THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



91 



came ou the 1 7th of June. On seeing its condi- 

 tion, now thoroughly foull)roody, he exclaimed : 

 ' Here extraordinary means mu>-t be resorted to. 

 A week atro the cine wonld have been easy ; 

 now it will be more ditticult ' 



•'The hive was then carried into a chamber. 

 Mr. Lambrecht took out all tlie combs, phicing 

 them, with the adhering bees, in a box prepared 

 for them ; shook the remaining bees out of the 

 hive on a sheet, with wliich he covered the box 

 ■when the bees were again united. He now em- 

 ployed some preparation to disinfect the hive, 

 and remove from it the matter of disease. To 

 this end he placed live coals in a dish, sprink- 

 led on them a mixture of various powders pro- 

 cured from a drug store, and inverfed tlie 

 hive over it. Though it was a very compactly 

 constructed straw hive, and well coated inside 

 with propolis by the bees, the fumes penetra- 

 ted through it, and issued from every pore 

 Lambrecht then, by means of a syringo, wetti d 

 the interior of the hive with a liquid prepared 

 by him, scoured it well, and furnished it witii 

 frames filled about three-fourths full with combs 

 built last summer, placing between them a comb 

 with honey. He next brus^hed the bees from 

 the inft'cted combs into the hive, fumigated 

 them sliLchtly, and replaced the hive on its 

 stand. Tlie foulbroody combs w'ere then melted, 

 though I retained a few small pieces as speci- 

 mens. 



"If Lambrecht succeeds, as we doubt not he 

 will, in performing the second part of his as- 

 sumed task — the cure of the foulbroody colony 

 — as efft'CtUFilly as he did the first pa't — the 

 origination of the disease, science will thereby 

 have achieved for beecuUure a triumph, the vahu- 

 of which cannot be over-estimated. None will 

 know better how to appreciate its importance, 

 than he who has had the misfortune to become 

 practically acquainted with the devastating 

 malady. 



" C. J. H. Gravemhorst." 

 "Brunswick, June 18, 1869." 



In a subsequent communication to \he Bienen- 

 zeiiung, Mr. Gravenho'-st says that he and Mr. 

 Lambrecht examined the colony on the 18th of 

 July. Sealed worker brood was found in the 

 newly built worker comb extensions ; sealed 

 drone brood in five combs, and from twelve to 

 fifteen queen cells on three combs. In the low- 

 er part of the combs eggs and healthy larvae were 

 se«-n in the cells with no further trace of foui- 

 brood. The queen cells and dione brood were 

 destroyed to keep the bees from swarming, as 

 it seemed likely they would do so in a very few 

 days ; but on the 27th <if July, when the final 

 examination aud report was made by the com- 

 mittee, three new queen cells, nearly ready to 

 be sealed over, were found. Mr. G. refused an 

 offer of four dollars for this experimental colo- 

 ny, and said he would hardly be willing to part 

 with it for nine dollars, as it was in one of his 

 best hives, and, being very populous, would 

 probably gather considerable surplus honey be- 

 fore fall. 



Healthy stocks almost always destroy their 

 drones, as soon as forage becomes scarce. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Native Honey Bee of Australia. 



I nm indebted to Mr. F. Smith, the distin- 

 guished hymenopterist of the Britisli Museum, 

 for the following description of the native Au- 

 stralian honey bee, a nest of which reached me 

 through the kind ofliices of Messrs. Veitch, of 

 Chelsea. Although the bees were alive when 

 shipped from Biisiiane, in Queensland, they 

 had evidently perished long belore the termina- 

 tion of their voyage. This fatal nsult is, how- 

 ever, less to be regretted, since it is evident that 

 their power of honey-gathering must be per- 

 ft ct!y infinitesimil as compared with those of 

 either of the European races. 



T. W. Woodbury, 

 "A Devonshire Beekeeper." 



Mount Radford, Exetek, England. 



Notes on the Economy op Trigona Car- 



BONARIA, A StINGLESS HoNEY P>EE OF 



Australia, with a Description op the 

 Insect and also of its Nest, 



The beautiful example of insect architecture 

 received from Brisbane, in Queensland, Eastern 

 Australia, is specially interesting. Judging 

 from its structure, it apparently indicates the 

 L-eonom}'^ of a genus of bees intermediate be- 

 tween the hive bee and the well-known humble 

 bee. 



Hitherto we have possessed very little infor- 

 mation respecting the economy of the genus 

 Trigona. The females are unknown; the other 

 sexes — male and worker — have been received 

 from Brazil. The closely alLcd genus Melipona 

 includes in the opinion of some authors, the 

 species that I separate and retain in the genus 

 Trigona. Of the former genus we possess a 

 knowledge of all the sexes, and have ascertained 

 that each communiiy contains a number of 

 females ; in which part of their economy they 

 agree with the humble bee. We may theie- 

 fore expect to find tlie economy of Trigona 

 similar in that resp< ct; such, I have little doubt, 

 will prove to be the case. 



On examining the nest from Brisbane, we ob- 

 serve another particular in which the economy 

 of the species agrees with that of the genus 

 Bombus. Numbers of semi-globular recepfacles 

 for honey are found, some placed side by side, 

 others over each other, and some suspended in 

 the ramifications of the coral-like shaped 

 branchings constructed over aud above the 

 proper nest, that which contaius the combs of 

 the hive. These receptacles may appropriately 

 be called honey pots, and serve, I have little 

 doubt, to contain all the honey collected for the 

 requirements of the hive; no honey, so far as I 

 can ascertain, being stored in the ceils of the 

 combs — these being apparently appropriated 

 solely to the reaiing of brood. 



Ou making an opening at the back of the box 

 that contained the nest, and against which it 



