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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



19 



nerves from the two nerve centres of the head 

 Avhich m:i3' bo designated ns the brain of the 

 bee. The ej'cs are constructed onlj' for seeing 

 in the daytime ; in the dark the bees are blind. 



CIiCiurUuj and Preparlhr/ the Habitation. — 

 This consists in the -woilicrs biting off all iin- 

 eveu or protruding parts, as splinters of wood, 

 pieces ol straw, etc , and is done by means of 

 their strong mandibles. In most cases tiiese 

 gnawed olf i)arts are thrown from above to the 

 tioltoin of the hive; and only later, when the 

 bees have made more progress with their struc- 

 ture, do the}' cleanse out the bottom. Some of 

 it, however, is carried out at the time it is 

 gnaAved off. 



The Production of Wax. — At the same time 

 "witli the cleansing of the habitation commences 

 the i)roduction ot wax. The Avax is a secretion 

 of tin; bod^' of the bee, and is formed only when 

 the bee is riclily provided with food, like fat in 

 the higher animals but with this difference that 

 while fat grows upon the animals without their 

 knowing it, the productinn of wax is entirely 

 optional with the bee. It is fully within the 

 power of the bee to make wax or not to make 

 any. In order to produce wax, the worker-bee 

 takes in cousidei ably more pollen and honey 

 both of which constitute their Ibod, than is ne- 

 cessary to appease her hunger, lu the chyle- 

 stomach or stomach proper, these materials are 

 first transfarmed by a partial digestion into 

 food, sap, or jelly, which lias been mentioned 

 already as the food of the drones and the queen, 

 and this is alter twenty-four hours thoroughly 

 digested and passes into the blood, from which 

 it is secreted as wax, in the form of thin, irreg- 

 ular pentagonal white Hakes, looking like se- 

 leuite, between the segments of the abdomen 

 through the thin wax skin of the bee into a 

 separate apparatus. 



The Wax- Secreting Apparatus is on the lower 

 side of the abdomen, and is Ibrmed of the four 

 inner segments out of the six ; these four inner 

 segments consist of two parts, the interior 

 being a thin, soft, translucent skin or mem- 

 brane, the posterior a harder, darlvcr skin, cov- 

 ered on the outside with hair , the first or scjft 

 part is surrounded by a horny rim, with a point 

 on each side. Through the centre of the wax-se- 

 creting apparatus runs a horny partition, di- 

 viding it into two equal parts, whereby these 

 four wax secreting segments form eight super- 

 ficies, wliich, as the apparatus is oval, are lar- 

 ger in the middle, at the third segment and 

 smaller towards both ends. In shape, these 

 superficies form irregular pentagons. The hor- 

 ny rims of the wa.x skins or membranes are 

 connected by a delicate membrane with the 

 next segment, and the wax skin itself is drawn 

 back under the hard outer skin, so that the 

 eight superficies form four pairs of pockets, into 

 which the wax substance penetrates through 

 the wax skin or membrane, and receives the 

 shape and size of the respective superficies. 



As soon as the secretion of wax lias commen- 

 ced, the bees begin at once to use the wax 

 flakes for the construction of comb. This comb 

 building always has its beginning at the ceiling 

 of the hive, in the centre of the cluster of bees. 



For the American Bee JourHal. 



Ptirity of Italian Bees, and other Matter. 



Mr. Editor : There is so much said and writ- 

 ten about the purity of Italian bees that a per- 

 son who reads your Journal and would wish 

 to procure these bees in their native purity, 

 must either be greatly puzxled to know in what 

 th s purity consists, or blindly believe that any- 

 thing in the shape of a bee, diflereutly colored 

 from the black, is pure, provided it cost him 

 ten or twenty dollars, and he has obtained it 

 from a person that can blow his horn the loud- 

 est. The aspersions and inuendos tlirowu out 

 by certain pedlers in this commodity, and the 

 ignorance and conceit exhibited by others who 

 poke themselves before the unsuspecting good 

 people, as their quasi judges and teachers in 

 apiculture, are, indeed, to me at least, very re- 

 freshing. The way they prepare tor a success- 

 ful sale, is all that could be desired in their 

 favor, and the cash they covet induces them to 

 pave the road to success with innumerable 

 stumbling blocks. One seems to think that be- 

 cause he has written a book on bees, the good 

 people take what he says as a matter of the ut- 

 most reliability. To make assurance doubly 

 sure he informs his correspondents that : "If 

 the workers of any queen do not show distinct- 

 ly the yellow band, she is considered impure by 

 the best apiarists, and should not be expected 

 to breed pure queens ; * >^ * and that it 

 will probably appear that some which show the 

 three rings distiuctly when the abdomen is 

 filled with honey or otherwise distended, will 

 often show but one distiuctly v/hen it is empty 

 or contracted, as is evident from workers tuat 

 7ie has raised from a tested queen procured of 

 Mr. Laugstroth." This gentleman, and another 

 like him, to form the pluralitji, are evidently 

 and obviously figured here as tUe best apiarists ; 

 but to my certain knowledge, the best apiarians 

 always speak of three yellow ringSy and so does 

 Mr. LaUg,stroth. 



Another is greatly pleased when he can raise 

 and represent in wood cuts, and recommend 

 by circular aud otherwise, big and beautifully 

 ydlow Italian queens. This person is honest 

 enough, and would of a certainty pick the only 

 hybrid queen from a dozen pure ones, as he has 

 evidently never seen a pure one in his life. A 

 third thinks his tested Laugstroth queen pro- 

 duces black c^ueens, when either the original 

 pure one was killed off at its introduction, or 

 Mr. Malapertus neglected to destroy the queen 

 cells a week or so after its introduction, and 

 the top swarm, with the Laugstroth c^ueen, fiew 

 to the woods, while its owner finds, by liis 

 afterswarm, that Mr. Langstroth's tested queen 

 produces black queens. 



A fourth still goes one step further, and by 

 impliciteiy adverti.>iing Italian queens for sale, 

 informs the good people at the same time, witli 

 an assurance most persuading, that he bought 

 three queens from Mr. Laugstroth, one of which 

 he tested lor breeding, and raised three splendid 

 yellow ones. And here let me add, sir, that 

 these three splendid yellow ones, however like 

 they may be to any in his apiary, are, notwith- 



