THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



195 



curately judge of the importance of 

 his discoveries, as well as to explode 

 maiiy erroneous theories which have 

 hitherto been accepted. His inves- 

 tigations into the relations of insects 

 to flowering plants, and his close 

 study of the anatomy and physiology 

 of the hive bee, have revealed many 

 little suspected facts of the utmost 

 importance, whilst his long courses of 

 lectures on apiculture, scientific 

 and practical, given in the lecture 

 theatre of the South Kensington 

 Museum, and the Gardens of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, and il- 

 lustrated not only by his splendid 

 hand-painted diagrams, but by a 

 small apiary established in the 

 grounds of the Natural History Mu- 

 seum for the purpose,' have emi- 

 nently fitted him for imparting his 

 informatio7i in the clearest ?nanner. 

 No stronger testimony to the high 

 esteem in which Mr. Cheshire is 

 held in scientific circles can possibly 

 be given than the reception accorded 

 to his investigation into the structure 

 of the sex organs of bees, the 

 method of controlled fertilization 

 exercised by the queen, and the 

 glandular structures, stated by Pro- 

 fessor Stewart to be the most inter- 

 esting of any communication made 

 to the Royal Microscopical Society 

 for several years. His discoveries of 

 the nature and scope of foul brood, 

 and the introduction of a method of 

 cure, are a boon to beekeepers, and 

 afford a further proof, if one were 

 necessary, that the practical man- 

 agement of bees has received as 

 close attention from him as the more 

 interesting but less remunerative 

 scientific questions. 



"Bees and beekeeping, scientific 

 and practical : a complete treatise 

 on the Anatomy, Physiology and 

 Profitable Management of the Hive 

 Bee," is the full title of the book. 

 The illustrations of the anatomy 

 of the bee, bee appliances, etc., ex- 

 pressly drawn for this work by the 

 author, are numerous, and of an ex- 

 cellence, both as regards accuracy 

 and delicate finish, that has never 

 yet been equalled. 



At a convention of beekeepers, 

 held in Switzerland, some time back, 

 it was mentioned, as an observation 

 by several good bee men, that the 

 Carniolan queen cells have a greater 

 diameter, and are longer than the 

 queen cells of the common black 

 bee, and that it had been found 

 necessary to keep the frames of comb 

 wider apart than is usual with the 

 common bee. For the Carniolans a 

 full i'& millimetres was found neces- 

 sary, while 34^ to 36, sufficed for 

 the common bees. The 38 mm. is 

 about I ^ inch from centre to centre 

 of frame. 



Mr. Bertrand, the editor of the 

 Swiss "Bulletin d' Apiculture," ob- 

 served that the 2,'^ mm. must not be 

 exceeded, nor must less than 34^ 

 mm. be employed, inasmuch as 

 combs built very close together, and 

 used for brood rearing, are worth less 

 than the others because, by reason 

 of their shallowness, they are for a 

 shorter period suitable for brood 

 rearing, on account of the gradual 

 shortening of the depth of the cell 

 as each successive generation of bees 

 leaves its cocoon behind it. 



I believe a microscopist counted 



