1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



•273 



AUSTRIA. 



Editor Alfousus of the Bienen Vater, 

 Vienna, has received a colony of sting- 

 less bees from Brazil. The colony was 

 s<Mit by the German Ambassador. The 

 Captain of the steamer on which It 

 made its voyage gave it close atten- 

 tion during transit, supplied it with 

 sweetened water evei-y other day, and 

 with wheat floiir from time to time. 

 From England it came by mail in six 

 days. Mr. Alfonsus invites the bee- 

 keepers far and near to come and see 

 the bees. 



It is claimed in B.V. that foul brood 

 is on the increase in Austria. 



Karl Lepsh, of Bohemia, claims to 

 have observed that there is a class of 

 bees that follows the illegal business 

 of robbing by attacking heavily laden 

 bees having dropped to the ground 

 near their homes. Either by coaxing 

 or threatening the tired workers, they 

 induce them to give up the sweet load 

 they have brought from the field. 



From Deutsche Imker, Bohemia: 

 ITie Bee-ant (Mutilla Europaea) is a 

 rare, though one of the worst bee-ene- 

 mies known. Her stinger measures 

 4 millimeters, and inflicts, when used, 

 a wound much more severe and pain- 

 ful than the .sting of the honey bee. 

 The Insect is a sort of Cuckoo and 

 shifts the responsibility of bringing up 

 its young upon other insects, particu- 

 larly the bumblebees. The female mu- 

 tilla lays her eggs into the larvae in 

 the liumblebee nests, and after hatch- 

 ing the mutilla larva feeds on the 

 young bumblebee and the food which 

 is stored in tlie cells. One mutilla will 

 kill .sometimes hundreds of honey bees 

 i« a single raid, the latter not being 

 able to seriously injui'e the former. 



UEKMANY. 



Laiidwirt schaftliche Ztg. does not 

 vecom.'Tiend to go into Phacelia grow- 

 ing extensively. The plant is not 

 liked "first-rate" by domestic stock 

 and must be fed green. 



must therefore be considered a valu- 

 able help to vegetation in general, and 

 is not a tresspasser. It is an undisput- 

 ed privilege for any one to protect his 

 I)ro])erty against bees as he would 

 against flies by putting up screens, 

 etc., but it is unlawful to poison bees 

 the same as it would be to poison 

 other dom^istic stock. The bee-keeper 

 is of necessity holding for the dam- 

 age his bees may do. The common 

 laws touching and regulating the keep- 

 ing of stock are, as much as practical, 

 applicable Ib case of honey bees. — Hall. 

 Ztg. 



Rev. Klein after making a stud.v of 

 the female bee and the effect of the 

 difl'erently composed foods on the 

 young growing bee has come to the 

 following conclusions: 1. The female 

 bee larva, when development has not 

 yet advanced far, has in It united the 

 two possibilities to either become a 

 queen or a worker. 2. As soon as a 

 larva is treated for a queen the devel- 

 opment of those organs peeuliai- only 

 to the worker is retarded, and vice 

 versa. .3. The development for queen 

 or worker is depending upon the kind 

 of food given to the young bee diiring 

 the growing period. 4. A change in 

 the manner of feeding produces a 

 change in the development even then 

 when the development has already 

 progressed in one or the other direc- 

 tion. D. When for some reason it be- 

 comes necessary to make the change 

 when development in the opposite di- 

 rection has already begun, that, which 

 has been accomplished can never be 

 undone, nor can that which has been 

 neglected be made good. 6. The ear- 

 lier a larva is treated for queen the 

 better the results. 



Weygaud made the claim at the 

 Strassburg congress that the qiieen 

 larvae after being sealed continues to 

 feed on the royal .lelly for some days 

 by reaching back for it. He said he 

 had removed the jelly from a number 

 of queen-cells after sealing and in no 

 case had he succeeded in obtaining a 

 queen capable of becoming fertile. 



The honey bee is not legally regard- 

 i^<l as dangerous in Germany a bee 

 sting being considered an accident. 

 The l»ee has also the name of greatly 

 assisting in cross-fertilization and 



It has often puzzled bee-keepers 

 that colonies of equal strength have 

 not given equal results. Brossard says 

 on this point in Pfalz. Bztg. that he 

 has observed bees of the same yard 

 but of different colonies carrying dif- 



