I'SE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



73 



"I the iilnuidant fiill pastnra^e lli^re, T made an 

 firtifioial coloii)^ by supplying a hive Avith empty 

 "omr/S, j^laciu.s:^ tlieveiu a caj^od, fertile queen, 

 and stocking it willi bees tal^en from various 

 overpopulous colonies. Wlien closing the hive 

 the nueen ^vas accidentally liberated, and in 

 this condition the colony was transported to the 

 heath When arrived there, and the entrance 

 v,as opened, the bees rushed forth in crowds, 

 but in a few moments returned, became settled, 

 and pro(.eeded to collect pollen. Several weeks 

 aft(-r, when brought back to my ajnary, this 

 colony contained plenty of brood. Tliis shows 

 that to a colony composed of bees gathered from 

 two or three diflerent hives, a fertile queen may 

 be safely introduced without the ustial precau- 

 tion of caging her. 



3. Will early Hiodrmn always accept of a ready 

 furnished hive? — I suppose I am not the only 

 "bee-keeper who has found that bees will some- 

 times desert a hive containing empty combs. 

 I had such a citse last summer. On the 2r)th of 

 June a very large swavm of black bees issued 

 fiom one of my hives. I placed it iu a hive 

 furnished with nice clean combs. On the 27th 

 it abandoned the hive. I rchived them im- 

 mediately, and caged the queen; but on the 28th 

 they came out again, deserting their queen. I 

 now placed them in another hive, containing 

 frames furnished with only narrow strips of 

 guide-comb. They remained in it perfectly 

 contend, built combs rapidly, and collected 

 siove.'^ enough to carry them through the winter. 



I ;>lnced an artificial colony in the furnished 

 aive a few das's afterwards, and they seemed 

 well pleased with the provision thus made for 

 them, commencing operations forthwith, and 

 prospering well. 



Swarming bees, particularly those of second 

 Bwarms, appear to have an instinctive desire 

 for comb-building, and are prone to reject " fur- 

 nished quarters." This can only be overcome 

 by supplying Ihem with a comb of brood. 



On the Reproduction of Boe«. 



By PrioF. C. T. E. von Sieboi>d. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Proposals Wanted, 



Xhrough the Bee Jounal, to furnish me 



First — with a stock or swarm of pure Italian 

 bees that are as good workers as half breeds. 



Second — a queen that will reproduce others, 

 exact counterparts of herself, with no varia- 

 tions. 



Third — a queen that is entirely yellow and 

 will reproduce others iu any numbers, like her- 

 self. 



Fourth — a queen that produces workers iu 

 any number, Avith/o'.tr yellow bands. 



Fifth — a queen that produces drones all yel- 

 low, or with ouc-half brown on the two last 

 bands only. 



Persons having any or all of the above-de- 

 scribed stock will do well to let it be known 

 through the Bee .Iouknal, 



St, CHABiiES, Ills. James M. Marvin. 



Send us the names of Bee-keepers, with their 

 Post Office address. 



It is high time that zoologists and physiolo- 

 gists should turn their attention to a phenome- 

 non in the history of the reproduction of ani- 

 mals, wbi(di, during the last few yearf^, has 

 warmly interested the apiarians and set them 

 in the greatest excitement. I mean the mode 

 in which each separate colony of bees contrives 

 that the worker, -drone,- and royal-cells pre- 

 pared by it are always furnished with the proper 

 eggs, from which, as is required by the arrange- 

 ment of these different kinds of cells, the worker- 

 larvae, drone-larvfe, and queen-larvae destined 

 to dwell in them, are always disclosed. Hence 

 the oviposilion in the bee-hive must be effected 

 according to peculiar rules, in order that the 

 conditions just mentioned may be fulfilled. 

 This act of oviposition must be subjected to 

 determinate laws, v.diich do not affect the ovi- 

 position of most other insects, as in these it is a 

 matter of indifference in what consecutive order 

 and number male and female eggs are laid. 

 But the question, how each separate bee-colony 

 succeeds iu obtaining the suitable supply of eggs 

 for all its combs, differently as these are pre- 

 pared as regards the number and arrangement 

 of the three kinds of cells, has not been easily 

 answered. Nay, we may perhaps say that this 

 process has hitherto appeared to be an impene- 

 trable mystery, the solution of which has not 

 been effected by the most careful endeavors and 

 observations of the apiarians continued for 

 many years. This mysterious circumstance, 

 which distinguishes the oviposition of the bees, 

 has also been the cause that from time imme- 

 morial, the apiarians have been disputing about 

 the signification of almost every individual step 

 in the process of reproduction iu the bees. This 

 contest has continued even to the present day, 

 and it is scarcely possible to imagine a single 

 absurdity with regard to the history of the re- 

 production of the bees, which has not already 

 been expressed in sober earnest by some api- 

 arian, and is now to be read in print iu some 

 of the innumerable bee-books. The greatest 

 confusion especially was caused by the ciicum- 

 stance, that people could not agree with regard 

 to the sexes of the bees. The drones were re- 

 garded as females, and the c^ueens as malos ; 

 sometimes it was supposed that the workers 

 alone had the care of oviposition ; sometimes 

 the true act of copulation between the drones 

 and the (jueen was supposed only to take place 

 iu the interior of the hive ; the wedding-tlight 

 of the queen would then only be a sort of purifi- 

 cation. Whilst from another side it was asser- 

 ted that the act of copulation was never per- 

 formed in the hive, but always high up in the 

 air during the wedding-flight. The act of coi- 

 tion was thus entirely denied, the queen becom- 

 ing fertilized by the agitation of her body 

 during the wedding-flight. I could fill many 

 pages here with these contradictions, which 

 are deposited in the annals of the historj'^ of bee- 

 life, and by which the study of this otherwise 

 so interesting subject from books; has been 

 stunted into a most ungrateful task. 



