166 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



stomach is compressed and a moment later 

 the honey stomach ; so that the lour lips 

 spring into tlie honey stomach even to the 

 opening of tlie pharynx. Now the true 

 stomach is more compressed and its con- 

 tents are emptied directly througii tlie four 

 lips into the pharynx and outer mouth 

 without being mixed with the contents of 

 the honey stomacli. 



I called the royal jelly chyle. This may 

 seem strange because with higher animals 

 the fluid in the stomach is called cliyme, 

 while chyle is a more digested cliyme in 

 that time when it is assimilated with the 

 blood. But with bees it is quite different. 

 Here all the digestion is done in the stom- 

 ach and the fluid goes through the walls 

 of the stomach directly into the blood, 

 while the intestines receive the indigest- 

 ible parts of the food only. So we see, if 

 with higher animals the chyle is prepared 

 in a lower part of the alimentary canal, 

 with bees this is done in the true stomach 

 and the same is called very correctly chyle 

 stomach. 



So this chyle is the royal jelly ; to pre- 

 pare it, the bees eat honey, pollen and 

 water (water for the purpose to eat the 

 pollen). The composition of this fluid is 

 a quite fixed one, and this composition is 

 diflerent in preparing the food for queens, 

 drones or worker larvae. This food goes 

 into the true stomach in the manner de- 

 scribed. Here it is digested, at first to 

 chyme and then to chyle; the difference in 

 both is caused by the time only, how long 

 the fluid is in the stomach. The fluid is 

 again vomited into the cell in the above 

 described manner. 



The queen and young worker larvae re- 

 ceive, we will say, well-digested chyle, 

 while the older the worker larvas grow, 

 the shorter time will the fluid remain in 

 the true stomach or, in otlier words, these 

 larvae receive chyme alter the four days. 



Sdma, Texas. 



Introducing Virgin Queens. 



Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



It is the exception to the rule that any 

 colony or nucleus that has been queenless 

 seventy-two hours or more, will readily 

 accept a young queen just liatched from a 

 cell. AVith sucli introduction of young 

 queens almost every beekeeper is familiar. 

 After a queen becomes twelve Iiours or 

 more old the couditious for her safe intro- 



duction are changed, and it becomes an 

 exception to the rule if she is not killed if 

 introduced by any plan of direct introduc- 

 tion. Special conditions must be created, 

 the most essential of which is absolute 

 queeiilessness of the colony or nucleus to 

 whicli it is desired to introduce such a 

 queen. By this is meant the taking away 

 of the queen and all unsealed Ijrood. These 

 measures, whatever else is done, are im- 

 perative to success. And further, it is 

 also required, as a I'ule, and particularly 

 with each of the yellow races of bees, that 

 the colony or nucleus has liad a laying 

 queen for at least twenty-one days or un- 

 til her young bees begin to hatch out. 



If the attempt is made before this to in- 

 troduce an old virgin queen and especially 

 if to a nucleus that has several times been 

 deprived of its queen before her brood 

 hatches, there will be found no trouble to 

 introduce the queen but she will not be 

 allowed to fly out and mate, but will be 

 balled to death on lier first attempt to leave 

 the hive. This, however, is a common 

 occurrence where queens just hatclied are 

 run into such nuclei, and often occurs ia 

 full colonies. The trouble in all such cases 

 is from laying workers. 



There are also certain details of proced- 

 ure required to insure uniform success, 

 but the following may be depended upon. 

 We will take, for example, a virgin queen 

 received by mail, that may be from one to 

 ten days old ; she is placed where she is 

 safe for twenty- four hours but not near 

 the hive selected to introduce her. First, 

 remove the reigning queen. The next day 

 towards evening prepare a hive or nucleus 

 with one comb of honey and fill out witli 

 frames of empty comb or combs of all 

 sealed brood, or with Irames of foundation. 

 Cage the virgin queen alone in a cage hav- 

 ing a little "Good" candy and insert next 

 to the comb of honey or brood. Now shake 

 all tlie bees into this prepared hive or upon 

 a sheet in front of the hive, and give the 

 combs from which the bees are shaken to 

 another colony. The bees will be greatly 

 excited over tlie loss of their brood but 

 will get quiet during the night. In forty- 

 eigiit hours the queen may be liberated, 

 in the evening, and is certain to be well 

 received ami to mate in a few days. After 

 she has mated and is laying, tlie brood 

 taken away may be returneii, or that from 

 other coh^iiies given as desired. 



In giving all sealed brood to the pre- 

 pared colony, great care is I'equired to 

 exclude any unsealed brood for, should 

 there be only one worker egg left, failure 

 is almost certain as tlie bees will choose 

 it rattier than the mature queen. When I 

 use sealed brood for the purpose It is al- 

 ways taken from a colony that has beeu 



