THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



been excluded to assist the mother, no male in- 

 dividuals of PoUstes are developed. 



In order to give m )re currency to the asser- 

 tion that in those insects, the larvte of which are 

 dcveloiicd in their food, a disproportionate num- 

 b'jr of females are developed, Landois refers, 

 amongst other instances, to a great number of 

 Dipterous genera, the larvae of which wallow in 

 the excess of their food, and mentions that out 

 of four hundred and three species of Diptera, 

 Meigen knew only the females of two hundred 

 and fifty-five. But these examples cannot be 

 adduced as in the least in favor of Landois' 

 theory; Meigen in his well-known " Systema- 

 tische Beschreiburg der Europaischen Zweifliigel 

 Insecten," vei-y frequently, by his own admis- 

 sion, had only a sinale female, and also very 

 often only a single male in his hands, as the type 

 of the descriptions of his species. Such scanty 

 material as this is certainly insufficient to prove 

 it a predominance of one sex over the other. — 

 Annals of Natural History, Fourth Series, vol. 

 2, 1868. 



[For the American Bee Jouroal.] 



Alley's New Style Langstroth Hive. 



As many of my correspondents ask more or 

 less qiiestions in regard to my new style Lang- 

 stroth Hive, and as I cannot reply to all of them 

 separately, I now, for the information of such, 

 make one general reply to all questions. 



I will say, first, that this hive has exactly the 

 same amount of room inside the frames, for 

 brood and honey, as the shallow form of Lang- 

 strotli Hive, and contains the same number of 

 frames (ten;; and I do not think this number of 

 frames too many. It also has room for thirty- 

 six (36) three pound surplus boxes ; and when 

 filled the honey shows to good advantage. 

 There is no difficulty in selling any quantity of 

 honey in such boxes. 



The frames in the brood chamber run from 

 side to side, thus making a free and clear pas- 

 sage between the combs to the surplus boxes ; 

 and it is impossible for a bee to travel five inches 

 when inside the hive, Avithout going into a box, 

 unless it goes directly from the bottom of the 

 hive up, or from the top down. 



The bri)od chamber is portable, and can be 

 taken off the bottom board at any time. The 

 boxes are put on endwise to the brood chamber 

 and frames, as seen in fig. 2 ; and the whole is 

 then covered with an outside case or cap, as seen 

 in fig 1. The frames can be removed at any 

 time during the honey season, without disturb- 

 ing the surplus boxes, as there are no boxes over 

 the frames. 



This hive is one of the best for wintering, and 

 it is also a good orie for summer. I now have 

 two very full stocks in these hives. One con- 

 tains a colony that I transferred to it May 20th. 

 The bees are now iJune 3d) at work in thirty 

 boxes, eighteen of wliich arc nearly full. The 

 weather has been very warm, and I have not 

 seen them attempt to cluster on the outside. 

 Every bee can work, and none are prevented by 

 heat inside the hive. The hive has a bee en- 



trance seven inches long by | inch high ; and 

 this is the only ventilation I give it in summer, 

 except to make two one-inch holes iu the cap, to 

 let out the heat. 



The inside of the hive does not heat up as 

 other hives do, consequently the bees are not 

 inclined to cluster outside in hot weather. 

 It is weather-proof both summer and winter, and 

 needs no bee-house. As it has a deep frame, and 

 a brood chamber that is enclosed by an outer 

 case, and can be ventilated without having a 

 draft up through the cluster, it will be seen at 

 once that no hive is better adapted for Avinter 

 than this one. 



I have found that bees will enter and com- 

 mence work in side boxes earlier than they will 

 in boxes set over the frames. I know it is hard 

 for those to believe this who have the top-box 

 idea on the brain ; but it is a fact, and I have 

 found it so from experience. Mr. D. C. Batch- 

 elder, of Newburyport Mass.) has a stock of 

 bees in one of these hives that had filled thirty- 

 six boxes up to June 3d, but they had more or 

 less comb to start with, in all the boxes. 



The one great objection to these hives is the 

 cost, but they will be found cheaj)est in the end. 



Fig. 1, represents the hive as it appears when 

 in full o.jcratior. 



Fig. 2, shows the brood chamber and surplus 

 box arrangement. 



