THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



71 



ditions every way as the unfertilized 

 queen described above, the workers will 

 continually offerthe queen food. As long 

 as there is any brood in the hive, and the 

 queen continues to lay, the workers will 

 pay every attention to her ladyship. 

 Usually the bees form a circle about the 

 queen, while many of those about her 

 head are offering food ; the other bees 

 in the circle seem to be tenderly caress- 

 ing her by placing their antennse or 

 feelers, on the body of the queen and 

 quickly withdrawing and repeating the 

 same thing over and over again. The 

 nseof theantennse is hardly understood. 

 Professor Cook in his excellent treatise 

 on the bee says: "The antennae are 

 very delicate touch-organs or feelers, 

 and are so important in their functions 

 and connections that removal produces 

 a severe shock, but further we know 

 litde about their function, if they have 

 other, and from the very nature of the 

 problem we shall find it very difficult of 

 solution." 



Watch a bee when on a flower gather- 

 ing honey or pollen, and it will be seen 

 that the feelers are in constant use. The 

 bee seems to have the same use for the 

 antennae when on a flower as when near 

 a queen. I think bees seldom, if ever, 

 touch an unfertile queen with their an- 

 tenuce or form a circle about one as they 

 do a fertile queen. In fact the bees do 

 not seem to care at all about anunfertile 

 queen. 



Respect bees show for the queen. 



When a fertile queen moves about the 

 combs her subjects always open a way 

 for her to pass, and the bees seem to vie 

 with each other in their respect for their 

 ruler. 



The virgin queen never has so much 

 respect shown her. The workers do not 

 even trouble themselves to get out of 

 her way when she moves about the 

 combs. She must run over the bees and 

 get about the best she can. 



When a hive is opened and combs re- 

 moved, a virgin queen is pretty sure to 

 take wing, especially if the operation of 

 removing the combs is not performed 



quietly, or late in the day. However, 

 there is no danger of the queen being 

 lost as she will fly but a short distance 

 from the hive and immediately return. 



Difllculty experienced in fiading virgin 

 queen. 



On account of the great timidity of a 

 virgin queen it is hard to find one in a 

 large colony. I much rather look over 

 half a dozen full colonies for as many 

 fertile queens as to try to find one un- 

 fertile queen even in a small colony. 

 The fertile queen unless quite young 

 and has been introduced but a few days 

 will not attempt to fly or leave the 

 combs when the hive is opened. The 

 fertile queen does not sulk in the corners 

 of the frames, or under the bees. She 

 is usually found on the combs. All her 

 movements are opposite those of the 

 virgin queen. The fertile queen seldom 

 gets excited and it is but litde trouble to 

 find one even in the largest colony of 

 bees. 



How to find a fertile queen. 



A great many beekeepers have writ- 

 ten us stating that they would like to in- 

 troduce an Italian queen if they could 

 only find the one in the colony to which 

 they wished to introduce the new queen. 

 There are several ways to find the 

 queen of any colony. A black queen 

 in a colony of black bees is the hardest 

 to find (except a virgin queen) ; and 

 an Italian queen, even in a colony of 

 golden Italian bees, is the easiest to 

 find. The heavy, rich golden color of 

 a large, yellow queen is easily distin- 

 guished from the small, striped bees 

 that compose the colony. 



The following is the easiest way I 

 know of for tlie novice to proceed : 

 Take a hive, as near as possible like the 

 one the bees are in, place it on the 

 ground or on a large cloth (a horse 

 blanket will do), then place a drone- 

 and-queen trap at the entrance of it and 

 close any other places the queen might 

 pass through. Now, all is ready ; smoke 

 the bees, take out the frames one at a 

 time and examine carefully for the queen ; 

 if not found; shake the bees from the 



