THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



drones. This is Ihe first account I ever beard 

 of I wo bees coming to maturity in the same 

 cell. 



The fertile woikcr hce presented all the clia- 

 rncteii.stics of a common bee, except the abdo- 

 men, which Avas a little more distended. Upon 

 carefully dissecting the bee, I found that her 

 ovaries contained egga, some of which had come 

 to maturity ; but nothing like the quantity of 

 eegs found in the ovaries of a fertile queen. 

 ""l believe this is the first fertile worker-bee 

 that has ever been actually caught in the very 

 act of laying eggs, since the diiys of the king of 

 bee-masters— the illustrious Iluher* 



For ile workers are more common than most 

 bee-masters are aware of, and the young drones 

 they produce are often thought to be the pro- 

 geny of drore breeding queens. "A Bee-mas- 

 ter" who lias Avritten a series of articles in the 

 '■'ScoHuh Gardener,'''' oflered in that paper to 

 give £10 for any i'ertile bees or their eggs. I 

 lold hiui if he would expend ten pence, to cnrry 

 him from his house to my apiary and back, I 

 would show him a hive with liundreds of eggs 

 laid by fertile Avorkers. I suppose he was con- 

 vinced there were such things us fertile workers, 

 as he never came to see them. 



William Care. 



Newton Heath, 

 Neau Makchester, Eng. 



Exhibition of Bees. 



Froni the account given in the " Manchester 

 Guardian''' of the National Horticultural E.xhi- 

 bition at Old Trafford (England), in May, we 

 copy the following paragiapli, showing lliat the 

 bees, their work, and ibir accommodations, 

 occupied a prominent position on that occasion. 

 A sight so novel to most of the spectators and so 

 inferesting ami insr.ructlve to all, cannot have 

 faik-d to make a strong and lasting impression 

 in favor of bee-culture there. 



bees are in Mr. Carr's "improved unieomb- 

 observatory revolving bar-frame bee-hive," 

 which, for scientific purposes, is one of the most 

 wonderful hives ever invented, as all the mys- 

 teries of the hive are exposed to view\ And it 

 is most interesting to see the queen laying her 

 eggs in the cells, surrounded t)y her maids of 

 honour, who are constantly paying her some 

 attention; at one time feeding her, then dressing 

 or smoothing her hairs, crossing their antenuEC, 

 as if in conversation, or communicating to one 

 another by their sensitive touch, and then 

 moving out of the queen's way as she walks in 

 royal dignity over tliecombs in search of empty 

 ceils in which to deposit; her eggs ; and, like the 

 Couit of our own Queen, her sut)jeets retire 

 backwards, with their faces turned to her 

 majesty. Mr. Carr states that a fertile Ligurian 

 queen will lay from 100,000 to 200,050 egL!;s in a 

 year, and that one impregnation fructifies 

 more than half a million of eggs. In ibis uni- 

 comb hive the eggs and brood can be seen in the 

 cells, and tlie young bees biting the cover of 

 their cradle away, and emerging into life per- 

 fect bees. Tlie bees that have been abroad 

 collecting can be seen unloading the pollen from 

 the basket in their thighs, and depositmg tlie 

 lioney in tlie cells. In fact all the hidden won- 

 ders of the interior of a beehive are here revealed 

 at a glance. Mr. Carr also exhibits a liell glass 

 filieci with from thirty to forty pounds of very 

 splendid honeycomlis. It was collected at 

 Clayton Bridge principally from white clover, 

 liy the supeiior and beautiful bees, the L'gurians. 

 He also exhibits improved bar frames, filled Avith 

 beautitul honeycombs, weighing from six to 

 seven pounds each. Any comb can be t.kea 

 out of these improved humane bar-frame hives, 

 and placed on the breaklast or tea table in less 

 tlian fiv? minutes, at any lime of the day, with- 

 out killing a single bee. Mr. Carr has had a 

 great number of jirizes awarded to him frr ihc 

 exhibition of his bees at work, and he exhibits 

 a large s Iver medal awarded to him at the 

 Manchester and Liverpool A<j,riculLural iSociciy's 

 centenary celebration in 1867. 



Bees at Work in the Bot.\kical Gar- 

 DE>-s.— One of the most interesting sights in the 

 exhibition is two stocks of those beautiful and 

 superior honey bees, the Ligurian or Italian Alp 

 bees, at worlc. These aie exiiibited by Mr. 

 William Carr, of Clayton Bridge, Newton 

 Heath, in one of his "improved humane-obser- 

 vatory revolvmg bar-frame beehives," the four 

 sides and the top of which are composed ot 

 layers of glass. The bees and combs in the iiive 

 are always in view. There is a thermometer 

 int;ide the hive, and Mr. Carr states, from obser- 

 vations that he has taken three times each day 

 for several years, that it is the warmest hive in 

 winter that he has tried. There about 25,000 

 bees in this hive. The other stock of Liguiian 



f *i^"The Baron of Berlepseh, and his assistant G-nntlier, 

 repeatedly CiiufT t fenile wuiners in the act ol laying 

 cgjjs; and frot. Luckert, in May, 18d). dissected seveial 

 Aviiieh ttie Haron sent lo him vreservod iu spi'its of wiue. 

 But iliefact tliat two larv;e weie sealed up in one cell, 

 ■with one large conical cover, a'ul came to maturity, is 

 vte believe aaot>servation not made before. 



The enormous quantities of honey produced 

 may be comparatively estimated by the collate- 

 ral production of beeswax, which it exceeds by 

 at least ten to one. When we refiect upon what 

 masses of the latter are consumed in the rites of 

 the Roman Catholic and Gi-eek churches 

 throughout the many and large countries Avhere 

 thoae'religions prevail, we shall be able to form 

 a aeneral estimate of the extensiveness and 

 universality of the cultivation of l)ees. Nor are 

 these the only uses to Avhich wax is applied, and 

 the collective computation of its consumption 

 Avill show that bees abound in numbers almost 

 transcending belief. 



The only instance of the occurrence Of the 

 very distinct genera oi Apis and Mellipana, both 

 honey-storing genera, ytt knoAvn to exist indi- 

 genously iu Che Same locality, is found in the 

 island of Java. 



