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Abnormal Winter Distension of Bees. 



Mr. F. Cheshire delivered a very inter- 

 esting lecture before the British Bee 

 Keepers' Association at their late meet- 

 ing in London on the subject of the " ab- 

 normal distension of the hive bee dur- 

 ing winter, and the means of checking 

 the same." As this subject is of consid- 

 erable interest now to American api- 

 arists, we copy the following from the 

 report as published in the British Bee 

 Journal: 



Physiologists divided food into two classes 

 one contributing to force and the formation 

 of heat, and the other building up material 

 other than fat. Pollen was exceedingly 

 rich in nitrogen, and contained, also, abun- 

 dance of phosphorus and other matter which 

 constituted it a tissue-forming food. Hon- 

 ey, on the contrary, was a hydro-carbon, 

 consisting almost entirely of saccharine 

 matters, and, like common sugar, did not 

 undergo digestion, but simply transuded 

 through the delicate tissues into the circula- 

 tion, becoming utilized for giving heat and 

 force. So used, it is converted into water 

 on the one hand, and carbonic acid gas on 

 the other. This escaped through the lungs, 

 no residue remaining to be carried off in 

 the excreta. This might be proved by 

 heating ordinary sugar when it would p;iss 

 through changes like those made by it in 

 the animal economy, and if it were perfect ly 

 pure no semblance of ash would remain. 

 When the bee took honey it was gradually 

 absorbed into the fluids, and passed off from 

 the organization of the bee through the 

 breathing apparatus. When he said honey, 

 from whatever source it might be obtained, 

 it always contained a smaller or larger 

 amount of pollen, which was of nitrogenous 

 substance, and would contribute a small 

 amount to the bowels. Honey was con- 

 verted into carbonic-acid gas and water. 

 The same result followed the burning of a 

 candle ; having been consumed it would 

 leave nothing but ash, which would be a 

 portion of the cotton-wick to be returned to 

 the earth whence it was taken. During the 

 time of the burning, heat would be com- 

 ing from it, and the same process took place 

 in the economy of the. bee ; when sugary 

 matters undergo oxidation by union with 

 oxygen they pass off into the atmosphere, 

 and heat is developed. He then proceeded to 

 explain the internal structure of the work- 

 ing-bee, pointing out that it possessed five 

 spiracles, or openings on each side of the 

 abdomen, and two on each side of the thorax, 

 by means of which the air was taken in. If 

 the bee desired to produce a larger amount 

 of heat, this could be done by the telescopic 

 vibration of the abdomen. It was a matter 

 of considerable interest that the large air- 

 sacs were not possessed by the queen-bee, in 



which they were replaced by ovaries, or egg- 

 vessels. The reason was very clear. The 

 queen did not have to produce temperature — 

 that might be left to the workers. The air- 

 sacs of the worker are only fully distended 

 dining flight, and this distension aids, or 

 rather renders possible, the rapid expulsion 

 of excrementious matters at the moment the 

 abdominal segments are drawn together by 

 a muscular effort. The bee, bloated with 

 effete products, and too weak to fly, can only 

 so feebly perforin the act of extrusion that 

 its abdomen is soiled by the nauseous trail. 

 A cluster of bees, if fairly numerous, 

 with an external atmosphere of 40 degrees, 

 would, while remaining in absolute rest, 

 oxidize sufficient honey to maintain their 

 necessary temperature ; but, supposing the 

 surrounding air should suddenly fall many 

 degrees, what would happen ? The previous 

 condition of restfulness would be changed 

 for activity, and cases were not wanting in 

 which cold, which tends up to a certain 

 point to dormacy, becomes itselt a stimulant. 

 In animals that hybernate they remain per- 

 fectly still while the surrounding atmos- 

 phere was simply cold. As the air chilled 

 intensely however, the breathing was quick- 

 ened, and oxidation increased ; so that there 

 was generated a larger amount of heat, and 

 that larger amount of heat screened them 

 from the cold, and they were brought 

 through the trial without harm. It was just 

 the same in the case of bees. With a very 

 low thermometer they began to vibrate their 

 abdomens, as before stated. In the restful 

 condition there was the oxidation of honey 

 or saccharine substances producing carbonic 

 acid and water, only waste. Now they had 

 nerve (because without nerve-action there 

 was no muscular action ), and muscular 

 waste, producing material which passes to 

 the bowels. But suppose the cold continues 

 and the temperature falls very much. It 

 had been remarked that cold itself would 

 not hurt bees ; that, he thought, was simply 

 a blunder. Cold did injure them, especially 

 when the temperature became so low as to 

 necessitate agitation in order to enable the 

 bee to withstand it. In prolonged spells of 

 intense severity, stores often become (espe- 

 cially if unnaturally placed) so cold that 

 the bees could not touch them, and then the 

 saccharine matters in their fluids being ex- 

 hausted, they had to draw vpon their own 

 muscular tissues, to work them, into ma- 

 terial which should be heat-producing. 

 That was to say, the bee had noiv to oxidize 

 herself, and for the present was converted 

 into a carnivorous creature having to de- 

 vour her own body! Carnivorous animals 

 in confinement receiving only tissue-form- 

 ing foods, are always in a condition of un- 

 rest, pacing their dens, and in this seem 

 only to be following an instinct by which 

 muscular tissue may be retrograded until it 

 becomes material for oxidation. A portion 

 of the tissues remained which could not be 

 got rid of thus. This must pass away 

 through the bowels. A large quantity of 

 phosphates and sulphates passes off into the 

 bowels, and to these the urinary secretions 

 are added. But while the bee was being 

 loaded in this way another unhappy circum- 

 stance was going on — the integuments of the 

 bee were being reduced in weight, so it be- 



