Entered at the Postoffice, Fort Pierce, Fla., as second-class mail matter. 



Vol. XVII. 



JUNE, 1907. 



No. 6. 



A NOTE ON THE DAILY LIFE OF THE HONEY BEE* 



PROF. F. KUHLMANN. 



THE FOLLOWING few pages 

 are a preliminary statement. 

 The results are of one sea- 

 son's observation. It had been in- 

 tended to continue the work through 

 the past season, but mishaps in ob- 

 taining the required material pre- 

 vented. I take pleasure in acknowl- 

 edging my indebtedness to Prof. C. 

 F. Hodge for suggesting the work, 

 and for kindly furnishin'r me with 

 material. 



The object of the task outlined was 

 to determine through closer and more 

 prolonged observation than has 

 usually been the case some questions 

 that appealed to the writer and 

 others as of fundamental interest. 

 The observations were carried out 

 mainly for the purpose of seeing, 

 first, what was the daily rhythm of 

 rest and activity of the bee. And 

 second, what the differences were, if 

 any, between the activities of the 

 young bee and the old. The second 

 is obviously the wider and more diffi- 

 cult problem. One season of study 

 has yielded some scattering results 

 of consid^erable interest along this 

 line, but the present note will limit 

 itself to a statement of the results on 

 the first question. _ These, in the 

 writer's opinion, decide the main ob- 

 ject of the inquiry, although more 

 observations are admittedlv needed to 



decide a number of interesting de- 

 tails, questions the present results 

 themselves have raised. 



The observations were made on 

 two colonies in single comb hives, 

 the comb being covered with glass 

 sides placed within half an inch of 

 the surface of the cells of the comb. 

 All the bees could thus be seen at 

 work in the hive. Each colony con- 

 tained about 1,800 worker bees. Both 

 queens were of the Italian variety, 

 but had been mated with a mixed 

 variety that was mostly Italian. The 

 queen of the first colony was an old 

 one, being in its third year. That of 

 the second colony emerged in July 

 in the hive on which the observa- 

 tions were made. The observations 

 on the first colony were made in 

 May and June, while most of the 

 fruit trees were in blossom. Those 

 on the second colony were made in 

 July, August, and September. The 

 method was that of pure observation, 

 the life and activities of the bees be- 

 ing in no way interfered with, ex- 

 cepting that they were given an 

 empty comb when the old one be- 

 came crowded with brood, and that, 

 during actual observation, the comb 

 was exposed to dififuse daylight dur- 

 ing the day, and to a weak artificial 

 light at night. When more light was 

 required to see what they were doing 



