the pupa stage, I 

 think this is an error. As with all higher animals, all the 

 eggs are present at birth, but are not fully developt until 

 just previous to deposition. 



On page 141, Berlepsch is quoted as never having 



