24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



manner. Sainfoin is first sown toAvarcIs tlio end 

 of October, wlieu the Nile, subsides. As Ui)per 

 Egypt is hotter than Lower Egypt, and tbe 

 inundation sooner disappears, thw s'ainfom tliere 

 grows and flowers earlier. They, therefore, 

 send their bee-hives fiom Lower Egypt to the 

 south, in order that the bees may gatlier from 

 the floweis. The beehives are all numbered 

 and piled in a pyramidal form on Nile boats. 

 The bees pastuie for some days in the fields, 

 and Avhen it is believed that the chief harvest is 

 over, the boat moves two or three miles north- 

 wards, and halts again so long as the bees can 

 profitably remain. At last, I'll the beginning 

 of February, the boatman returns to the sea and 

 restores the stocks to their o\\ ners." Niebulir 

 also describes migratory bee-keeping in Nile 

 hoats. Fiom verbal information imparted to 

 Dr. Gerstacker, we learn that neitlier Ehieuberg 

 nor Dr. Hartmann observed during their travels 

 the transportation of bee-hives on the Nile. 

 Hammers-chmidt's careful inquiries in the year 

 18G5 have established the fact, that at present 

 migratory bee-keeping is not pursued in Egypt. 

 All modern accounts, theretbie, which rcpresi^nt 

 migratory bee-keeping as being still customary 

 iu that country, are, of course, uu'ouuded. 



11. "The worst enemy which the l)ees have 

 in Egypt is a long slender wasp, or humble-bee, 

 •wiih a red body. Li the latter ]iart ot the sum- 

 mer this insect sets itself before the entrance 

 of the hive and kills every bee that comes out. 

 At this seasrou, therefore, a child is slaiioned in 

 front of the hives with a large fan to drive away 

 the wasps. In ihe year IbCo the Arab boliman 

 liad in a short time no less than eighteen cut of 

 a bundled stocks so completely plundered that 

 they died, and all through the carelessness of 

 the child to whom the watch was entrusted." 



What Egpytain insect may be meant by the 

 red -bodied wasp, or humble bee, I am unable to 

 learn. I hope, however, iliat those naturalists 

 ■who are among the readers of our uee Journal 

 will be able to determine its name from this 

 insufficient description, 



12. " W. Hammtrschmidt, the photographer, 

 had promised me a photopraph of the 

 Arab Soiiman, undoubtedly tlie greatest 

 Eeyptian apiarian. At my request, also, boliman 

 declared that he would gladily permit himself to 

 be photographed ; but he soon changed his 

 mind. Even the most civilised Arali cannot 

 understand the nature of the piintograph, and 

 therefore views the art as the woik of the devil, 

 terrifying accordingly to the ordinary Bedouins 

 and Fallaheen. Friend Soiiman very soon 

 began to allege all manner of excuse, such as 

 that he suflTered from rheumatism, nnd was 

 unable to go when Herr Hammerschmidt invi- 

 ted him to accompany him and have his likeness 

 taken ; so that all I obtained from the old Soli- 

 man was an exchange of compliments." 



The reader may, perhaps, be enabled from the 

 infoiination which I have set before him to 

 picture to himself Egyptian bee-keeping. I ain 

 indebted for this inioimatiou almost entirely to 

 Herr Hammei Schmidt, who has passed nearly a 

 generation in Egypt, and is a perfect master of 

 the Arabian language, so that an understanding 



with the Arab became easy. Herr Hammer- 

 schmidt obtained answers to a number of ques- 

 tions which I had written, and noted them down 

 immcdiatll}^ In order not to pervert the sense 

 of Herr H.unmerschmidt's memoranda, I have 

 transcribed them almost lit<^rally. 



AVe have been far away from home, and right 

 glad are avc to be safe back again with wife and 

 child. We intend nex t to make an excursion 

 to Greece, in order to report up )n the bee-keep- 

 ing in the convent Caesarea, one league from 

 Athens, on the front spur of the Hymettus — 



W. YOGEL. 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal.] 



Fertile Worker-Bees ; or, Undeveloped 

 Females. 



I have fried a great number of experiinents 

 with f.rlile worker-bees duiing the la^t five 

 years, and have destroyed or permanently in- 

 jured a number of stocks in miking them havG 

 fertile workers in the hive. I have examined 

 hundreds of combs iu these slotks, in the hope 

 of detecting the worker-bee in tbe very act of 

 laying eggs; and 1 may say that I have exam- 

 ined nearly every bee in thojc stocks that con- 

 tained fertile workers, but never coukl fix on 

 the bee thai I could posiiively say laid the eggs. 



But, as in most things, with perseveiance I 

 at last accomplished the task I had set niyself. 

 For on the 2(hh day of August, I860, at 7 A. M. 

 I quietly removed the crown-board off a stock 

 that contained fertile Avorkeis, and quietly 

 lifted out one of the centre combs and saw a 

 worker-bee in tlie very act of layinir an egg. 

 (No person that ever saw a queen la>ing eggs 

 could be udstaken in this act ) The bee had 

 its abdomen down in the cell, the comb around 

 her being clear, and was surrounded liy the bees 

 exactly as a fertile queen is found when iu the 

 act of ovipositing. 



My lifting out the comb did not appear to 

 disturb this bee more than it has a fertile queen 

 when I have lifted nut a comb, several of which 

 have laid eggs whilst I have had the comb ia 

 my hands. I waited until this lertile worker 

 had finished laying the egg, and as she was 

 withdrawing her abdomen out of the cell, I 

 caught her and put her into a small queen box, 

 I lemoved the comb, which contained worker 

 cells only, and examined this egg which I saw 

 the worker-bee laying ; but in appearance there 

 was little or no ditfeience between it and an 

 egg laid by a fertile queen. Iu some of the cells 

 there were from one to ten eggs in one cell, and 

 drone brood in all stages of flevelopement, some 

 of them hatched out as small drones. 



The sealed brood had a very singular appear- 

 ance, with here and there a couical cover, the 

 brood not being in a mass as when laid by a 

 fertile queen. In some cases two of the eggs 

 were hatched in the same cell, the bees enlarg- 

 ing the eutrance to the cell to the size of two 

 cells, and then covering the two larvae with one 

 large couical cover ; and I have seen them af- 

 terwards emerge horn their cradle perfect 



