134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Explanatory — The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring: and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year maj- require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 ♦O west; and this 6 northeast; *<) northwest: 

 o^ southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the Aniorican Bee JournaL 



Is Pollen Fed to Larval Bees ? 



a. JI. DOOLITTLE. 



On page 60, I notice that Mr. J. 

 Kutherford takes exception to my say- 

 ing in a former article, that "ttie in- 

 testines of the newly-hatched bee are 

 filled with pollen when it emerges 

 from the cell," and he says : " Now, 

 if I understand things rightly (scien- 

 tifically), the intestines of the young 

 bee are not lilled with pollen, because 

 the young bee in the larval state does 

 not eat pollen ; therefore it is impossi- 

 ble for any one to see it with the 

 naked eye. The fo<Kl of the young 

 bee consists of a purely animal secre- 

 tion," etc. ; after which he adds : 

 "Will Mr. Dooiittle kindly reply 

 through the ]jEE Journal, as all I 

 want is to get at the truth of the mat- 

 ter." As I am always willing to an- 

 swer all questions put in this kindly 

 manner, I will try to explain my views 

 on this subject as nearly as I can. 



From many careful observations 

 regarding the food of larval bees, I 

 have been led to believe that such food 

 was composed of about two parts 

 honey or saccharine matter, four parts 

 pollen, or flour, when used in early 

 spring for a substitute, and one part 

 of water, the whole being taken into 

 the stomach of the bee and formed 

 into chyme, after which it was given 

 to the larval bees in the cream-like 

 form as we see it in the cells. 



Right here I wish to digress a little 

 and give some farther observations as 

 bearing on the eating of pollen by the 

 old bees. It will be remembered that 

 about a year ago I described, in the 

 Bke Journal, how I starved some 

 colonies of bees outright, and others 

 partially so, in trying to make them 

 eat pollen in the fall and at other 

 times when there was no brood in the 

 hive, and that, as far as I could see, 

 not a cell of pollen was touched. At 

 another time some of my colonies had 

 to be fed, when I again tried an ex- 

 pel iinent which I had formerly tried 

 several times, which was to see if the 

 bee.s in some of those hives that had 

 scarcely a cell of honey in them, but 

 nlentv of brood in all stages, w^oiild 

 live if proviiled with pollen. As the 

 weather at this time was so unfavora- 

 ble tliat tlie bees did not fly for several 

 days, 1 anxiously watched thein to see 



what they would do as soon as the few 

 cells of honey were gone. The first 

 thing noted was that as soon as all the 

 honey was gone, the larvaj were 

 scrimped of food, and the eggs were 

 removed from the cells or eaten by 

 the bees, (I think the latter, as I have 

 seen bees eat the eggs when dropped 

 by the queen), while during the next 

 diiy there was a general eating of the 

 larvse. 



The next day after, the sealed drone- 

 brood was taken from the cells and 

 sucked dry, while the harder parts 

 were scattered about the entrance and 

 bottom-board of the hive. At this 

 time I noticed the bees putting their 

 tongues together as they do when 

 young bees take a load of nectar from 

 the field-bees intimesof plenty, which 

 thing was continued till nearly all of 

 the pollen was used up in the hive, 

 which lasted for several days, when it 

 came good weather again so new sup- 

 plies were gathered. 



From these observations I have 

 formed the opinions which I have 

 heretofore given, that old bees only 

 partake of pollen in the form of chyme, 

 and that this chyme is only prepared 

 when there is, or has been, brood 

 lately in the hive. Hence, I said 

 breeding in confinement came before 

 pollen, as the cause of our wintering 

 troubles. 



But to return : That the larval bee 

 subsists wholly on this creamy food or 

 chyme, I think no one will deny, and 

 if from my observations I am correct, 

 the largest element in this food is pol- 

 len. As the larva absorbs this food, 

 the grosser part of the pollen forms 

 itself into the yellow streak seen in all 

 larvfe when taken out of the comb, 

 but most plainly in the drone larva' ; 

 which streak is finally enclosed by the 

 intestines of the newly-hatched bee, 

 and evacuated on its first flight. 



