174 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



and enlighteners to our Kings, and 

 make new music for our l)ig drum- 

 mer. Wq trust more will come of 

 it than was realized some years ago 

 by the bee fraternity, who were led 

 to look for great and startling devel- 

 opments by one of the big drummers ; 

 but, alas ! it ended in nothing but 

 noise like the buzz of a drone. An- 

 other big drummer was going to show 

 us a "great light" that would solve 

 the winter question, but, alas ! it too 

 ended in nothing but droppings, as 

 the noise of the big drum ceased. 

 Among the many big drums that we 

 have heard, we will recall a few 

 which some of our brethren will rec- 

 ognize at once : " Pollen Theory ;" 

 "Apis dorsata ;" " Holy Land Bees ;" 

 " Smoker Question ;" " Coopera- 

 tion ;" "Chaff Hives ;" "FoulBrood," 

 etc. But like the big drum of the 

 band, that would be no band without 

 it, so these are necessary as it were 

 in order to keep time, that the march 

 of progress might go on keeping 

 step to the music. Hurrah ! then, we 

 say, for the big drummer. May he 

 live long and beat aloud the notes 

 of martial music, and may we all 

 recognize his importance and neces- 

 sity among us as the drone is among 

 bees ! 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



DRY F^CES. 



Br S. CoRNEiL. 



On page 1 48 of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, Prof. Cook has an article 

 regarding a lot of dry faeces received 

 from me. Concerning one sample, 



he remarks as follows : " some mass- 

 es are attached to the cloth above 

 the bees ; these are full of fibres 

 which were undoubtedly torn from 

 the cloth by the bees. Some of these 

 masses, perhaps most of them, nev- 

 er went through the bees I think." 



The pieces of cloth in question 

 were cut from sheets of cotton placed 

 over the bees last fall. In spring, 

 I found some of them soiled with 

 discharges, some of which were thin 

 and were absorbed by the cloth ; 

 others were thicker, and were formed 

 into cylindrical drops, not exactly 

 on the body of the cloth but on the 

 fibres of cotton, while others were 

 evidently still less watery, and re- 

 tain the cylindrical form in which 

 they were discharged. The fibres 

 were, therefore, not torn from the 

 cloth by the bees, but adhered to 

 the faeces while they were fresh and 

 plastic, and I can see no reason for 

 the shadow of a doubt that these 

 masses did, every one of them, pass 

 through the bees. But since Profes- 

 sor Cook and I now differ as.to the na- 

 ture and origin of a substance which 

 we have both examined, I purpose 

 to submit it for inspection to a num- 

 ber of prominent and intelligent bee- 

 keepers, both in Canada and the 

 United States, and by concurrent 

 sample post, I send a parcel to the 

 editor of the "Apiculturist," with a re- 

 quest that he shall start it on its 

 rounds, each one receiving it to 

 send it on to the next person desig- 

 nated, and so on, till it has com- 

 pleted its journey and has returned 

 to me. 



Besides the masses which Profes- 

 sor Cook thinks never passed through 