Mr. H. U. Miner guesses in a back 

 volume of the Bee Journal, that it 

 takes 2 pounds of honey and pollen (J^ 

 pollen) to produce 1,000 young bees, 

 ijut I think that he has the amount 

 much too high ; but be that as it may, 

 it seems to me that there is no reason 

 for a doubt but what pollen enters 

 largely into the food of the larval bee, 

 and I shall hold that belief until some 

 scientist shall prove that I am wrong. 



To show that I am not alone in this 

 belief, I wish to give the testimony of 

 others who incline to a like belief. 



Gundelach says: "The larvae are 

 immediately fed by the workers, with 

 a pellucid jelly, prepared in their 

 chyle-stomachs by the digestion of 

 honey and pollen mixed with water." 

 Will Prof. Cook please note that Doo- 

 iittle is not the only one who thinks 

 that water is an essential element in 

 this larval food V Neighbour says : 

 " A portion of this pollen is taken at 

 once by the ' nursing bees,' which are 

 supposed to subject it to some change 

 before offering it to the larva;." 



Kirby says: "With this pollen, 

 after it has undergone a conversion 

 into a sort of whitish jelly by being re- 

 ceived into the bee's stomach, where 

 it is probably mixed with honey and 

 regurgitated, the young brood imme- 

 diately upon their exclusion, and until 

 their change into nymphs, are dili- 



gently fed by other bees, which 

 anxiously attend upon them, and sev- 

 eral times a day afford a fresh supply." 

 Gallup says: "Every bee-keeper 

 ought to know that bees do not feed 

 pollen directly to their young ; but it 

 is elaborated in the stomach of the 

 bee, into chyme to feed the young 

 on." 



Quinby says: "How this food is 

 prepared is mere conjecture. The 

 supposition is, that it is chiefly com- 

 posed of pollen ; this is strongly indi- 

 cated by the quantity which accumu- 

 lates in colonies that lose their queens 

 and rear no brood." Prof. Cook says: 

 " The food is composed of pollen and 

 honey. Certainly of pollen, for, as I 

 have repeatedly proved, without pol- 

 len no brood will be reared;" and 

 again, the function of bee-bread is to 

 help furnish the brood with proper 

 food. In tact, brood-rearing would 

 be impossible without it." 



A. I. Root says that " it is supposed 

 that this larvfE food is pollen and 

 honey, partially digested by the 

 ' nursing bees.' Bees of this age, or a 

 little older, supply the royal jelly for 

 the queen-cells, which is the same, I 

 think, as the food given to very small 

 larvae. Just before the larvse of the 

 worker bees and drones are sealed up, 

 they are fed on a coarser and less per- 

 fectly digested mixture of honey and 

 pollen." 



In the above, all agree that pollen 

 enters largely into the food of the 

 larval bee, and I think it must be con- 

 clusive to Mr. R. and others, that I 

 was right regarding the matter. 



Borodino,ON. i". 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Wisconsin State Convention. 



A goodlv number of bee-keepers 

 met in the Agricultural Rooms of the 

 State Capitol at Madison, Wis., on 

 Feb. 6, 188.5. G. W. Sanford, of Dane 

 county, was elected temporary chair- 

 man, and on motion, J. W. Vance was 

 elected Secretary. 



The permanent ofticers were elected 

 as follows : C. A. Hatch, of Richland 

 county. President ; George Grimm, of 

 Jefferson, 1st. Vice-President; R. A. 

 Morgan, of Columbia, 2nd. Vice-Pres- 

 ident ; Frank McNay, of Juneau, 

 Treasurer ; and J. W. Vance, of Dane, 

 Secretary. 



The Constitution and By-Laws, as 

 contained in the "Bee-Keepers' Iland- 

 Book '" was read, and on filling the 

 blanks, was unanimously adopted, and 

 22 signed the constitution and paid 

 the fee. 



A committee was appointed to pre- 

 pare a programme for discussion, and 

 after some deliberation they reported 

 the following topics: 1. " The best 

 system of producing comb honey." 

 2. " Controlling after-swarms." 3. 

 "Races of bees." 4. "Best method 

 of wintering bees." Mr. Joiner began 

 the discussion upon the first topic. 

 He said that comb honey ought to be 

 made a specialty. He commenced 

 with box-hives, afterwards used the 

 frame-hives, and at first, ran his api- 

 ary for extracted honey. He consid- 

 ered the use of foundation essential 



